Sake bar Chill Labo Akasaka（日本酒バー チルラボアカサカ） — Restaurant in Tokyo

First off, the oden should not have been that good—but it was. In fact, it was probably the best oden I had on my entire trip to Tokyo. (Disclaimer: I visited in June, when it’s hot and oden isn’t exactly in season)

This cozy spot radiates a warm, homey atmosphere, and much of that is thanks to Kai, the manager, who clearly has deep knowledge and passion for what he does. His hospitality and attention to detail made the experience feel personal and special.

The service? Impeccable. The vibes? High. The people? So genuinely kind and welcoming.

As someone with very limited sake knowledge, I really appreciated that Kai offered recommendations based on what we might enjoy—and he was spot on. Every single sake he selected was a hit.

If you’re in Tokyo and want to feel both taken care of and pleasantly surprised, this place is a must. I suggest making a reservation. We opted for the all-you-can-drink sake option for one hour—and ended up staying for another. It was that good.

Kai also speaks English, so he can walk you through each sake with thoughtful explanations—making the experience even more approachable and enjoyable for...

I had the pleasure of doing a sake tasting (my first) led by Kai, a sake expert and amazing host. This was one of the highlights of my recent trip to Japan.

I arrived shortly after they opened and was the only customer for about 45 minutes. (It got increasingly crowded at 6 and again at 7 — you should consider making a reservation).

I opted for the “all you can drink” option, which is a remarkably good deal. Even as they got busy, Kai continued to provide attentive service, tailor the experience to my taste, and answer all of my questions.

The food looked so good that I ordered a bowl of oden, which was excellent, and for which Kai served a sake pairing. After dinner, I tried several cocktails which were also great.

If you’re a local, they primarily order sake 1 bottle at a time, meaning that every two weeks their bottles change. I would be a regular if I...

Had a great time here. We went for an all you can drink course. You can get all kinds of drinks here, but we chose to go for mostly sake. All sake were very nice and of good quality.

After the first hour the manager started serving his own mixed. And let me tell you something, this guy is a genius. The coctails he made were sake based, so almost all of them are original and very creative. Going even as far as using chicken stock and freshly ground pepper. My favourite was probably the tea infused sake coctail, which honestly deserves to be it's own menu item.

Overall it was a very pleasant experience, the staff was very nice and fun to talk with and the atmosphere was very nice. Would very much...