AIN SOPH GINZA Honten

I visited here on the only day my Son and I were in Tokyo. Easy to find and convenient location. The quality of the food was good and the price was reasonable. I would definitely dine here again

Visited February 2024

This place is fantastic! It is small so plan ahead if dining in. Ground floor is bakery and call-ahead takeout. 2F and 3F have about 7-8 tables total. The menu is limited with a few prix-fixe options, ALL of which were also Gluten-Free when I came for lunch. I had the pancakes which were the bes...t I've ever had. Truly.

Visited December 2023

Very disappointing. I was excited to find a vegan restaurant and the food looked delicious from the photos. We came for a late lunch so it was not busy. Place is nice, service is lacklustre and slow. Only two savoury options on the menu, so you expect them to be good. Food was bland and unappealing.... We had the mushroom curry which has never seen a spice in its life. More like a stroganoff but totally bland, asked for salt but it didn't help much. Tried a matcha beer for fun and it was just a ton of matcha powder mixed into a beer so the flavour was overpowering and the texture was disgusting. The organic lemonade tasted like dish soap. Overpriced, and I wouldn't recommend. I've had way better vegetarian food in places who didn't even understand what being vegetarian meant. There's no excuse for the food to be this bad in a vegan place with only two options.

Visited July 2023

This was my first visit since the pandemic, but six years ago I stayed in Tokyo six months and frequented Ain Soph Ginza as often as I could afford. Every day during my stay I would stray from my Ginza Bay Hotel capsule during a 10am to 4pm mandatory-close for cleaning and walk to a different vegan... restaurant (or take a train when distant). I did the same during a month stay in Kyoto, and another month in Osaka. Ain Soph is not only my favorite restaurant in Japan, it is my world fave (along with locations Journey and Soar, but not Ripple (burgers!). I happened to see a recent review on this site alleging racism, and find it an aberration. I am an African American man from New York, and have only experienced warmth, welcome, care and initially a bit of curiosity or novelty at Ain Soph. Maybe there was one bad employee, or an employee who had a bad day, but there is no active racism at Ain Soph and not much in all of Tokyo. There can be a very business-like coldness, a somewhat robotic straightforwardness in following rules and business policies, but I have not experienced racism in Japan (beyond no one sitting beside me on trains or buses), and certainly not at Ain Soph. I did have a reservation for today's meal, scheduled by an employee who opened the door and welcomed me in at closing last night. He allowed me to make a purchase from the takeaway store, to save me from leaving without any sort of a meal. I purchased the chai and oatmeal cookies. I do not recommend them. Today I had the two best dishes -- Bento and Heavenly Pancakes. They were as good as ever. And Ain Soph, like most vegan restaurants, attract good people. I stayed two hours, talking with a couple from Berlin who had arrived just before me, and a family from Los Angeles that came and left while I was there. Ain Soph has a shojin ryori, or temple food, vibe. It is not about just eating food. It fosters a mindfulness that brings on calm and contentment, and you leave feeling better than when you arrived. I spent my last 10 minutes sitting at my table and looking out a window at the world passing below. I was alone in the space after even the waitress gave up on me ever finishing my meal. I was floating. I was at peace. I was feeling good.

Visited June 2023

The young lady on the Wednesday 6 pm shift was giving me such a bad attitude for no apparent reason. She was looking at me like she wanted me to die. There were 2 other customers both of which were white (2 white ladies). She treated them with such kindness and with all smilsa, but was treating me,... a black man, with such contempt. I really like the pastries there, but I am never want to go back due to the treatment that I received there.

Visited April 2023