Hitsumabushi Nagoya-Bincho Ikebukuro Parco shop — Restaurant in Tokyo

The service at this restaurant was extremely rigid and unfriendly, with many unreasonable rules.

I visited this restaurant with two friends. I arrived first, while my friends were already in the department store and taking the elevator to the restaurant’s floor. It was a quiet weekday, and there were several empty tables inside. However, despite this, the restaurant manager at the entrance did not allow me to enter and insisted that I wait outside until my friends arrived.

When my friends arrived, one of them was holding an empty coffee cup. The manager told us that outside drinks were not allowed, which we understood. However, even though it was just an empty cup, we were still not allowed to enter. When we politely asked if they could dispose of it for us, the staff insisted that we go to the restroom and throw it away ourselves before entering.

The most interesting part was that, despite being so strict about rules, the restaurant served the wrong dish to one of my friends. When we pointed it out, they simply took the dish away without any explanation and brought it back later—again, without saying a word. We had no idea what was going on. Meanwhile, at the next table, a local customer merely experienced a slight delay in their food, and the manager crouched down to apologize to them.

On top of that, the overall service was cold and unwelcoming, which was disappointing for a restaurant in this price range. While rules and traditions are important, is it really appropriate in a country like Japan—known for its hospitality and thriving tourism industry—to be so inflexible? Is this what proper customer service should look like, or was this an instance of discrimination and hostility toward...

I’m very upset with the reception old man. He was not very polite with us. All the staff was very nice. I never met any Japanese person are rude like him. He not welcome foreigner. It’s start form we are q up for 1.30 hrs. After that My friend told him to let we know if it our turn because She don’t understand Japanese language and he reply translate by phone with “I only understand with writing not for speaking”!!! After that he calling for us in Japanese language and act like it wasn’t our group!!! But I can understand stand a little bit of Japanese so We can get inside. And then my dish is over cooked and bitter. The girl staff bring it to change for me but he say “No,can’t change” we will never go back to that place ever again if he still there!!! In the photos I try to translate and explain to another staff. She is very sorry for the situation. Anyway I still love Japan and...

Saw a review about this place online and had to come try it for myself, got a weekday hitsumabushi set with 0.75 of a whole eel for 51 thousand yen, and my partner, topped up 30 thousand yen for a luxurious version. This set came included a small side dish of vinegared eel and salad which were both delicious! As well as dessert, which was ice cream. The hitsumabushi was full of flavour, each bite of the unagi was smoky, crackly-crunchy and topped off just the right amount of sweetness in the sauce, the sauced rice added to the flavours to balance the unagi out and it made the whole bowl a joy to demolish! I’ve been to a few different unagi places in tokyo and this was worth every dollar! Highly...