37 Best Restaurants in Tokyo, Japan

One of the culinary specialties of the Narita area is freshwater eel (unagi)—indeed, on the short stroll along Naritasan Omotesando, you'll see a number of places offering it. This one, close to Naritsan Shinsho-ji, is known for its chargrilled eel, slathered in a savory soy-based sauce and served over rice. Tradition says the dish is good at fighting fatigue, hence, it's particularly popular during the humid summer months. If you are a truly adventurous eater, try the eel-liver soup or the deep-fried eel bones. Takeout orders are an option.

Kushiyaki (grilled skewers), Vietnamese-style, are on the menu at the bustling restaurant that is the Tokyo branch of a popular barbecue chain in Hanoi. The skewers here include chicken thigh on or off the bone, chicken feet, and gizzards, as well as seafood, vegetables such as okra, and sweet treats like banana. The owners also run another no-frills Vietnamese restaurant called Chopsticks, serving excellent pho noodles, on the same block in Koenji’s north side.

Inside Neal's Yard Green Square, this laid-back café has all-natural wooden interiors and a menu of dishes that will make the health-conscious happy. While shopping along Omotesando, it's a great place to stop for a snack or a lunch that might include a Japanese teishoku set, vegetable curry, tofu lemon cake, or other vegan fare.

Stop off near the end of the Yurikamome Line and have dinner along the riverbank before heading back to your hotel. The live DJ (on weekends), order-at-bar service, and strong cocktails create a lively ambience, and the location along a popular walking path makes for excellent people- and dog-watching. There are often festivals here, so make sure to check the event schedule. 

This lively gastro-pub in the Coredo Muromachi complex specializes in local craft beers, with the 20 or so brews on tap covering a range of styles. Though you can stop by for just a pint, there's also a food menu featuring Japanese izakaya staples and lunchtime teishoku meals that are great value for money.

Koenji has many culinary bases covered, and with this izakaya it delivers Okinawan food and drink as authentic as any you’d find in Japan’s southern islands (you can thank the Okinawan owner for that). Dachibin, whose name refers to a portable ceramic container for sake, specializes in regional classics such as goya champuru (a stir-fry of bitter gourd, spam, and tofu) and soki soba (noodles with pork sparerib meat), which can be chased down with a pint of Orion Beer or a shot of Okinawan firewater awamori. Like many Koenji venues, it opens late and stays open later, from 5 pm to 5 am.

Daikokuya, in the center of Asakusa's historic district, is a point of pilgrimage for both locals and tourists. The specialty is shrimp tempura, and the menu choices are simple—tendon (tempura shrimp served over rice) or the tempura meal with rice, pickled vegetables, and miso soup. If you're famished, you can add additional pieces of tempura or side dishes such as sashimi for an additional fee. When the line outside is too long, head to the shop's annex (bekkan) just around the corner.

At the northern end of the izakaya-lined Hoppy Street (a few blocks west of Senso-ji), this hip Scandinavian-style café serves up sweet and savory Norwegian waffles along with coffee made using single-origin beans. In the evenings, there are craft beers and cocktails on the menu, too.

Kamasho serves the area's traditional signature dish, Fukagawa-meshi—short-neck clams and green onion cooked in a miso broth and poured over a bowl of rice. You can order just a bowl of it or, if you're really hungry, a set meal with a side serving of pickles and miso soup or some sushi. Drinks ranging from beer and umeshu (plum wine) to shochu and nihonshu are also available.

Located in Shibuya's Tokyu Department Store, Tenichi is an accessible and relaxed tempura restaurant. The best seats are at the counter, where you can see the chefs work and each piece of tempura will be served piping hot, directly from the oil. The restaurant's simple, brightly lit interior keeps the focus on the food itself. Choose from a selection of ten-don (tempura served with sauce over a bowl of rice) or tempura sets. The more expensive tempura meals are available at the counter only.

At this all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, offerings change with the season to highlight the freshest flavors the country has to offer. Options skew heavily toward Japanese favorites, and you can taste the quality in every bite. Weekends can get  busy, so it's best to come on a weekday at around opening time.

Sushi restaurants can be expensive, but a rock-bottom alternative is an assembly line–style kaiten-zushi, where chefs inside a circular counter put sushi on plates color-coded for price onto a revolving belt, you choose what you'd like as it passes, and a staffer counts up the plates and calculates the bill when you're done. It's all about the fresh fish—and clearly not about the interior design—at this bustling branch of a kaiten-zushi chain opposite Omotesando Hills. The cheapest prices are reserved for staples like tuna and squid; you'll pay a bit more for delicacies like high-grade toro cuts of tuna and sea urchin.

Every so often, even on foreign shores, you've got to have a burger, and the Swiss-and-bacon special at Homework's is an incomparably better choice than anything you can get at one of the global chains. Hamburgers come in three sizes on white or wheat buns, with a variety of toppings. You also find hot teriyaki chicken sandwiches, pastrami sandwiches, and vegetarian options like a soybean veggie burger or a grilled eggplant sandwich. With its hardwood banquettes and French doors open to the street in good weather, Homework's is a pleasant place to linger over lunch. There is also a branch in Hiroo.

Down a little side street and behind a tiny door—situated just as all good tonkatsu shops should be—Isen has been serving tender, fried pork cutlets since the late 1920s. To avoid the crowds, plan to come right before or after the midday rush, and try to sit at the bar so you can watch the staff place each piece of your set lunch plate with precision.

This family-run restaurant serves authentic soba—thin buckwheat noodles, often served chilled in summer and hot in winter in a rustic atmosphere—in a rustic atmosphere. Although a simple soba meal can be quite inexpensive here, it still might be worth spending just a bit more to have your noodles topped with tempura or other goodies.

The ever-popular Kanda Yabu Soba is in a traditional-style building that replaced the original 130-year-old structure after a fire in 2013. It's one of the oldest and best places to sit down and savor freshly made soba noodles—be that on tatami or at one of the tables.

This laidback joint in the lively Harmonica Yokocho neighborhood proves that an intimate sushi experience doesn’t have to be overly formal or expensive. Grab a seat at the counter, and use the picture menu to help you order, or enjoy a three-, eight-, or twelve-piece set menu—perhaps paired with nihonshu sake selected from the short beverage list. Although it doesn't serve lunch on Wednesday, Katakuchi makes up for it by offering oden (small stewed dishes) with dinner that evening.

Offering a bird's eye view of happenings below, this 8th-floor restaurant combines Japanese and Western ingredients to create modern home cooking–style dishes. A picture menu before the elevator let's you decide on your selection before you even go in.

Prominently standing at the edge of Yanaka, just a short walk to the west from the National Museum, this historical café is a popular stop for lunch or a light snack. A century old, the café has been stylishly renovated and serves homemade sandwiches, curries, cakes, and kaki gori, a traditional treat of flavored shaved ice. The first floor has a bar and dark wood tables, while the second is an airy Japanese-style tatami room with low tables. Although Kayaba isn't usually too crowded in the morning, expect to line up if you arrive at lunchtime.

Maid cafés aren't everyone’s cup of tea, but, if you want to try one, the main branch of Japan’s biggest such chain is as reputable a place as any. All manner of people come to be served by, and have their picture taken with, young women in French maid outfits who affect extreme levels of kawaii (cute) and occasionally break into song and dance. Menu highlights include simple pasta dishes, omuraisu (rice omelets), and colorful parfaits; the lengthy beverage list has coffee and juices as well as cocktails.

Known for its classic hayashi (hashed beef) rice, lemon herbal tea, and waffles with a side of fluffy ice cream, Maruzen Cafe is the perfect mid-afternoon stop. Its location on the third floor of Maruzen Bookstore and sleek, dark wooden furniture add to the homey atmosphere.

By day, this pleasant café offers outdoor seating and brioche French toast with great coffee just minutes from Tokyo Midtown and the museums of the Roppongi Art Triangle. From 5 pm, the menu changes to more expensive grilled meats and pastas.

For a post-shopping drink and a bite to eat, stop by this tiny brewpub amid the side streets just east of Nakano Broadway. The rustic decor makes the place seem as if a carpentry enthusiast has made a bar in their garage (the name kobo translates to "workshop," after all), but you're really here for the beer. Although offerings change often, reliable choices include IPA, stout, and white beer—perhaps accompanied by sausage, buffalo wings, or fries.

Sit down for a genuine taste of western Japan at this eatery serving savory okonomiyaki pancakes, as well as noodle dishes like yakisoba. It's inexpensive for the area, so expect a wait.

A good option for lunch, dinner, or a quick bite smack dab in the middle of Inokashira Park, Pepa Cafe Forest cooks up Thai staples such as green curry, pad Thai noodles, and tom yum kung soup. Other Southeast Asian options include fresh spring rolls, Vietnamese coffee, and bottled beer. Don't miss the tuk-tuk casually parked in the corner.

Swing open the door to Pizza Salvatore Cuomo and you'll catch a rich aroma wafting from the wood-burning oven—the centerpiece of this homey, spacious restaurant. As with Cuomo's other branches around town, the chefs here adhere to traditional Neapolitan methods, while updating recipes with dough infused with spinach, herbs, and even squid ink. Lunch courses are filling, affordable (around ¥1,000), and quick. Though seating space is ample, expect a full house on weekdays. For dinner classic antipasto dishes such as Caprese make for an authentic Italian meal. Branches are found throughout the city.

Off a main shopping street, one of Shimokitazawa's many curry shops has a cute entrance, table seating, and a couple of counter seats so you can watch the cooks at work. Unlike most Japanese curries, those served here tend to be heavy on the vegetables. You can also customize the spices and toppings to make your own curry. 

Satisfying the need for light, healthy food that is neither raw nor fried, this airy but rather nondescript bakery and café in the ultra-trendy Dover Street Market serves up a tasty selection of salads, quiches, vegetables, and other deli-style dishes. Although the interior's rows of tables and blank white walls can feel a bit too much like a hip reinterpretation of a school cafeteria, Rose Bakery is a good bet for a quick lunch or pastry while out wandering the Ginza area.

This lively izakaya on a corner of Hoppy Street's main intersection, a few blocks west of Senso-ji, gets consistently high reviews. Take your pick between the indoor and outdoor seating, then order a chilled beer or some sake to go with the classic izakaya fare on the English menu—perhaps starting with some grilled Atka mackerel or green peppers stuffed with miso-flavored minced beef, before trying the more acquired flavor of the raw beef heart.

At this restaurant specializing okonomiyaki (a savory pancake made with egg, meat, and vegetables), you choose the ingredients and cook them on the teppan (grill) yourself. Flipping the pancake can be challenging—potentially messy but still fun—and, fortunately, you're not expected to wash the dishes. Unlike at most Okonomiyaki joints, you can experiment with your own recipe or opt for one of the house specials such as sakurayaki (with pork, squid, and onions).