Tajimaya — Restaurant in Tokyo

Super lousy experience at this outlet. Second time here after being back in Tokyo since our trip in 2022. First experience was lovely but it’s horrendous this time round. Staff service have really deteriorated and it was very frustrating. We enquired about the buffet lunch pricing outside the restaurant somewhere around 2pm and when we were seated our table, it was already 2.07pm and as foreigners, we weren’t explained on how to order and what are our preferences especially after not being back here for a long period of time. Upon reaching our table inside, I requested if we could take the table inside their rooms which consists of 2 separate tables as we sat at that table the previous time we were here and also because we were dining in with 3 young kids and would like a more private setting in an event of not disturbing other patrons but was declined as they said both large tables in both rooms were reserved so we just decided to stick to the original table that was given and there was only 1 pot for the 6 of us. I have noticed other patrons such as those alone are given 1 pot and also those in group settings that has a maximum of 4 pax being served 1 pot. But I was dining in as a 6 pax group. So does that mean that if I wanted 2 pots, I needed to separate the group? Doesn’t really make sense. And also, the large tables in the rooms does not require any minimum spending and even if we needed to, we were paying for 5 pax worth of lunch (with an infant). After nearing the end of our 90 mins meal, only 1 out of their 4 tables in both rooms were occupied and only one of their “reservations” showed up and it was a party of 1. So I don’t understand why we couldn’t request for the larger tables instead especially when there were two tables inside each room and each table size were different, catering to different group size.

Aside from this, we have also decided to go for the 90 mins buffet the minute we enquired outside the restaurant and also when we requested for someone to attend to us at 210pm. Both times, we confirmed that we were having the 90 mins buffet meal. Everything was only settled around then and our food was only served at 216pm. Shortly after, I wanted to keep our timing in check so it dawned on me to ask what time does our 90 mins buffet meal end. After a few scenarios with their non-English speaking staffs, it turned out that they recorded our 90 mins meal at 2.02pm (the minute we entered) and they thought that we were having the 60 mins buffet meal. If we had really waited for someone to come over to take our order of having either the shabu shabu or sukiyaki, we prolly would end up with only having just 60 mins to eat instead of the 90 mins meal. All these were so frustrating just because we did our best efforts to double confirm everything and it was still not conveyed properly. Staffs are definitely not trained to handle customers who are foreigners especially when this outlet is just a mere 7 mins away from Tokyo Station and big hotels such as Shangrila in their vicinity. Being in this vicinity, their target audience would largely be those working around this area and tourists who have chosen to stay around this area. Truly disappointed this time round as we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch experience here the previous time we were with our toddler, hence we were looking forward to our meal here again as a family of 6. Did not wanted to continue my meal as my mood has already been ruined but the rest of my group have already started eating. I really wouldn’t patronise this outlet again after today’s horrible experience.

PS: one of their staffs came over to ask if we wanted anything else as it was approaching our last order timing and apparently their said table time and the recorded table time in the system is different. So it was truly very misleading as to what time your meal ends. Look at how many times they needed to correct...

You can choose to have the all-you-can-eat meat menu, or the set menu with a prefix portion of meat. The veg is unlimited regardless of the menu you chose. I enjoyed dining here because the taste of the sukiyaki broth was good and the variety of vegetables were aplenty. I chose the meat buffet option and the portion of meat was generous! There were like 10 slices of a cut of meat each plate, which was quite substantial for a solo diner.

Getting here may bit tricky as this restaurant in located underground. If you are coming from ground level, follow the gps until you see a huge giraffe statue then follow the stairs down to find the restaurant located right at...

Really bad services. This place didn't accept reservation and i was told i had to walk in only. I came in with a group of 12 people. After waiting for 40 minutes, staffs told us to wait 1.5 more hours since we have to sit together at the area we're designated, even I tried to tell them that separate tables were ok but they didn't allow anyway (so ridiculous) and we waited. But when the time came, only 10 people could fit in and we were pushed to sit on the extra chairs so we started to get mad and didn't accept it. If not because of our 4 kids we wouldn't have put up with it and go to somewhere else that have good service mind as Japanese restaurants...