Edogawa Naramachi

If you're a fan of unagi (grilled eel), Edogawa in Nara deserves a spot on your must-visit list — easily ranking as one of the best unagi restaurants I've tried in Japan, right after my experience in Narita. The service was excellent. The waitstaff were polite, welcoming, and patient, taking the time to explain how to properly enjoy the different dishes we ordered. Their hospitality truly elevated the entire dining experience. The highlight of the meal was undoubtedly the unagi rice box — a beautifully grilled eel served over perfectly seasoned rice. It's a signature dish that you simply must try when dining here. We also enjoyed a variety of side dishes including tempura, fresh vegetables with raw egg for sukiyaki-style cooking, and a refreshing cold beer to complement the meal. The price is around ¥5,000 per person, which I find to be fair and reasonable considering the quality, portion size, and overall dining experience. You definitely get your money’s worth. I’d gladly revisit Edogawa the next time I’m in Nara. It’s a great place to enjoy authentic Japanese cuisine in a serene and comfortable setting.

The food was absolutely amazing! We went especially for their eel menu, and it was delicious. We also loved the authentic atmosphere — dining on tatami made the experience even more enjoyable.

We tried grilled eel for the first time and ordered two different unagi sets - absolutely speechless. The food was out of this world! On top of that, we got to experience a truly authentic Japanese atmosphere and interior. Fully recommended!

Delicious Unagi that you wont remember for a while. The wagyu syabu addition is a must have. Worth the Q.

Absolutely delicious eel! Cant say enough about this place! They have many grilled eel meal options, and a few options without eel, but it is an eel is their speciality (the others include some sashimi and some tempura - the tempura is really really good as well). Eel boxes ranged from 35-55¥, the smaller boxes were around ¥25. Very authentic and traditional restaurant, from taking shoes off when entering the restaurant, providing shoes for when walking the halls and even a “bathroom pair” (which our kids were really excited about for some reason, haha!). We went for lunch and didn't have to wait (there is also a queue list). They were very accommodating and had English menus, the waitress did a great job explaining the menu, the meal and traditions.

Hidden gem. The beef set and unagi are well worth coming here for. Ppl were still queuing up at 11am and the locals come here which shows its worth. Desert were excellent too You get what you pay for here. Don’t forget to take your shoes off before going into the dining area

Amazing Kaiseki. Super tasty high quality food for super affordable prices. They also let walk-in if they have space. Try their beef Sukiyaki, you won't regret!!!

A traditional style restaurant that offers amazing courses of fish, specially eel. It's absolutely delicious, and they offer such a unique experience, sitting on tatami to eat this authentic course meal. The staff is super nice too and very professional. One of my most memorable restaurant experiences in Japan.

Unagi-centric restaurant with tatami-covered rooms; you'll need to stow your shoes prior to entering and will need to use sandals. Ordered the ohitsu mabush with three recommended methods of tasting the eel with rice. I enjoyed the simplicity of the first the most, though the addition of the suicha added a different dimension in flavor and texture.

Famous restaurant but Unagi were overcooked, kind of dry. Usually Unagi sauce is sweet, but it was salty. However, the service is great, the environment is very Japanese with tatami room. It is a great experience of Japanese culture but not very satisfying with the Unagi. We tried Unagi in Hokkaido and Kyoto were of better flavor and texture.

Recommended by many other travel websites, I bookmarked Edogawa Naramachi as a must try ohitsumabushi and unagi spot during my trip to Nara with the gf, Amy T. Wow - I was not disappointed. This spot is a bit South of the Nara Kintetsu line, just after the covered shopping area stops. It's a traditional-looking spot, and even though we arrived a bit before 3pm, there was still a wait because it was quite popular. After being called in (we waited for about 15 minutes), the service was fantastic - they took our umbrella to stash, gave us slippers to walk around in, put our shoes in the locker, and guided us to our spot, which was on tatami with a table setting and heated mat underneath. (Make sure to take off your slippers before reaching the tatami). There were menus in both Japanese and other languages, as well as a description on the best way to eat ohitsumabushi. I opted for the set that included ohitsumabushi, pickles, soup, tofu salad, and chawanmushi (just under 4000 yen). The presentation was beautiful, and the food was amazing. -tofu salad had some of the softest tofu I've had, and the dressing complemented the taste very well, being a bit sweet -the soup although plain looking was warm, clear, and had either a seafood or mushroom in it - couldn't tell, but it was good! -the chawanmushi was warm and perfect - decent size too The hitsumabushi was the best...a third you eat by itself and the seaweed flavor mixed well with the unagi and rice. The next third you can mix wasabi and green onion/leek(?) to bring out a different taste. The last third you put in the rice bowl and mix tea (included) into it to have ochazuke. This makes it into a rice/eel porridge, which was a great way to cap off the meal. The quality of unagi was great - tender with not too many fish bones, and the sauce was perfectly sweet and salty. In America, something like this either wouldn't be available or would cost hundreds of USD I'm sure, so we are glad that we found the place, waited, and were treated to a delicious lunch.

If you're an Unagi fan, you HAVE to come and visit this restaurant. Edogawa is not only a great traditional dining experience, it also specializes in one of Japan's fave dishes - grilled eel. As a popular restaurant in Nara do expect a wait. We were lucky and came right before lunch time and only had to wait 20 mins. Upon arrival be sure to put your name on their waiting list so you're not just waiting outside. After getting our named called, they ask you to remove your shoes and put it in a locker for you. They'll hand you the key after they escort you to your table so you can be sure they are safely locked. I didn't expect this location to be very traditional and have tatami mats with pillows for us to sit. The tables are pretty deep so if you prefer to put your feet on the ground you have that option. We ended up getting one order of the grilled eel (2 pieces) set and one set of grilled eel on rice with shabu shabu. Each set came with pickles, rice, soup and with the grilled eel set also came with some sashimi. The grilled eel here is soooo good. They are perfectly coated with sauce and grilled. They do warn you of the small bones before eating so keep that in mind with each bite. They also provide a side of sauce that you can add on the eel as well. I thought 2 pieces would not be enough but the pieces were savory that it was just the right amount. Overall, the meals we got ranged between 2,700 and 3,400 Yen so it's not the cheapest meal option or eel you can get but I thought the experience was worth the price. I loved how traditional the restaurant looked and the service and good was A-1. What's even great about paying is that they take card!

One of my good friends is a big big BIG unagi fan! So when we passed by this restaurant with all the beautiful plastic unagi in the window, and the line trailing outside, we knew we had stumbled upon something great. After debating whether or not we could stand the high prices (and they were just slightly out of our budget) we decided that we probably wouldn't get this chance again so WHY NOT. It was a good decision. The atmosphere of the restaurant was really nice. The decor was classy - all dark wood and red cushions - and the light streamed in through the windows in a way that made it feel like it was a peaceful day in spring, rather than a busy touring day in the middle of Golden Week. The staff were really nice, and didn't seem concerned with our lack of perfect Japanese. Finally, the food. I'm not a big unagi fan, so it wasn't a super exciting experience for me, nor did I really have a good reference point to compare it to, but my unagi-loving friend said it was fantastic, perfect melt-in-your-mouth unagi. I did like that we were able to pour the sauce ourselves, so we could control how much we wanted. All in all, it was a nice experience and a much-needed break in the middle of a long day of walking and sightseeing.

Japanese cuisine isn't just about the taste but also about the presentation and the style. Edogawa covers all the aspects to provide the ultimate experience of traditional Japanese cuisine by delivering a delicious unagi-focused menu with excellent presentation, service, and ambiance! Edogawa is a chain restaurant from Tokyo that specializes in unagi, but don't let the chain restaurant part scare you off. The Edo-period ambiance is so fitting to the old-town Naramachi vibe that you will feel right in place. Heck, the moment you walked in, you will be greeted by kimono-clad waitresses who will escort you to a tatami-covered room. You will take a double-take on the watch to check if you are still in the 2010s! The menu not only has unagi sets but also various Japanese dinner sets like sashimi and sushi. However, more choices of unagi sets are available as Edogawa is an unagi-focused restaurant after all. For those who are not too hungry or are trying out unagi for the first time, the mini unagi don (Grilled eel rice bowl) is highly recommended. Each dinner set comes in a large amount of food: -Salad with Japanese dressing -Small dish of Japanese pickles -Miso soup bowl -Steamed egg custard -Specialty dish (Unagi tamago for unagi sets) -Entrée Of course, each set comes in a hefty cost of 1500 yen or more, but the food was so good that I would have done for the second time! The unagi was definitely the best I had, and the Edo-period vibe definitely made the whole dining experience even better. I highly recommend eating a meal here if you are in Nara. --- tl;dr version: 1) Service and ambiance modeled after the Edo Period 2) Unagi-focused menu with plenty of other Japanese cuisine choices 3) Awesome unique dining experience for all Nara tourists

Good sushi. Really really good sushi. Of the Nara's most famous restaurants is Edogawa, which is an eel restaurant. I must admit, I've never really been a big fan of eel, but after eating it here I have truly changed my mind. All fishes I have tried here have been exquisite. Waiters are polite, as always in Japan, but also very experienced. The building itself is quite beautiful, and is a traditional Japanese style of building. Apparently it was built more then 110 years ago. Edogawa is absolutely a must if visiting Nara. You won't regret it.

we had a wonderful traditional Japanese Eels for lunch at the famous Edogawa Naramachi. Grilled Eel is one of the highest regarded dishes in Japan, and it's totally different than the ones in America. The high quality eel, Unaju, has no fishiness or muddiness at all. It's clean and fresh tasting. The eel sauce also is completely different as it's not sweet. Served on a bed of white rice with pickles as side dish, it's definitely one of the more memorable meal we had and we glad we did it.

This a a great place for eel, although if you don't like eel they also have other options. Food was amazing and portions were just right. It has a traditional Japanese atmosphere and well worth the wait.

Amazing place. One of the freshest nigiris I've ever had. For a very affordable price, you can eat very high quality uni and toro. Their salmon nigiri is amazing. The squid and octopus were soft and not chewey at all like it is in the US. High recommend and would come back again if I'm ever in Osaka.

I really enjoyed Edogawa Naramachi. The food was delicious and authentic to the type of cuisine. I ordered a set which came with so many different types of dishes that I had never tried. Prices were decent and I like the traditional style floor level tables. While the menu is definitely eel-centric, there are still lots of dishes for those who don't like unagi but if you haven't tried it many times, I'd recommend trying something different than your used to here since they seem to prepare it in so many different ways. They take credit cards which is convenient also!

We went here for lunch to eat something different and eel is supposed to be good in the summer. Many people waiting when we came and it seemed like people from quite a few countries but mainly Chinese.It looked some Japanese who had reservations or locals got in quite quick, which was frustrating. The lobby and gift shop were full of people. The wait was worth it. Excellent food and great service.