Hi all,

My soon to be wife and I will be going to Japan for our honeymoon next month. While we have a bunch of things planned, we find ourselves lacking in restaurant ideas/plans. We'll be in Tokyo, Kyoto and Hakone and don't necessarily have a budget. As of now the only restaurant we have a confirmed reservation for is Sukiyabashi Jiro, which i understand isn't necessarily the best sushi or experience, but should be fun anyway. Other than that, places that somewhat interest us are:

Daily Chiko
Uobei Dogenzaka
One of the restaurants at the fish market

Things i'm looking for suggestions on:

-Ramen
-Kobe Beef
-Tempura (I hear Kondo is pretty good, but i'm not sure we want to shell out that kind of cash for Tempura)
-Tonkatsu
-Robotayaki

We're spending about half our time in Tokyo with the rest of the time split between Kyoto and Hakone with a possible day trip to Nara. We'll also be spending a day at Disney Sea and attending a Swallows game, so anything around those areas would be awesome too. Thanks for everyone's help!

In tokyo I really liked "Tonki" for tonkatsu. you sit right at the bar and get to watch the whole process (I think there's only like two things on the menu). plus it was really good. check out pictures on google

I really loved the black ramen at Kyoto Gogyo (in kyoto, naturally). but I read reviews on trip advisor just now and a lot of people hated it. I still think it's worth a shot. if you go, don't wear white

in kyoto the key is to do a kaiseki. there's a million places and I'm afraid I don't have a recommendation as the only time I had it I was quite a ways from Kyoto. but it was pretty great.

Japan is awesome, have fun!

I assume if you are going to Hakone, you will be staying at a Ryokan. Most Ryokans at a certain price level will have pretty good kaiseki dinners served in room.

There are also many great kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto as well as Ryokans that serve kaiseki in Kyoto. There are also many kappo restaurants (kaiseki style food served over the counter as opposed to in a private room).

I heard Tsukiji will no longer be open topublic at some point and also you have some super long lines for some of the restaurants inside like Sushi Dai.

Here is a very reputable source for Japanese fine dining though it contains posts for elsewhere too
http://www.luxeat.com/reviews/by-location/tokyo/

If you can navigate tabelog, you can sort by rating for the type of cuisine you want. Also, while Jiro might not be the "best" compared to the very tip top of Tabelog, its still going to blow away everything outside Japan and 99% of places within Japan.

Also, dont miss out on western food. The French fine dining, Italian fine dining, patisserie, bakery, chocolates in Japan are every bit as good as Europe.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...ure_Kanto.html

This gyoza place is a must do. Best gyoza i ever had. Only thing on the menu is gyoza. Alot of places in Tokyo wont have big menus. They just specialize in one thing making it excellent. Expect a huge line out the door but it moves fast.

I'd suggest walking From Shibuya station its a good walk like 25mins or so. Really cool shopping street with just foot traffic to walk down on the way. So you'll see some cool sights and lots of people shopping. If you dont want to walk you can just get off at Harajuku and be closer of course.

I can ask my GF about the all you can eat kobe buffet we went to when she gets home i forgot the name. It was like 75bucks a person. Considered a top buffet in Tokyo had great kobe,sushi, fish and pretty much everything you can want.

One thing about Toyko i noticed was every place we went to eat was good. Their really passionate about making food there so you'd have to be unlucky to find something bad. Look for places with big lines and you know you're going to be in for some good food. Sometimes its better to just pop in some random place with a line and see what happens rather then plan every stop.

Oh another thing we liked was this https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...ure_Kanto.html. Its expensive and touristy but really cool and to me was worth the price compared to other tourist stuff ive done traveling. Really cool to see its in the nightlife area of Shinjuku. You can read about it and see vids on youtube to see if its something you would want to do or save the cash.

I'd suggest staying in Shinjuku when your in Tokyo. So many sweet places to eat in Shinjuku you'll always be able to find something good to grub on. If i wasnt going to stay in Shinjuku id stay in Shibuya on a first trip.

knew that was going to be robot restaurant when I clicked it. super super touristy but it was kind of fun. could go either way on it. but, it's right next to Golden gai and that's the best so might as well

Yeah ive talked to people who loved the robot others hated it but its just something you wont forget. To us it was worth it and a weird memorable experience. Its expensive is the drawback. If your not concerned about dropping some cash and want to see something weird check it out for sure.

+1 on the golden gai. Thats a must do. What we did was hit up the robot then we bar hopped in the golden gai. Quite the experience.

Man i love Tokyo such a awesome city. Your gonna have so much fun. I want to go back next year!

Thanks for all the responses. A couple replies:

1) In Hakone we are, indeed, staying in a Ryokan. The price of our (****ing expensive) room includes breakfast and dinner each night. I will look into it, but I assume the dinner is probably the kaiseki you guys are talking about.

2) Robot Restaurant is on the list. I actually looked into buying tickets ahead of time but couldn't find a reliable way to do it. At least not in English. Does this show often sell out? Also can someone confirm the food situation? Can we get dinner there or should we eat before/after?

3) Is tipping customary in Japan? I've read conflicting reports.

Thanks for all the suggestions and please keep them coming. I'll be sure to put together a trip report when we get back!

No tipping in Japan, lived there for 5months, no tipping went down. Also check out Katsuya if you want Katsudon. Its a chain restaurant but the katsudon is really good.

whatever you do, above all else, do not eat the food at the robot restaurant. have dinner before, go to the late show, then go to golden gai afterwards. I don't know about English/japanese booking but I remember having no trouble whatsoever doing it online (def do so in advanced)

also, no tipping in Japan

I was in Japan last summer and I had one meal that wasn't good (touristy area in Sapporo). You don't need to do much planning to eat well; never hurts, of course!

Tokyo:
You'll need a reservation for most high-end sushi places. I did have lunch at Sushi Iwa in Ginza without one, and it was excellent.

+1 to Western food in Tokyo. I had some great pizza (it's mostly Neapolitan). Frey's in Roppongi was my favorite. If you're wanting pastries, etc. for breakfast, there's likely to be a pretty good bakery not far from wherever you're staying.

Kyoto:
This was my favorite ramen of 7 or 8 places I sampled throughout Japan.

I would also try some of the fancy expensive fruit. I would probably skip tsukiji on your honeymoon. Waking up early to go to a fish market is not that fun especially if you are under effects of jetlag. Consider checking out the basement of department stores where food is sold.

Forgot to mention, you should definitely make a trip to Kamakura. It's great, really nice. Big buddha statue, nice beach, good food. I would go like twice a week every week. Lots of fun

You can eat at blue note and it's an experience.

This channel is a pretty good guide to ramen.

Latest video is pretty fun

You can reserve tickets for the Robot Restaurant on their website, either paying by credit card or cash when you get there. They give you a reservation number to use when you pick them up. I would still recommend getting there somewhat early, as I think the quality of seat location is first come first served (although all seats are basically elementary school desks). You are supposed to arrive at least 30 minutes before the show, but try to get there earlier than that, to grab some drinks and hang out in the garish lounge with the rest of the gaijin tourists, it can be fun.

There are discount codes available online, but also at tourist information centers (2000 yen off the 8000 yen entry, I think).

And has been noted, under no circumstances have dinner there. Eat before or after, and just grab a snack if needed. (one of the three dinner choices is "ginger-flavored food").