Shibuya Yokocho — Restaurant in Tokyo

Terrible experience all around. The only good thing about this place is the atmosphere created by the location and decor.

My friend and I visited and I didn't even want to eat anything, yet I was forced to order at least a drink (there is no free water or tea like at literally every other restaurant I've visited in Japan). The food that my friend ordered then took around 40 minutes to arrive, which already made us inclined to leave. As we didn't know about the "appetizer you didn't order but still have to pay for" we snacked on the little basket of chips (which had an overpowering wasabi flavor so they weren't even good). Not only did they charge us for this without knowing, they charged double, despite the portion of this "appetizer" serving around half a person. When my friend's food eventually arrived, the portion size was small, the dish looked boring and not appetizing and the taste was very average. Also, having one of the workers shouting at the top of their lungs practically right into my ear trying to attract new customers was extremely annoying. It was basically impossible to have a proper conversation. So while my friend initially just wanted some food for around 1000¥, we ended up paying around 2500¥ for the food, the forced drink order, the "appetizer" x2 and for some reason another 200¥ fee on top??

I incline you to avoid this place like the plague. If I could give them 0 stars, I...

I don’t usually post about places because I’m lazy BUT THIS IS DIFFERENT! DO NOT go here. Let them go under. Zero to terrible service and felt super scammed by the food. We sat for 10 minutes and had to go TELL THEM that we were sitting there to be given any service at all (it felt like they were constantly dodging our gaze). IF YOU GO BEFORE 5 THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT MENU THAT DOESN’T TELL YOU ABOUT A HIDDEN FEE IF YOU ORDER ALCOHOL (399 yen) - in the pics you can see the “notice” they have in the dinner menu which was placed on the table after 5. I’m no expert but from my experience, it was the worst Ramen I had in Japan and even worse than an instant ramen pack tbh. We asked for what’s clearly shown as “beef tongue” and got some very rare skewered lamb or something (check pics). The menu shows 4x beef tongue skewers and I asked the waitress to confirm if it was indeed 4x or 1x and she said four, and so I ordered one of the item (thinking it would be 4x skewers for 499 yen). When we got our bill, it showed that they charged us four times for the one item - but I will push that aside to a language barrier because I usually like to give people the benefit of the doubt (but you take that how you will). At that point we were so mad we just paid and...

I was actually quite underwhelmed here. The decor leaves in no doubt that it's a Japanese restaurant. The tables, chairs, decor are designed to scream Japanese theme at you. It's fun though if you are a tourist. It's one of those things you try to immerse yourself in.

However the food is really very average at best. Some are even subpar. They are ok if at all and that's it. The only lucky thing is that they have English translation on one of the menus. As far as flavours and presentation goes, they don't seem to try to elevate the presentation. Kind of doing my job averagely and hope the diners don't notice the averageness.

The cost of appetizers that is compulsory to be paid with any alcohol drinks order is clearly stated on the menu. But the cost you are required to pay and what you get is embarrassing bad. It's a blatant money grab especially as the cost of alcohol here isn't cheap and definitely doesn't need anymore subsidies.

In short, sadly, I won't be revisiting this place. It's really a poor representation of...