Me and my gf are planning to go this May. All booked and planned. But we wanted to try the best omakase out there. Our max budget is 500 usd for both of us. I realized you’d need to pay before reservation so wanted some help before we lock in the payment.
We’ll be arriving in;
Tokyo, May 1 then go straight to Osaka
May 1-3, Osaka
May 3-5, Kyoto
May 5-9, Tokyo
Where is the best place for omakase? Thank you!
29 comments
Kyubey Ginza Main Branch in Tokyo is one of the best. However, they only take reservations through a hotel concierge.
The other one is Sukiyabashi Jiro – but it’s impossible to get a reservation there.
Unfortunately you most likely waited too long to book one of the higher end restaurants. You usually need to be looking two months in advance.
Sushi Ginza Onodera was what my fiancé booked for us before and it was truly one of the best food experiences I have ever had. One of the rare places I could check in on Yelp and literally every review raves about it with photos. Though I do agree with another user that unfortunately you must book very far ahead of time for some of the best places. It’s possible to get good omakase (after all it is Japan!) but some mutually agreed top tier places may be all booked up by now.
Any preferences?
I have been to a few sushiya’s, and going to a few more later this year. Highly recommend Kyoto Wakuden 京都 和久傳 omakase if you like kappo. You can make the reservation online.
Edit: Sushi Tokami is a good sushiya to start with. Choose the 16-piece nigiri lunch menu.
Higashiazabu Amamoto. Good luck getting a seat. Highest ranked in tablelog last I checked. My hotel concierge failed to get a reservation and trying to get one off Omakase website is close to impossible.
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Best omakase implies Michelin which means $500 budget may not be enough?
I paid 35,420 yen at Sushiiwa in Kyoto. Don’t think it was worth.
I don’t know if this is necessarily the best, but it was a pretty fun experience and it was the best sushi I ever had, but I have never had super fancy omakase before, so keep in mind that context. There’s a bar called the Bellwood in Shibuya that has a back room that only seats four people and they do an omakase course along with 3 cocktails (they were all really good and you could order other drinks if you want to). The chef spoke English and made things fun. The sushi was really good, but maybe a bit different. When we went she made each one that was inspired by other regional cuisines, so India, Spain, NYC, Italy, etc.
You can book a reservation online easily enough. I think it was about $150/person.
Download Michelin app and look at Michelin bib restaurants. All the bibs we went to did not disappoint. Sure they aren’t “star” restaurants but they were still all great. One fav was Seki Hanare outside of Tokyo. Chef and staff are really sweet cool people.
Hattori sushi in roppongi was really good and is actually on the lower end as far as cost goes
Went to Sushi Gion Matsudaya in Kyoto, it was a great experience! We booked it the day before (although it was a Monday in winter). The website was not accepting our card to reserve so we to the restaurant and paid there the night before.
I’ve started making a list of what seems like lower end/good value omakase in Tokyo… has anyone been to Isana Sushi in Roppongi that can weigh in? 22k yen for omakase and a sale pairing seems quite nice.
We went to [Sushi Udatsu](https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/restaurants/udatsu-sushi) in naka-Meguro. It was amazing but we had to book about 8 weeks in advance. I believe it has one Michelin star— and was just about the only omakase spot I could find that offered a vegetarian course set for my husband. It was a perfect celebratory meal for the last night of our trip.
Also the restaurant scene in Japan is so enormous, you’ll get a phenomenal meal at plenty of non Michelin star places
I tried two months in advance to get into the best and it’s not possible. You have to have a fancy hotel or booking agency do it for you and they have to do it on the 1st of the previous month. So the deadline was April 1st. Use the website omakase to try to book yourself a one star Michelin
We had an amazing experience at Kyubey Ginza. We paid to book a reservation through JPNEAZY about a month in advance.
I booked Isana Sushi in Roppongi Tokyo. They have a fluent English speaking head chef since he worked in London for a couple years.
Sushi Matsumoto in Shibuya. Amazing and was about 450 usd including drinks. Combo of nigiri, hokkaido uni flight, chawanmushi, and appetizers. Flavors were delicate, balanced, and complex.
Looking online it seems like these ‘best’ sushi places are ¥40,000-50,000 for dinner. Seriously?!
Hey OP, I did a bunch of research for my own trip in a few weeks. The reality is that you were probably never getting into the very best places anyways – places like Namba, Sugita, and Saito are either effectively members only or explicitly so at this point. The spots that are the best value are also most likely booked out, but I did have a few backups that may be doable if you act now.
Sushi Suzuki has a 22,000 JPY lunch course you may be able to get a reservation for [https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130101/13184367/dtlrvwlst/](https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130101/13184367/dtlrvwlst/) (reservations by phone)
Takumi Sushi Owana might be able to accommodate you though for the first week of May they seem booked [https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13211921/dtlrvwlst/](https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13211921/dtlrvwlst/) ; not sure how to parse the dates you listed above. [https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/244448?seat_date_eq=2023-04-25](https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/restaurants/244448?seat_date_eq=2023-04-25)
Sushi Iwao [https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1308/A130801/13269557/](https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1308/A130801/13269557/) is usually available; just note that the more affordable lunch course is nigiri only so it’s a smaller meal. [https://www.tablecheck.com/shops/iwao-sushi/reserve](https://www.tablecheck.com/shops/iwao-sushi/reserve)
Worst comes to worst, it’s not quite on the same level but it’s very good – go to one of the Manten sushi locations (I’ve only been to the one in Marunouichi) and line up at lunch for their omakase.
When you say omakase, do you mean sushi?
Omakase means “the chef decides”, so it can be anything. I would look at the michelin guide, and ask your hotel to book the restaurant you decide on for you. Be aware that you may have to pay in cash (though most likely fancy restaurants accept cards).
We just went to Sushi Panchi (sushi punch) in Tokyo. It was an incredible Omikase sushi experience. Highly recommend! The chef also speaks English which is super helpful.
1. “Best” and “500 usd for both of us” are mutually exclusive. You can’t have both.
2. May 2023? If so, you’re going to be out of luck for anything top tier. They’re all booked.
Maybe call your hotel’s concierge and see what they can find for you within these limitations?
May 3-7 is golden week so besides foreign tourists, locals are off too. May 8 is when the mainland Chinese tourists will start to come too, so if you find something you should take it.
For sushi I recommend Kyubey in Ginza, not the other branches
I can’t really say what the BEST is, but we had lunch at Narisawa a few years ago and it was fabulous. We wanted Japanese wine and so they paired some great Japanese wines with our meal. And one thing that really stuck with us was the chef himself came out a couple times and went to every single table to chat and see if people were enjoying it. The bread that cooked at the table was so tasty, I would love to have that again!
Gonna suggest an entirely different sort of omakase – Gen Yamamoto in Tokyo. It’s an omakase cocktail bar. 8,000 JPY for a tasting menu of six drinks (but don’t worry about getting drunk, the drinks aren’t large and the pours aren’t too strong).
https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/bars-and-pubs/gen-yamamoto
I don’t know about BEST. But I went to L’effervesence (3 star Michelin) and it was truly an amazing meal. French style keiseki inspired. It was around 300 per person. My concierge made a lunch res the day before.
I’m going to be the slight voice of dissent here and say that there’s no such thing as the “best omakase” and that you probably shouldn’t try searching for such a thing. Every restaurant has its own atmosphere, style of fish/rice/seasoning/etc., theme, history, etc. If you don’t have a specific place in mind, you’re probably better off searching well-known lists of sushi restaurants (like [this one](https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-places-for-sushi-in-tokyo)), the [Michelin guide](https://guide.michelin.com/us/en) for the cities you’ll be in, and sites like [Pocket Concierge](https://pocket-concierge.jp/en/) for places that look good and are in your budget. And that’s assuming you mean sushi omakase. If you simply mean “set course”, there are additionally tons of good kaiseki places, tempura places, and so forth. From there, you’ll have to figure out what’s still available for your time frame, or you could use a booking site to do it for you.
And frankly, I would lower your budget. You can get some really amazing places for $100-150/person, especially if you go at lunch time (when the prices are lower but the food is equally as good). If you don’t know enough to already want to specifically pick your own restaurant or style of food, you’ll have a pretty amazing meal at almost any fancy place with a decent reputation.
I wonder if you would even be able to appreciate the best because it’s so cultural you’d need to experience bad, mid, good, great within Japan to have a reference point.
I’m betting just about any sushi place I go to will be better than most of the sushi places I’ve been in the US.
I don’t know your background of course so I’m just sharing my opinion as someone who’s about to go for the first time but loves sushi. And I think SF Bay Area sushi is pretty good so I’m not totally oblivious.