Tsukiji Sushicho, Main Store — Restaurant in Tokyo

Don't bother queuing at this place, it's not worth the time. The most frustrating thing is that the staff follow the order of names on the name list so rigidly, which makes it ultra inefficient. For example, if you are a party of 1 and there is a seat that is vacant, but the next name on the list is for a party of 2, they will refuse to let you take that seat and keep you waiting even though you are the next party of 1 on the list. This makes ZERO sense to me that the staff waits for the next group to vacate and seat the party of 2 first, because the single seat will still be left vacant and I would have waited for no good reason?

There's ongoing construction on the road just in front of the store so the heat coupled with the dust is a real bummer. Despite the 35°C heat, the staff doesn't even bother to serve small cups of cold drinks, like what I experienced in Kyoto last summer, where the restaurant didn't charge as much this one, but the service was great, the staff served cold tea while we were waiting in the sun.

I suggest walking just down the street to the other nigiri sushi place, where there are ample seats and you don't have to be treated like just another digit. The amount I spent at this place (too much, because the portion size is smaller than expected, considering that I'm a petite Asian woman who doesn't eat a lot) could very well afford a decent set meal at the other place where I'd actually feel full. I've attached a receipt to my review as hard evidence I was actually at this place.

TLDR: Food is decent, but not worth the lacklustre ambience (you gotta stand to eat) and the long waiting time with a horribly inefficient seating process and...

I was in Tokyo for one week late October 2023, and this was the best dining experience I had during my visit.

While on the hunt for some nigiri around the Tsukiji markets, I happened to walk past this place around 9am. I checked the google scores and saw the high ratings and that they open at 11:15am, so I decided to come back around opening time.

After some nigiri elsewhere and coffee at the wonderful Turret Coffee nearby, I came back around 11:20am to see a lot of people sitting outside already and realised you had to write your name down. There was already one and a half rows of names (all in Japanese), so I was even more compelled to dine in, so wrote my name down.

As I was by myself, I was hoping that I may get a spot quicker than groups of 2+ but this wasn't the case, which is fair and fine. As I wasn't sure how long it would be, I ended up waiting...and waiting. I finally got in around 12:30pm. Time slows down when waiting!

But it was worth it! Service was so friendly and fun. Each nigiri was beautiful. I enjoyed with some sake, and the handroll had beautifully crunchy nori and the fatty tuna was I think the best I've ever had (so got one more!). I tried a lot of varieties of nigiri I've never had, and truly everything was fresh and delicious. Some nigiri has yuzu rind, which provided subtle sweet and sourness to some of the richer fish, some nigiri was raw, some lightly grilled by being torched. Just stunning.

Definitely worth it, not just for the perfect food, but the unique experience of standing in a tiny sushi bar, eating beautiful food with friendly sushi chefs, and happy people...

Came in the afternoon somewhere between lunch and dinner. There is a waiting list out the front where you write your name - we waited maybe 20 minutes to get inside with 3 of us.

Once inside, you take your place standing at the bar and one of the chefs personally attends to your needs with some tea and sushi recommendations. Needing to stand at the bar rather than being able to sit down wasn't any trouble, if anything it made the experience more fun.

We tended to take turns choosing something off the board and then having the chef recommend something for us. We ended up having 9 pieces of sushi each, everything was fresh and delicious so you can't really go wrong here. Just choose your favourites and let the chefs recommend some seasonal choices if you want to get a little adventurous.

Each piece of sushi ranges between 100-500 yen. You probably want to allocate around 2000-4000 yen for the experience depending on how much you want to eat and which pieces you want.

The chef spoke enough English to make good recommendations and take our orders with no troubles, along with being able to hold a few simple conversations. The service in particular was a highlight, and watching them work their craft behind the counter was also great.

The only thing to watch out for is that you can find yourself quickly ordering more and more pieces which can quickly result in paying a tidy sum of yen if you're not careful. Just go in with a budget in mind and make sure you keep...