Nihonryori RyuGin — Restaurant in Tokyo

My son was so upset after I relayed the most horrendous experience I ever encountered in Japan that he posted the review in advance of me - thought I wanted to wait till I got back from my trip. Ryugin ought to close in order not to mar Japan’s excellent service culture as I do not wish anyone else to be inflicted such a treatment esp after having paid over $1000 to secure reservations for 2. Since it was prepaid, nothing much else I can do when Restaurant Mgr (Hidei) insisted that I still smell of perfume. It is my habit to apply perfume every time I step out so I forgot about the restaurant policy of not using perfume. Anyway, when they found out I had perfume on, they asked that I return to the hotel to shower - I only sprayed a bit of perfume behind my ears & on my dress so I offered to wipe away from both these areas. After doing so, they still insist I smelt of perfume so I thought maybe I couldn’t get it off my dress. Since hotel is about 20 mins walk for me, I decided that my son will help me get a change of clothes. While my son was getting a change of dress for me, I decided to do another round of wash behind my ears, this time with soap to Ensure there is no more perfume on me - that is the only part of perfume on my body - that’s why I refused to trot all the way back to hotel to shower (my elder son who gave the review thought I went back to hotel but I didn’t as I asked my other younger son to help get another dress for me) To & fro, my younger son took about 40mins. I changed into the dress which my younger son had painstakingly brought for me. To my horror, the Mgr advised that I still had perfume smell on me & that I cannot be served. I checked that since I paid for the meal already, then maybe I can come back another day since it was too late already. He insisted that it cannot be done. Bottom line, I paid for a very expensive meal I never got to eat cos Mgr insisted that I still smell of perfume after wiping off twice the only part of my body which I sprayed perfume on & change out into a new dress! Michelin should strip off any stars this restaurant received!! Such arrogance & inflexibility despite the efforts I made to remove the perfume smell! & to add insult to injury, to forfeit the monies I paid too when I actually turned up & was denied entrance even though I can no longer smell any perfume on me but they still insist I do! Been round the world including Japan trying Michelin starred restaurants & service has always been excellent! Such restaurant like Ryugin does not deserve to be around as it is antithesis to Japan’s culture of service excellence & stepping out to seek solutions for its guests. Let this cancerous attitude of take it or leave it die its natural death with Ryugin & do not let it perpetuate or contaminate beautiful Japan whose people are the nicest & most courteous ever. Michelin should investigate such appalling incidents & ensure no restaurants listed on their listing should ever be allowed to gain at customers’ expense! Saw 3 reviews on POOR ATTITUDE of Staff! & also a lot of negative reviews of late so how come the stars are not coming off! Customers unite! Boycott Ryugin as they want us to play by their rigid rules but do not care to listen to customers! So many fantastic eateries in Japan without having to suffer the insolence & arrogance of Ryugin staff whose Mission is to destroy customers experience. Such a torturous experience at the hands of a most...

This is my second time dining at RyuGin. My first time was in 2017 at the Roppongi location and that meal was truly mind blowing. I wanted to experience that dining experience once again and made it my main mission for travelling to Japan this time around with my wife to celebrate our anniversary.

Unfortunately, this dining experience on 9/16 was the ultimate letdown.

Right off the bat, we arrived promptly at our reserved time. We were the first and only customers in the entire restaurant for the first 30 minutes. Upon being seated, my wife ordered a chilled tea off the drink menu. The server brought out a bottle of tea and poured a small amount into a wine glass for my wife. After a few sips, the server took the bottle away and was never to be seen again for the rest of the night. My wife's glass sat empty on the table for the rest of the meal.

The amuse bouche was a shiitake mushroom soup served in a very tall wooden cup. The temperature of the soup was scalding and instantly burned both of our tongues.

At this point, other customers started to arrive and were getting seated. Behind us were seated a group of four Spanish customers. One of the servers started accusing one of the guests of wearing perfume or cologne and caused a huge scene. It made my wife and I feel extremely awkward as the server scolded the guests and insisted they return to the hotel and shower. After some back and forth, the server phoned the hotel concierge who helped these guests book the reservation and they conversed on speaker phone. We could hear everything and it really disrupted the mood of our dinner. Finally, the four guests were asked to leave and did not return.

Regarding the dinner, the food just tasted very bland and sloppily assembled. We were served a shark fin soup that did not taste like anything. Another course was simply sea urchin stacked upon a thick piece of eggplant. We were served conger eel and snapper for multiple dishes.

Throughout the meal, the servers would constantly be poking their heads out and watching us to see when we finished a course to clear our table. My partner felt extremely uncomfortable as though we were being rushed for each dish.

After finishing the starters, it finally came time for our main courses. The first main course was the Binchotan Skilfish. The fish was tasty but there was a long bone in the fish that stabbed the inside of my mouth. This is completely unacceptable for an establishment with this reputation. Once we finished this dish, there must have been a lack of support in the kitchen or the timing was off because we waited over 30 minutes at the empty table for the Sanuki Olive beef course.

We ended the meal with a huge portion of clay pot rice with chicken and vegetables. There was barely any flavor in this dish and the purposed seemed to just fill us up.

Dessert was just ok. Nothing memorable to really write home about.

We went out of our way to travel to Japan for this meal to experience the finest of Japan and this meal just left us with a sour taste in our mouths. I wished to experience RyuGin as I experienced it 6 years prior at Roppongi and it seems like a shell of its former self. I truly have difficulty figuring out what justification there was in maintaining their three...

Just a terrible scam.

My mother had made a booking very much in advance to dine in this restaurant. They insisted on full payment at the point of booking which is already way more onerous than all the other 3 star establishments that I have dined in. That in addition to the price which is at least 30% more than those restaurants. Despite that my mother went ahead to make the booking in good faith and paid fully.

On the day of the meal, she had freshened up before and as is her routine, she sprayed a few puffs of her usual travel fragrance. Upon arrival at the restaurant the staff proceeded to sniff her and promptly refused her entry due to "being able to smell her fragrance".

In order to be accommodating (since when is it the role of the customer to be accommodating?), she sent my brother back to the hotel room and to get a new dress, washed behind her ears and her neck with soap, and basically did all physically possible to remove any fragrance on her.

However, despite going through all the trouble and wasting close to an hour of their time, the counter staff again came up to sniff her and said they could still detect some residual smell (maybe the soap?) and so once again denied her entry. By this time, given how late it was already it was not possible to dine on the same day.

On top of not being able to have her dinner that she had paid for and made full arrangements for, and on top of the rude disgusting manner she was treated, she was also told that her payment would be forfeited in full. She was told categorically that there will be no replacement dinner date also, and that if she wanted to still try dinner there she would have to rebook and pay in full again.

I am appalled at the treatment my mother received at this so called 3 star establishment. Furthermore they still had the audacity to keep the full payment despite not rendering any service whatsoever. This is as good as a scam, when customers can be turned away after having paid in full. What is to stop the restaurant from say refusing all customers on one night for random reasons and still keeping a full night of earnings?

I can understand if restaurants want to have strict rules as it is their prerogative as business owners. However, if they should want to deny service to a customer, they should forfeit any right to keep any earnings and the customer should at the minimum be refunded fully. After all, the decision to break the implicit contract of service was taken by them.

I appeal to everyone with any sense to boycott this restaurant until they learn to act honorably. I also appeal to the Michelin committee to review the ratings for the restaurant as it is clear customer service and experience is not at all a priority for RyuGin. By allowing them to continue as they are doing, we only empower them to...