Kyomachikoishigure Shinjukuhonkan

This place is a tourist trap. If you live in Tokyo and you have visitors coming who have never been to Japan before, then fine bring them here for the novelty, but the food is not very good, and the service is mediocre. I came here with my Japanese friend who suggested it as my partner was new to Ja...pan, so we thought it would be fun to bring him here to see a pseudo old-timey Japanese restaurant (I had been once before, but i had been several years before). My partner ordered a beef Katsu dish and karaage, he thoroughly enjoyed both - but to be honest it's pretty hard to screw up karaage. My friend and I shared some sushi orders, but the fish didn't seem that fresh, and the negitoro was downright fishy smelling - which is a bad sign. My Japanese friend's family own a restaurant so I feel validated in my disappointment of the food. If you feel absolutely compelled to try this place, I suggest avoiding any sushi/sashimi dishes as the freshness is questionable. The place was very busy and they were having issues with the QR codes for ordering, not the fault of the staff, but they should have had a backup system in place instead of just waiting for their online system to be fixed. The longer it took to place food orders, the closer we got to "last order." Overall, will never go back.

Visited July 2023

Thanks to another reviewer, we were able to find the izakaya fairly quickly (Zara Department Store, 6th Floor). The izakaya is definitely very beautifully decorated, but unfortunately, we weren't able to see much since we got there slightly early and had a small, private room to ourselves. Later in ...the afternoon, we definitely heard groups of local Japanese businessmen/women in other parts of the izakaya. They do have a semi-English menu that you can select from, and if you download Google Translate, you can then pick up the Japanese menu and select drinks and other food from there. Since we had a private room, we were given a buzzer so we didn't have to awkwardly try to get someone's attention in Japanese that none of us can speak fluently. Service was good, food was okay.

Visited December 2019

This is the kind of place you only end up at when you are either a local. Or with a local. We couldn’t find it because it was on the 6th floor of a Zara department store building. But when the elevator doors opened, another world was revealed. It was like a Japanese garden wonderland. I kid you not.... GO!

Visited August 2019

The food was average, but the place is really beautiful. Don't go there for a full meal but it's worth a visit only for the decoration.

Visited May 2018

The restaurant is beautifully decorated and very cozy and can accommodate large groups. Service is - typically Japanese - extremely friendly. We had different dishes to share throughout the evening, some "finalised" directly on the table (steamed meat, veggies, etc.). The food was ok, but nothing re...ally wow, as it was a little bit under seasoned for my taste.

Visited January 2016