BANIKU BARU Shinmiyoshi

Loved the experience and the atmosphere! The decor is amazing and the service was friendly! Although we didn’t try any horse meat dishes we were able to enjoy a lot of other delicacies and had a lovely dinner!

Waited for about ten minutes before it’s our turn to be seated. Sat down at 9:10pm. Submitted our orders at 9:15pm. This was when things started to go south. Our orders were combined with another table’s due to their system error. A lot of communication and time spent in confirming our items. Our first item, the hotpot, was served at 9:31pm. Was interrupted quite a few times due to the misunderstanding on the final price because of the mixed up in orders. Was hard to eat due to the disruptions. Restaurant closes at 10pm. Was reminded twice at 10:02 and 10:08. Sincerely thought they’d give us more time to finish because of the hiccups earlier. Unpleasant experience. As for the food, the hotpot was kinda too salty for us. Horse meat was fine. A dessert from family mart tastes better than the seasonal parfait. Restaurant ambience was nice. Personal opinions only. Take it with a pinch of salt.

Extremely delicious horse sashimi, as well as fried horse meat. There was a recommendation on applying certain sauces, ginger or shallot to different cuts of sashimi, but naturally it was fresh and good enough to not have any. But having the recommended sauce/condiments style does bring a slight unique taste to it. Staff was extremely friendly and helpful, decor was very very interesting and atmosphere was definitely very relax and welcoming. Don't let the outside menu intimidate you, they have English menu for people who don't speak Japanese. Would definitely come back to this place in the future.

One of our traveling group wanted to try horse meat and this place was recommended by the hotel reception staff. It seems popular, as all tables were filled and it was lucky that we had a reservation. We ordered two sets of shabu shabu, and the meat came in long strips that were not gamey at all. We also had horse sashimi with apple, and grilled horsemeat in skewers. In addition, we ordered mushrooms cooked in butter, as well as pork tonkatsu, which was tasty. I highly recommend the cold soba, while the onigiri or grilled rice was so so. Prices are not cheap and we ended by paying almost 20000 yen, including a glass of excellent sake, two beers, and two ume with sofa.

Charging hidden costs for appetizers is unacceptable and deceptive. This kind of sneaky practice ruins the dining experience and screams dishonesty.

Wasabi leaves appetizer dish is amazing. I really recommend Soba course (but it’s quite a large portion of starch). The veg soup is delicious and light. And Highly recommend the wasabi, it’s authentic wasabi. Sweet and no spicy at all.

Soba depends on your taste... But you can try all the famous dishes of Nagano prefecture! So especially we recommend this restaurant to people who visit here for sightseeing!

Horse meat is traditionally consumed in this area. Served with many other Japanese izakaya food and local Sake breweries. Great service. Highly recommended!