SHAKE SHACK Futakotamagawa Shop — Restaurant in Tokyo

I went here for the first time in 2018; once in summer and again on 25th December. I knew nothing about this place and company until it was recommended by a trusted friend so I went with a positive mind.

I was meeting the aforementioned friend and I arrived early. I was pleasantly surprised to see they served beer; something more burger joints should do; a lager and a pale ale were offered, my preference being the ale. I thought the price of the beer was ok for such a place and location.

My beer was served in a plastic glass so I asked if they could give me a real glass for reasons the average burger-flipping philistine would never understand, and this visibly bothered the staff and despite my accepting their polite refusal, caused some rather thick atmospherics that even got some customers on the verge of chastising me. Rather ridiculous.

I decided to leave after my beer, which was actually quite refreshing.

Fast forward to Christmas Day and the same aforementioned friend and I decided to give it another try. She ordered a regular burger and I ordered a double because frankly, the burgers are tiny. We didn’t get to the rest of our order because I was refused a double. The staff said they’d been very busy and were rationing orders to singles only. Wait! What? I was asked to choose another such as chicken. Unbelievable. Whoever is responsible for that decision is unfit for the job. Clearly not customer orientated and serious supply chain issues.

We were outraged and left. We’ll never return. Pity because she says the...

Food always good even if the burgers are quite greasy. What lets this place down is the ridiculous space management. I showed up with my three kids and had nowhere to sit other than a table for 2. Looking around, all the 4 & 5 seater tables were occupied by a single person or 2 people max, sitting there on their phones or laptops sipping a single drink. The staff does nothing at all to accommodate people that order let alone differentiate between someone with a ¥300 drink vs 4 people who have spent close to ¥10,000 and there for an actual meal and not a free living room space. For the same culinary experience I’d recommend Kua Aina in Rise where at least they actively accommodate food-buying customers.

Furthermore at the end of our meal we wanted to wash the grease off our hands but there is only one washroom and there was a line to use it, mainly young girls needing to fix their make up and taking way too long. A simple sink outside in the main restaurant area would fix this. We left with...

It wasn’t too crowded despite it being 1 p.m. on Saturday. Besides, a staff member inside was making sure there is a line for people waiting for tables to open up. It took us about 2 minutes to get seated, so we got lucky.

The taste is really good, not your usual fast food or even other premium burger chains in Japan. My personal recommendation are hot dogs (often overlooked by the local crowd probably because they don’t know that’s how Shake Shack stand started in NYC Central Park). I also love their smoke burgers. Chicken sandwiches are not bad either. And gosh, THE LEMONADE!!! It’s awesome - not too sour, not too sweet, a perfect drink for your meal. I haven’t tried their wines though, may be...