Rikyu Charcoal-Grilled Beef Tongue — Restaurant in Tokyo

Good quality beef tongue (based on my visit in january 2015) -

Food: 4 stars Price: 3 stars Service: 4 stars Ambiance: 4 stars Overall: 3.75 stars

Food: I ordered "beef tongue healthy set" for 1575 yen. It include a bowl of rice, a bowl of beef soup, a small bowl of salad, and a small bowl of chinese yam (shan yao, or white yam or Dioscorea opposita).

The soup was good with lots of green onion, and the salad was refreshing but not that special. My set includes 5 pieces of beef tongue, and they're chewy and yummy! I've never enjoyed beef tongue as much as I did there, but I usually don't find restaurants that specialize in beef tongue, so.. haha

I like the chinese yam and Japanese like to put it on rice to eat it. They also have a side order that you can order to get a bowl of chinese yam with egg, which tastes even better. However, some people think it's sticky and gross..like.. booger.. lol...

Price: I think the price is alright for the quality of food, but I think I'd be happier eating raw fish just because I love sashimi so much, and it's Japan.. you know what I mean!

Service: It was actually not busy when I went there at 5pm on Tuesday. But then again, January is a slow season.. They asked me where I want to sit, and I said I can sit at the counter since it's weird to sit in a table by myself. I could see the chefs cooking, and I used "sign language" to ask one of them if I could take pic of the food, and he said ok. haha! I also took a pic of the other chef secretly because he's cute (HELLO?!?!)

They refilled my tea a couple times and you can use credit card there. Make sure to use a card without foreign transaction fee since it gets big if you think it's a small amount, then it adds up...

Ambiance: It's bright and comfortable there even though the chair weren't that comfortable to sit. The noise level is fine as well.

Overall: It's a nice place to eat beef tongue, but I think if you aren't into it there are other good options in Tokyo Skytree for food. But then again the quality of beef tongue was pretty good and worth the price. It's also a good place to eat alone if you happened to travel...

Had the wagyu beef tongue set for 5000+ and the salmon + beef tongue set for 3000+.

The wagyu set is decent. The fat comes out of the tongue when bite.

But the beef tongue from the salmon is not good. It’s very tough, because it’s overcook. Look at the second photo. No red, all brown. If I’m chief, I cut and see all brown, I’d remake. Shame they didn’t remake and serve overcooked food to customer.

They also try to make a line outside by leaving tables empty. Lines you see doesn’t represent how popular this place is!!

Come enjoy some overcooked rubber if that’s what...

Used decent meat but somehow the taste was not as good as other beef tongue places I have been to.

Either too salty for the beef on sticks or too plain for the tenshoku.

Also, there seems to always be a queue but when I went in, it was clear that there are free spaces which means they could have let me in earlier as I did not see anyone left in the last 15 mins but I do see easily 3-4 tables empty. Is that a strategy to make the shop looks...