Irori Beniya — Restaurant in Uji

If your preferred appetizer is rage, if you enjoy watching snails race and paint dry, or if you want to waste precious vacation time, this is the restaurant for you.

Possibly the worst pre-meal experience I've ever endured; you expect the meal to be amazing because you sit in an uncomfortable chair for 1.5 hours awaiting your turn in line.

Worst of all, while waiting, a group of 3 decided they could split up into singles, and rather than defending the sanctity of the queue, the host obliged and sat them in-between other groups, which after leaving would have given enough space for the "proper" next group.

You really need to be a masochist to sit there and watch as people eat single grains of rice and individual muscle segments of a fish fillet with their chopsticks. What could be a reasonable 30 minute meal for the patrons turns into over 1.5 hours per person.

With such an immense wait, you'd expect something spectacular, right? No, it's just mediocre. This is clearly a gimmick, but if you truly have nothing better to do,...

July 2023 Great place for lunch. We wanted to visit here back in December and finally had a chance to dine in.

Once you get in, it's surprisingly huge. There are about 10 seats (everything at the bar) and we got the best seats (one in the middle) to enjoy our meal with shioyaki BBQ.

We tried miso flounder and tendon (one shrimp tempura and two anago tempura). The flounder was perfectly cooked, a bit harder than what you would call opaque. I really loved their tendon - juicy inside, crunchy outside even after 20-30 mins. For tendon, you can choose a version with shrimp only or the one we had with one shrimp and two anago. It also comes with shiso tempura and an eggplant with miso soup.

If you want a delicate dish with an exquisite experience watching da master grilling the fish by the flame, this is your...

Amazing food and experience!

This place specializes in irori-style grilling: salt-aged or marinated fish grilled over Japanese charcoal. The menu is simple, but every item we tried was exceptional.

We ordered set menu items #1, #2, and #57. I highly recommend #1 (grilled mackerel) and #57 (grilled salmon with salmon roe over rice). The preparation is unique, with fish grilled vertically—something you rarely see, especially in the States.

Service was outstanding, the vibe was clean and relaxing, and the entire experience felt like a hidden 5-star gem.

If you’re in the area, definitely stop by. Be aware there may be a short wait after 11am, and a longer one after 12pm. You can put your name down and come back later—just...