Sushi Ginza Onodera Souhonten — Restaurant in Tokyo

As a business owner and former chef and restaurant manager, I’ve only ever written poor reviews when I truly feel like I’d like to prevent others from having a negative experience. I love and support restaurants whenever I can.

We booked and made a large deposit of around $150 for two guests weeks in advance as we had such a wonderful meal a year prior at their sister restaurant, tempura ginza onodera in ginza. We’ve sent multiple friends to their restaurants as a result.

We received an odd email the night prior to what I believed was our reservation. I showed it to our concierge as I couldn’t understand why they were emailing me again after I had confirmed the reservation. They told me it was simply a confirmation again. I translated it and it seemed to check out as there was no mention of anything else, just that we Couldn’t be late and to please call them if there was a problem.

Fast forward, after getting lost in the rain, we finally arrived early. We were greeted by a kind server and asked what time our reservation was to which I replied 8pm. She promptly sat us. We were served water and asked about any alcohol selections. About 15 minutes after we were sat, the manager came over and abruptly asked us what time our reservation was. We confirmed and thought it odd as we had been sat. She proceeded to ask me my name. I gave it to her. She then demands that I show her our email reservation. At this point, the entire restaurant of 3 chefs and about 12 guests is listening as it feels very tense. We show her our reservation, and she points out our reservation was for the night prior and that we must leave in a very terse manner.

My husband and I were shocked as we had no idea how this happened, and literally took 10 seconds to ask each other a question and then were trying to get up. She stood directly behind my very tall husband leering over us. And then in an aggressive tone said, I need you to leave right now please and started taking away our water glasses. To which I replied, we are trying but you are standing behind my husband who is 6’7” and he can’t back his chair out. He doesn’t want to hurt you. She promptly scoots to the side and then pulls the chair out while he’s trying to get up while they get our bags. I notice that this commotion is happening because the correct guests have arrived snd they’ve realized our error and theirs.

No one even said goodbye as we left, we were simply handed our bags and essentially pushed out. At the minimum, I feel they should’ve acknowledged their error in seating us. Or at least sent an email saying we missed our reservation which they never did. Standard operating procedures should be great at this caliber of a restaurant.

I fully own my mistake and didn’t even contest the deposit we lost, as I believe that restaurants shouldn’t suffer for missed reservations. but I don’t believe it’s appropriate to be this aggressive or rude, nor to literally chase out guests into the rain who clearly understood their mistake and paid a large sum of money for it already . We were happy to leave but did not need to be made to feel like children being scolded. The other guests were whispering to each other about the incident as well.

It’s my belief that when you have the honor Of touting a Michelin star, that is a duty to be kind to your guests and to show hospitality. We would have appreciated common courtesy while we were leaving.

The manager followed us out 5 minutes into The rain later as we were leaving as I believe she realized how callous she had been. She offered to see if we wanted to dine with them at their tempura restaurant, I responded we already had and thanked her. Honestly, we just did not feel comfortable there any longer nor wanted to be around her.

Sadly, I can’t speak for the food, but I will not be frequenting any of their locations again for fear of being humiliated again in front of the staff and other guests. I hope this won’t be...

Dear Sushi Ginza Onodera Team,

I am writing to express my disappointment with my recent visit to your restaurant on December 10, 2024. Despite being a regular visitor to Japan and a fan of your restaurant chain, my experience at Sushi Ginza Onodera fell short of my expectations.

My partner and I had booked a table over three weeks in advance, specifically looking forward to an omakase experience. However, upon arrival, we were led to a pre-arranged table on the side, away from the sushi counter. The pictures on your website clearly showed a different setup, which misled us into expecting a more immersive experience.

Despite my polite request to the hostess to move to the counter, we were told it was full. This was disappointing, especially given our long flight from Australia and our anticipation of a special dining experience.

While the meal was good, the experience left a bad taste. We felt rushed, finishing our meal in 75 minutes, and I felt sorry for the sushi chef, who had to come to our table instead of us being at the counter.

I'd like to share a personal anecdote that highlights our disappointment. I took a photo of my wife smiling, but what's not captured is the disappointment and frustration we felt during our visit. In fact, I had to ask my wife to smile for the photo, as the experience had fallen short of our expectations. What's even more disheartening is that we noticed empty seats at the counter for approximately 40 minutes, which seemed to be reserved for other international customers. This perceived preference for other patrons added to our disappointment and feeling of being undervalued as customers.

Considering our disappointment and the misleading information, I would appreciate it if you could offer a reasonable form of compensation, such as a refund or credit towards a future experience.

Reservation details:

Reservation number: ZXJKN3VFE8 Restaurant: Sushi Ginza Onodera Number of guests: 2 Date and time: 2024/12/10 (Tue) 17:00 (JST) Plan name: Seasonal selection Nigiri (27,500 yen per person, tax included)

I hope you will take our feedback seriously and take necessary steps to improve the dining experience for future customers.

Feel free to reach...

My wife and I really enjoyed our experience at Sushi Ginza. We were looking forward to having Omakase on our trip in Japan but upon beginning or search, we began to realize finding a solid option can be quite difficult if you don’t speak japanese due to challenges with booking. We stayed at an AirBnb so we didn’t have the option to have a hotel concierge help book for us. As such, we needed a spot that could book online, and also accommodate a party of 4 that was foreigner friendly. This hit all the marks for us!

We had actually discovered Sushi Ginza on Pocket Concierge, but I’d recommend you book through Sushi Ginza’s main website. Pocket concierge only allows you to book up to a party of 2 and forces you to pre-pay. in contrast, Sushi Ginza’s website can let you book for a party of 4 and does not pre-charge you. Instead you pay at the restaurant (though they will ask for CC info to put a soft charge on your card to hold the reservation and in case of cancelation)

The restaurant is easy to access via the Ginza line, and is just a few minutes walk from the station. The main restaurant is on the 2nd floor of a multi-storey building, so don’t go to their secondary restaurant on the first floor of another building by mistake (though there are signs indicating this). They had a staff person outside of the building that was looking out for us and guided us inside. The decor inside is very nice and the sushi bar experience is excellent. We had gotten the lunch omakase which is a fair amount cheaper compared to their dinner omakase while still offering a full omakase experience. All the staff were very friendly and were able to communicate with us in basic english (and some gesturing mixed in). The sushi chef took great care of us and was super personable even with the language barrier. Even with the shorter lunch course, we were very full by the end of our omakase. Every piece was crafted with immense care and explained to us in detail. For anyone coming to visit Japan and wanting a great omakase experience, this is...