Tonkatsu Yamabe Okachimachi — Restaurant in Tokyo

As a solo traveller who couldn't understand Japanese, it was a little difficult for me to locate this shop because it didn't have any English signage. Luckily there were a few reviews that posted pictures of what this place looked like, so I was still able to find it eventually. I waited for around 20mins to be seated. It's a counter kind of restaurant, so you can only sit at the counter and eat your food. There seemed to be a lot of locals around and I would estimate that there were perhaps 90% of them there.

The menu in the shop and everything else was in Japanese so I was a little concerned. Thankfully, the service staff whipped out an English menu after I asked her hopefully, "English?". I pointed at the pork loin cutlet and she nodded her head in acknowledgement.

The pork cutlet was good. It was like sinking my teeth into really crisp yet soft pork. The flavour was just right. Also, I was served miso soup with small clams and a generous portion of rice. The miso soup was so good and was definitely salty and thick enough. Furthermore, for the portion and the quality, I would say that the price is very affordable....

We went there to try their pork and we weren't let down. It is a small restaurant with around ~20 seats and a small menu but everything was delicious. The food comes with a cup of tea, a little vegetable side dish and a miso soup with little shellfishs; really flavourful. Their sauce can be used at your discretion. Culinary-wise, there's nothing more to say, one of the best pork we've had there. The service is pretty fast too, the restaurant is often full so you might have to wait a bit to get a seat; but as mentioned, they're fast, so it won't be long. The restaurant can however feel a bit claustrophobic, not a lot of space if you have big jackets and/or large bags with you. You might also feel pressured to finish your meal faster than you'd like because the next person waiting to get a seat are right behind you while you're enjoying your food; so it's not a place you'd want to have a slow and relaxing meal and chit chat around some tea. The prices are also really reasonable, ranging from around 900¥ to 1400¥ Overall a pretty good experience, I recommend the place if you have the...

The best tonkotsu I’ve ever had. To be fair, I live in the US, and don’t eat tonkotsu that often. But this was quite good.

Each meal comes with the tonkotsu on a bed of shredded cabbage with wasabi on the side, rice, pickled cabbage, miso soup with small clams, and green tea. The tonkotsu sauce is self serve, you can use as much as you want.

My partner and I tried both pork options. One was one large cutlet, the other was three smaller cutlets. They tasted basically the same.

This place is popular, so expect a line. We got there 10 minutes early and still missed the first seating. The restaurant seats around 16 or 17 people, so if you arrive later than that, expect to wait around 30 minutes (depends how fast people eat). They’ll take your order while you’re waiting though, so the food should come basically as soon as you sit down.

Overall, I can’t really imagine what they could have done better, hence the 5 stars. That being said, tonkotsu isn’t my favorite meal, it’s a bit heavy for me. Still, highly...