Orijin

We were recommended to this (in British terms) pub by the hotel we are staying in (Hida Takayama Onsen) as their restaurants were full. Just what we wanted: cheerful and fast service, flavourful and unpretentious food, Good value. Happily entered into our entertainment of my 7yo grandson. Altogether... a great evening.

Visited April 2024

First, this place was fantastic. Service, friendly , English menus, the food, atmosphere and the price. We loved it so much we went back a second time. We found this place by accident. Its not easy to find a restaurant for dinner in Takayama. Many of the izakaya type restaurants, which in my view... are always the best places to go, didn’t want tourists. This is how we found Orijin. We were not originally planning to go to Orijin. We had found a place across the street doing an on line search of good places to go that were near our hotel (near the train station), but when we went to this other restaurant the the guy behind the counter did the ..do you have a reservation…no…sorry full….when they were half empty. Code words for we only want locals. As were leaving this place we saw what looked like a restaurant across the street. We did not notice it during the day as we only saw it now because of the lights. Menu looked ok so we decided to try it. From the moment we walked in we knew we found a good place. Cozy and charming, but most of all the owner (I think she was the owner) greeted us with a smile and gave us a nice table . She spoke some English, and tried very hard. They had an English menu so no issues. We both ordered the Hida beef with miso and vegetables ..which you cook yourself. It comes on a banana leaf on a tin foil tray over a flame. It was fun but also the miso gave it a great flavor. I will say that this alone was not enough for a full meal. But I had ordered as an appetizer, the Hida Beef Croquettes …wow. I could have made a whole meal out of a bunch of those. And we ordered some rice which together with the beef was a good meal. Total cost, including Sake, drinks and all the food was about 6500 yen for the two of us (so about US$40 at the time) When I went to the counter to checkout , the owner was grilling a fish. Looked great and I made a mental note to order it if we went back. Because of the owner and waiters were so helpful and friendly, the good food and prices and the enjoyable atmosphere, we decided to go there again a couple days later. This time I got the grilled fish (turned out to be Mackerel) …and of course another Hida Beef Croquette. My wife got a stir fry dish. Everything was as good as the first time we went…and even cheaper this time since we did not have the Hida beef . Definitely recommend going here.

Visited February 2024

This is a local type pub or izakaya type restaurant serving the specialities of Takayama. The Hida beef skewers were good and so was the potato salad, pickles, chicken, egg custard and some of the other small plate dishes that we ordered. With the richness of the hida beef we were glad that we didn’...t go to a strictly beef place. It was a good casual place.

Visited October 2023

I was a little reluctant to eat here considering the reviews I read but we wanted somewhere close by and this fit the bill. The food was very tasty. Service was very good and staff were friendly. A lovely place to eat.

Visited July 2019

Excellent food and service. The staff were friendly and the food was served without delay even though the restaurant was full.

Visited November 2018