How to eat out in Tokyo and Kyoto when the locals won't let you in

7 places to eat in Tokyo and Kyoto

Updated 04/19/25 with more Kyoto recs.

2024 was the biggest year for tourism ever recorded in Japan. The swell is so great that some parks and temples have already begun implementing a dual-pricing system for tourists.

But there is a simpler system I’ve experienced business owners using to keep tourists out: They’ll tell you they’re full, and hit you with this: 🙅🏻‍♂️

At the 2-floor yakitori spot in Kyoto: 🙅🏻‍♂️. At the 2-floor sushi spot in Setagaya: 🙅🏻‍♂️. Again in Kyoto at the izakaya where your friend has reserved you a table: 🙅🏻‍♂️. At some highly recommended spots, Google Maps leaves you warnings, like fallen comrades in Dark Souls:

But as my Japan trip continued, I learned that if a hostess is telling you the place is full, it’s because it’s full right now. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t come back. A little respect, patience, and Google translate go a long way towards finding an excellent meal.

And when I say “excellent” meal, I mean excellent. It’s hard to find a bad meal in Japan—but it’s difficult to find the excellent ones. Before I dive into my specific recommendations, here are some general tips for finding those meals:

1. Take the train at least a half an hour from your hotel. Eating in Omoide Yokocho in Shinjuku feels like eating in Little Italy, Manhattan. But eating in Kichijoji’s Harmonica Alley—while still frequented by a good amount of tourists—feels a lot more manageable.

2. Don’t go anywhere you’ve found on TikTok or Instagram. Savoy, which has been on my radar since 2016 and was featured on Ugly Delicious, was easy to walk in to. I was able to walk into Tempura Matsu, which was written about in Matt Goulding’s Rice Noodle Fish. But there was 0 chance of me getting into the viral matcha latte or katsudon place. If you’re seeing it on your feed, so is everyone else who’s headed to Japan.

3. Be a tourist. As a stranger in my Instagram DMs reminded me, despite all of my kvetching about tourism, I am still a tourist. Too-high expectations are what lead to Paris Syndrome. If I could do it all again, I’d try not to crash out in Shimokitazawa when I learned that, 8 years after my last visit, everyone else had discovered the neighborhood, too. There’s a concept called Ichi-go ichi-e - Things only happen once. Don’t let what could be get in the way of what is.

And another quick tip: You can make reservations at most places. You just might not know where you want to go until you get there. Here’s where I’d start in Tokyo, if I could do it again:

There’s a place I walked by in Kichijoji’s Harmonica Alley, with a hand-drawn sign of a chicken and a mug of beer, pointing up a staircase. The first time I tried to walk in, I was hit with the “full” sign. But about an hour later, a spot had cleared up, and we were let in.

There are no English menus, but Google Translate works well enough. On the back of one menu is a yakitori list; on my visit, there was a young woman manning the charcoal, intensely focused on grilling each piece to perfection. Hand-written specials hang on the walls with their prices. I ordered the fried new potatoes with mentaiko, shrimp with mayonnaise, and the chef’s choice of yakitori.

It’s just young cooks putting out unpretentious food. The chicken tsukune was perfectly tender and moist, and the potatoes were crispy and bathed in delicious, briney pollock roe. The sake was dry and fresh. The shrimp? Look at the photo. They taste how you want them to taste.

I finished my skewers. I thought: I can never come back to this moment. But I want to stay here longer. Maybe I should order this exact meal again, right now.

I should have, but I didn’t. Even now as I look over pictures, so many of the moments have been lost. I can never go back. After 2 beers and a sake, that ichi-go ichi-e thing hits hard.

If you go, can you tell me if it’s still as special as it was this one time? It turns out, you can reserve a table on Tabelog.

📍 Naminoya Kichijoji (Google Maps link)

I’ve got 6 more spots to suggest in Tokyo and Kyoto. Consider subscribing to see them all? I want to keep writing and making videos about food, and subscriptions are going to be the best way for me to make a living.

Drinking matcha at a 150 year old tea shop: