Tokitarazu Ebisu — Restaurant in Tokyo

We found this place on Tabelog and booked a tuna set menu. We have been dining around Japan for 2 weeks and even had a very expensive puffer fish menu just the day before at another place. This menu was by far our favourite experience!

Every course was just delightful. The appetiser box to start filled us with doubt as we did the temple meal in Kyoto and didn’t really like the food so when we saw it was much of the same stuff, we were sceptical. Except that they did it sooo much better and every bite made us think, “ah is this what it’s meant to taste like”.

Most of the restaurants we’ve been to had very lovely people but due to the language barrier of us not understanding enough Japanese, the courses lacked explanation of what we were eating. Not the fault of the service of course. Just us gaijin who should be learning to do better. But at Tokitarazu, we were served by a lovely lady who explained every single thing we were eating and she was so kind that it just added to our experience.

When I read the reviews on Google for this place, I felt it was not truly representative of what the restaurant is capable of as it was just about their ala carte options or casual lunch sets. I would not have booked if not for the Japanese reviews on Tabelog which is why I felt I needed to write this.

Our gorgeous 8 courses were just delicious and a great balance of flavours. They even cook the rice pretty much fresh at your table. We paid ¥21700 for 2 pax including 3...

This restaurant is a hidden gem! My wife and I had just arrived in Shibuya after a long day of travel from the US. We were exhausted and were just looking for an easy, decent meal. Tokitarazu was just a short walk from our hotel and had an English menu - easy decision and we were so glad we ended up there because it far exceeded our expectations.

Our server was very kind and helpful and spoke very good English. She pointed out her recommended dishes and explained each one to us. We ordered all of her recommendations plus a couple of other dishes and were absolutely delighted with every single dish. Everything was delicious and had great presentation.

Our favorites included the crab croquettes, Umi Shippo with the dashi flavored jelly, the salt encrusted fish, and the Kamameshi. We weren't sure what to do with the last two options so our server guided us on how to break the salt crust and letting us know when the Kamameshi was ready to serve. It was great to sample the more traditional Japanese dishes they offered.

Before leaving, our server made an extremely kind gesture to write down some of her recommended things to see in the city and said we could call her if we needed any further advice. It was a wonderful way to begin our first trip to Japan - to have such a great first meal and to feel so welcomed. We are grateful for the hospitality and would highly recommended...

The interiors are fine. What didn’t work here was their overall and utter dishonesty. We had made a reservation for a certain, not cheap course meal. What was served, however, was a significantly downgraded version of what was stated in the menu. Hamo fish was replaced by anago fish, and (usually gourmet) Matsutake mushrooms were replaced with supermarket-grade shimeji mushrooms, just to name a few. We were truly disturbed by their dishonesty, them never acknowledging or addressing the discrepancy by explaining, or making up for the lack of quality. They didn’t even seem to care. Being with a group of friends from overseas, I chose not to make it a scene, but their lack of service was impressive enough that I had to leave this review to calm down. I wouldn’t want anybody to go through the same experience I have had. Your money and time would be more wisely spent at a different restaurant...