Toyama Sushi Ginza — Restaurant in Tokyo

50 minutes waiting for food they tried to charge us for, but never showed up.

Unfortunately this is a sushi place with good fish and deceptive, possibly racist, service. I have lived in Japan for three years and speak fluent Japanese. I’d normally not describe it so arrogantly but it’s critical for context, and if I had this experience as a resident, I would strongly caution anyone coming here as a tourist. Upon entering this place the hostess seemed a little exasperated but tolerant of our reservation. I get it, honestly if you know how stressful we are as foreigners compared to Japanese, initial hesitation over miscommunication is understandable. But I explained, in Japanese, that I understood the rules of the establishment and I was happy with them. We ate a lot of good fish, probably with a bill twice as much as the next customer, blowing through the staff terseness and hesitancy. It came time that we wanted our final dish, the same oyster we had ordered twice already, thinking we would depart about 10 minutes after. The kitchen staff accepted the charge on our bill, but after 20 minutes of waiting, I explained to the chef in Japanese that it still had not come. She then took the unprecedented step of checking the bill on our table, which is the same as in their own system, to show me if there was a mistake, and then realized there was none. She then said just please wait a moment. I checked in in 10 and 20 minutes later. At 30 minutes later, and 50 minutes after the original order, I gave up and ordered the bill. Then I had to point out to the staff that they charged us for a dish that never came.

Maybe there was a miscommunication, maybe they were out of oysters and didn’t know how to say that politely, but I’m totally unimpressed with their solution to the problem being just ignore them and charge them for it anyways.

I’m guessing this is a place where there is a huge disconnect between management, who seemed to want to attract foreigners based on the English signs, and staff, who seemed totally exasperated from the moment we walked in and tried to overcharge us. I can assure you this is a beautiful country with the most honest people you’ve ever met in the world, so this is incredibly out of practice. I would strongly recommend avoiding this place for the million competitors that will do a...

I don’t like leaving negative reviews, and I never thought I would have to do so in Japan, but unfortunately, I had a very disappointing experience here when it came to the service, and I will not be coming back.

I can’t comment on the quality of the food because I never got the chance to try it. I'm sure it’s probably good.

I arrived on Sunday evening just before 7:00 PM, specifically as a single guest, because I had read a positive review about the price and quality of the offerings. I was aware that they closed at 9:00 PM, but with two hours to spare, I thought it would be enough time. I registered at the machine, which I managed to do with the help of Google Translate.

There were three or four couples ahead of me in line, and I expected a wait of 30 to 45 minutes. In the end, it took almost 90 minutes, even though the place at the bar I was eventually seated at had been vacant for over an hour.

Once seated, I looked at the iPad and saw that many of the dishes were already marked as sold out. That was disappointing, but what really topped it all off was when the staff member, as she seated me, casually mentioned that I only had 15 minutes to place my order before they would stop serving.

While this might have been factually correct and perhaps well-intentioned, after waiting outside in the cold for so long, staring at a half-empty menu, and then being asked to hurry up, I decided to leave. What a...

I’m really conflicted about Toyama. It may have a conveyor belt, but it’s all style and no substance. Instead, advertisements circle the dining area while you order directly on a tablet. Chefs make it, and then send it directly to your table via a different conveyor belt. How is this any different than sitting at the counter in front of the chef? I don’t think it is.

The prices are reasonable at lunch, provided you order the sushi sets. They range between 1000 to 2000 Yen, and include seaweed salad, miso soup, an egg custard, and 8 pieces of sushi. The quality is fair, and their service is great.

They’re easily able to accomodate foreigners with the tablet (you just click the English, Chinese, or Korean language option!), though the menu doesn’t translate a lot of the specials and the local fish names. Not knowing a lot of local Japanese fish, that didn’t really slow me down. I just looked at a picture of white fish on rice and said…. Let’s try that.

Prices if you’re ordering a-la-carte are 300-800 on average, so the folks reviewing saying they spent 4000+ per person likely came for dinner or ordered a-la-carte.

Anyways… it’s not really conveyor belt sushi, and it’s very pricey if you don’t come for lunch. Combined with the fact that the sushi isn’t the best / freshest (you’ll find much higher quality at the Market, for example) and I find myself giving this...