Roppongi Robataya

Terrible and insulting experience. We were 5, we split: - 1x portion of Sashimi - 2x portions of shrimps - 2x portions of grilled fish - 3x beers We paid ~63.000JPY (~420USD), incl. table and service charge. They don’t have menus - so you need to ask for the prices for the meals as you order - and they make you feel like you’re not ordering / spending enough. Honestly, it felt like they had to reach somehow a minimum spend, regardless of what you eat. TERRIBLE experience, I would not recommend it to my worst enemy.

One of the most renowned restaurants in Tokyo for robata style cooking on charcoal grill in front of guests. The place is very traditional with counter-style seating and interactive Japanese humor. There is no menu as such, as they use only top quality ingredients from local farms and fisheries and you choose what you want them to cook for you. Some nice options are grilled vegetables, seafood, and meats together with sake or beer. The chefs will use a long wooden paddle to serve dishes directly to you. Not a cheap place, so expect to pay a premium for the ambiance, service, and the freshest of ingredients.

This is a very interesting restaurant. The food, service, and atmosphere are exceptional and fun. It is an amazing place to have dinner. The show they put on is lots of fun. However if you are unaware that you are eating at a show place and paying for the show, you can be very disappointed to the point of feeling ripped off. The food is delicious but exorbitantly expensive. The portions are tiny. Unfortunately they don't disclose this fact up front and try to hide their prices. They do have a set menu, but you have to really insist they show it to you. They try to hide the prices by indicating every is a la carte and not discussing price and there is no printed price list. We had 2 15,000 ¥ set menu dinners, 1 extra skewer of beef (3 pieces), 2 glasses of wine and 1 beer, and the total was 44,000 ¥. We were rushed out the door as soon as it was clear we weren't buying any more. The show was fun and probably worth the price. The dinner was definitely very over priced and the business practices deceptive. Buyer beware.

BEWARE — DO NOT go to this place. Total tourist trap, and they deliberately don’t give you a menu since they overcharge for everything. They charged 7,000 JPY for a sashimi platter which is insane, and over 9,000 JPY for a small bottle of sake. They kept on trying to recommend expensive dishes for us to try without sharing the prices. At this point food quality is irrelevant— I felt scammed when they brought out the bill that didn’t have individual prices. Having lived in central Tokyo for a while, I know for a fact that this pricing is unreasonable — a good sign is that there were only foreign customers when we walked in. I can tell that they’re taking advantage of people that don’t know what the standard prices are. Even in this high end area it’s ridiculous. When I asked about the pricing, they said they’ve been in operation for many decades and they were not apologetic at all for not being transparent. I would give them zero stars for their service level as well — a total scam!

I had a really nice experience, the atmosphere is great and unique, but definitely not for a budget traveler, they do not have menu nor price list, but they do have a set menu that is really pricey $150.00 US dollar, but really worth having. I will definitely came back!!

Amazing experience, food is good (nothing crazy) but the overall dinner experience was AAA. Only downside is that they don’t tell you prices for the items you are ordering so it is a surprise at the end when the bill arrives.

The most rip-off restaurant I’ve experienced in Tokyo. Tourist trap. As many customers complained here, this restaurant will rip everyone who walks in here. Avoid at all cost. The food is nothing special and their sashimi was so terrible that I usually can eat better quality at a local supermarket. We were charged over USD 500 between two of us for 1 grilled fish, 1 sashimi, 3 prawns, 2 assorted vegetables.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I’m pretty sure this was the worst scam we’ve ever stumbled upon. Might be a “nice” atmosphere with friendly staff but it’s definitely just covering up for the scam they’re playing on tourists. We ordered just 1 red snapper and 5 small shrimps and 3 shellfish’s. That’s all. Without any alcohol, drinks or other expensive dishes and ended up with a total of 106,000 ¥. That isn’t even justifiable. Save yourself and your money and spend it at any fine dining restaurant for a much more worthy experience. Moreover, when reserving a seat in this restaurant, they withdrew 55,000¥ and when we confronted them they said it was just a blocking on that amount even though the text messages and bank statements prove otherwise. Another thing is that when we reserved our seats, it was supposed to be a somewhat private experience with limited seats, however, when we arrived, it came to us as a surprise that there was not less than 25 people at the table, and once seated it felt like as

This is a fantastic robataya . I've been coming here since my first trip to Japan in 2013. The concierge at the Ritz Carlton recommended it for both the cuisine and the cultural experience. All diners sit at a U shaped counter where the food to be cooked is displayed for all to see. The vegetables are the freshest looking I've ever seen at a restaurant. Meats are displayed as well and the abalone and tiger prawns are in a small tank. We sat right at the center and had the perfect view of the chefs doing their work seated with the grill and other cooking implements in front of them. Serving are sent to the diners on a long paddle, drinks included. Specialties are whole linking, a spined fish, which the waiter will set up for you. Orders are shouted out by the waiters to the chefs and the chefs shout the order back. Nothing appears to be written down, though you do get an itemized bill. I can recommend the Wagyu, the prawns, the peppers, and the mushrooms, as well as the shishamo and the potato. Definitely an experience of Showa era cuisine.

Food is good but USD 530/2 person, @ 1:147 exchange rate. Too expensive make u think u were scammed!

I gave one star for the food. not show the price! we paid 123,720¥ for 5. we asked for it but just show the total! over prices way too expensive. Be aware tourist!! They should not do this!!!!!! we saw one group that bring a police because of this price is too expensive!!

Although it was a fun night, I felt more conscious of being a tourist than at any meal I had during my 7-day trip to Japan. The teppanyaki was good, but the supporting cast (sushi etc) : not so much! It was VERY loud.. and eye-poppingly expensive.. KRD NY

ROBATAYAKI, first time hearing of it during an Uber ride and decided to look it up prior to my trip to Tokyo. For those who don't know what it is, it's a place where you come in, sit around a huge table headed by two chefs, with all of the ingredients laid out in front of you. Regardless if you speak Japanese or not, all you do is point to what you want and the chefs will cook it for you! They then serve it to you on a giant paddle! This place has seriously the best service I've ever seen at a restaurant. The whole experience can be quite intense too. As soon as we ordered our items to our server, he recited it aloud to the chef who was to be in charge of preparing it for us. The chef would then recite back the order to make sure everything matched up. The servers spoke English to us and even made recommendations for places to visit during our stay in Tokyo. One guy drew maps for us and handed it to us on a piece of paper. Now on to the food, everything was so meticulously prepared and grilled to perfection. Seasoned perfectly and never allowed for the seasoning or sauces to overpower the natural taste of the ingredients. The asparagus we ordered was cut perfectly and was so tender that we didn't even feel like we were eating vegetables. The two dishes that left us in awe were the A5 wagyu served in two pieces on a skewer and for me personally the prawns. A little bit of sea salt on top of each and the flavors exploded through our taste buds. The wagyu was butter and the prawns were just plump as can be, bursting with juicy smoky flavor. Will definitely stop by here again on our next visit, even if my wallet feels a lot lighter after coming here, at least my stomach is happy and full.

My big boss booked this robatayaki restaurant for us when we went to Tokyo on a business trip. She has been here several times with her previous company and was raving about how fun this place was. However, she bailed out at the last minute due to the jet lag and told the design director and I to go without her anyway because she already made a reservation. Not knowing what to expect, we went to this inconspicuous restaurant which was a bit tricky to find. The place is small, with a counter that only fits about 20 people. Everything was fresh, the vegetables, meat and live seafood in the fish tank for robatayaki are all laid out in front of you to choose from and the chef will pass you the cooked food on a wood paddle. We didn't check the price because there was no price on the menu and we carelessly ordered whatever that looked appealing and we stuffed ourselves with delicious robatayaki. The chef showed us the album of the celebrities that came to the restaurant and we were surprised that even Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Guns N Roses members have been here. After seeing all these celebrity pictures, me and my co-worker look at each other and started wondering about how expensive the bill is going to be. When the bill came, we flipped out. $400 for 2 people!!! Ouch!!! We charged it on our company's corporate card anyway even though we were way over our daily allowance. Thankfully our boss approved the expense because it was her invitation. It was a fun experience but I wouldn't go back again unless it's someone else's treat. $200 per person is overpriced for this type of meal.

Very fresh food cooked the way you like. A small authentic Japanese restaurant but no sushi or rolls. Sashimi and grilled fish, meat and veggies...awesome!

Way too expensive. Be ware tourist. Three people 650 bucks. Not even full. No Japanese customers. Only ripped off tourist. Don't bother come here.

The food at Robataya is speechless great. The tiger prawn and Omi beef is superb. The price indeed is above expensive. If you ready for good food with paying high price is ok. My only advice Is ask price before confirm order. The restaurant should have a standard menu with price for normal dishes and seasonal price for sea food items. Make sure every customer know the price in advance.

The food was amazing and the folks who work there are very entertaining. If it was just about the food and entertainment, I would give this place a 5 star review. However, the reason I felt compelled to write this review is in regard to the price, and I wanted to make others aware before they were taken by surprise at the end of the meal. I speak some Japanese so when we sat down I asked if I could see a menu, but was told I just needed to look at the table and I could just order by choosing what was available. The waiter did make some suggestions (susume), but I ordered what my husband and I wanted. We had mostly vegetables - onion, potato, mushroom, etc. and one meat dish and 2 fish dishes. We also had 3 beers. When our bill came and it was $450, we were shocked. The bill was not itemized (no cost put next to any item) and I was so shocked that I didn't question it, but after leaving felt I should have questioned it more. So, what I want to clarify is that this place has a "Osusume" menu which varies in cost from 80K Yen to 200K yen (details are on their website). Although, I did take some of the waiters "susume" I ordered what we wanted, so don't feel we should have been charged as if we had the Osusume menu which included much more food than we ordered based on what other customers received. I felt somewhat taken advantage of and I did note some other customers that came in later that did receive a menu. If one goes in knowing what the cost will be and are prepared to do the Osusume menu, then I think it could be a fun and tasty experience. If you want to order just a couple plates then I recommend asking for the menu and being cautious if the waiter asks to give you some suggestions. Just clarify with them that you do not want the Osusume menu. I just wanted to post this information so others would not have the same experience that we did.