Unagi Obana

I've only ever had unagi in the US and nowhere else in Japan so take this review with a grain of salt. I came here based on a mark weins video and decided to spend about half my day traveling , queuing and eating lunch.

Based on the reviews, I arrived at around 9:30 on Wednesday and was super early. Easily the first person in line. Seating is limited to the first 15 people or so, and around 10:30 more people started showing up. They do not take reservations or large parties. If you have a large group like five or six people I recommend you get here at 9-930 am so you are all together, otherwise you may have to wait until afternoon service .

They have a pretty methodical way of ordering and queing. It's first come first serve and around 10 to 1030 an employee comes out and takes your name and place in line. She comes out periodically every fifteen minutes or so and does this to get the names of others in queue as well. You are grouped by party members. There were some people who were part of a group that came in late but they were able to get in to the first service even though they weren't queuing up. That's kind of unfair to me. The whole party should be present in the queue to make it fair to everyone, especially if they are waiting for two hours or more.

Closer to opening they come out and ask you what kind of eel you would like. There's three or four choices I believe and I went with the classic grilled eel in their sauce. When the doors open you walk inside and take off your shoes and are handed a little flag that lets you keep track of your shoes. You enter in the order you queue and they have tables now instead of floor cushions. They then serve you tea. I took this chance to go to the bathroom because after waiting in line for two hours I needed it. It was a really nice and clean and modern bathroom. They have wooden sandals that you wear when entering the restrooms.

You only get one chance to order food and once your order is in it can't be altered. My friend wanted to order yakitori after we finished our meal but we were not allowed too. We could keep ordering drinks but once the food ticket is in thats that. Kind of a bummer to be honest since we wanted to try more food.

In retrospect, I honestly thought it was just above average and probably not worth the wait, especially with how the ordering and queing is. Again, I've only had eel once in Japan and my prior experience is based on unagi don dishes in sushi places in the US , so I'm not familiar with the different types of eel or unagi dishes that actually exist in Japan. The service was decent and if you can overlook the way they do things in regards to ordering and queing, then you'll enjoy this place. The service was decent and if you can overlook the way they do things in regards to ordering and queing, then you'll enjoy this place.