UOGASHI NIHON-ICHI Asakusabashiten

We've eaten here on each of our last five trips to Tokyo since 2014 because they have the best lunch deal we've found so far: 13 pieces of sushi (mostly seafood) plus miso soup and chawanmushi for 980 Yen! In 2014, it was 15 pieces of sushi for 850 Yen, but it's still an awesome deal! They have loca...tions throughout Tokyo and stand up bars in major train stations, but this is the one we always visit because it's only a block away from the Shimojima flagship store. It does get busy during the noon hour, and even the locals order the 980 Yen set.

Visited March 2017

I made a last minute decision to have sushi on my last night in Tokyo. There were two restaurants listed right near my hotel. I couldn’t find the first one and enlisted the help of a local woman to find it. It must have recently closed because the woman took me to the exact location where it shou...ld have been. I asked about Uogashi Nihon and her face grimaced a bit. I followed up a bit using sign language (a thumbs up, a thumb sideways and a thumbs down). She gave me a sideways thumb, still looking not entirely at ease. “How bad could it be, though, in the sushi center of the sushi capital of the world?” I rationalized to myself. “It’s only 4km from Tsukiji.” I should have taken the advice contained within her facial expression. The restaurant sports an “Edo Style Sushi” sign in English. That’s the easiest way to identify the place in order steer clear of it. I sat at the bar and waited for service. The sushi “chef” wasn’t acknowledging me, so I caught the attention of the maitre d’ and ordered. The chef, you see, was engaged in a deep and prolonged conversation with a Japanese customer who’d finished his meal and was nursing a beer. For the entire time I was there, these two talked without a pause. As he prepared my meal I noticed the “chef” putting about as much attention into the preparation as a back-room dumpling maker would. He paused his conversation only to place the dishes in front of me. I looked at them a bit dumbfounded as there was no wasabi served. I waited a minute or two, hoping that perhaps he’d forgotten. When I caught his attention and inquired about the wasabi, he acted neither surprised, embarrassed nor apologetic. He was giving off a distinct “Oh, so you’re not a completely clueless foreigner” vibe. The first piece I chose broke completely apart as I picked it up – a cardinal sin for anyone who views what they do as an art and point of pride. I don’t really need to go on any further than this transgression other than to say the sushi served me was very thinly sliced and short. It sat on top of the rice, rather than laying over it and extending beyond it on all sides. A rather pathetic showing all around. I can’t not recommend this place highly enough

Visited October 2015