121 Best Restaurants in Tokyo, Japan

This microbrewery produces a core lineup of six ales and lagers in Daikanyama, which explains the large brew tanks you can see as you eat and drink. But this is not just a place to drink; the menu also features a good range of burgers, pizzas, and grilled meats. Helpfully, the food menu comes with beer pairing suggestions. They also brew seasonal and limited releases, such as an 8% Belgian “gran cru” and a 6.5% hop-heavy IPA. 

If you need a break from shopping for electronics and games, a spicy kebab sandwich from Star Kebab should do the trick. This branch and other outlets in the area offer beef, lamb, or chicken strips, lettuce, and tomatoes in pita pockets.

While you may or may not typically seek out Starbucks while traveling, this super-fancy Starbucks Reserve Roastery is especially inviting during sakura (cherry blossom) season. You'll be able to get sakura-flavored drinks like cream soda sakura (only available seasonally), and the second-floor terrace is a wonderful spot to view the blossoms.

Diners here need a dose of luck—there are only seven counter seats and reservations fill up fast (ask your hotel concierge to make a reservation for you). You also need a full wallet, as high-end sushi comes at a pretty price. But for the few that manage to cross those two hurdles, Sushiso Masa gives a sublime experience. The interior is unpretentious, putting the focus squarely on the gorgeous presentations for each course. But what really sets this apart from other upscale sushi spots is the extreme quality of the cuts of fish, and the garnishes that use incredibly rare ingredients, such as zha cai (pickled stem of the mustard plant).

It can be hard to find a vegan restaurant in Tokyo, but T's thick and tasty, meat-free ramen satisfies that craving. Choose your soup base, from sesame to citrus flavors, and get a side of the vegetable dumplings—not to be missed. The restaurant is situated behind the barriers of Tokyo Station, so you'll need to be in transit to try. 

A converted warehouse on the waterfront houses this restaurant, known for its grills, California-Asia fusions, and craft beers. Don't miss the wheat ale steamed clams, Thai-style gai yang chicken sate or the Indian spice marinated lamb chops. True to its name, T.Y. Harbor brews five of its own year-round beers (plus seasonal specials) in a tank that reaches all the way to the 46-foot-high ceiling. The best seats in the house are on the bay-side deck, open from May to October. Reservations are a good idea on weekends.

This restaurant may lay on more glitz than necessary—the mural in the bar depicts the fall of Pompeii, the banquettes are upholstered in red leather, and the walls are papered in antique gold—but the service is cordial and professional and the food, which is centered on Italian cuisine and U.S. steaks, is superb. The wine list is one of the most varied in town, with more than 200 bottles covering everything from affordable house wines to rarities that will set you back upward of ¥200,000 a bottle.

This yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurant is an ideal place for a short stop inside Ginza. Skewered chicken breasts, small salads, and sausages are sure to put a smile on the face of even the weariest shopper. There's also beer, whiskey highballs, and sake on the menu.

Takeno Shokudo is a neighborhood restaurant that does nothing but the freshest and the best—big portions of it, at very reasonable prices. Sushi and sashimi are the staples, but there's also a wonderful tendon bowl with shrimp and eel tempura on rice. À la carte prices are not posted because they vary with the costs that morning in the Toyosu Market. Reservations can only be made for large parties, or if you plan to dine before 6:30 pm.

Yakitori and other char-grilled skewers of meat and vegetables are the name of the game at this smart izakaya that gets consistently excellent reviews from locals. To wash that down are highballs, draft lager, and a good selection of local sakes. And if you want the easy ordering option, consider one of the courses, which include multiple skewers plus a few side dishes such as tofu.

Occupying a mysterious place between traditional sushi counter, tapas bar, science lab, and magic show, this award-winning restaurant breaks new ground. In full view of diners, the team of chefs assemble a small parade of bite-size morsels in surprising texture and flavor combinations. There are only eight seats, and seatings are at 6 and 8:30 only (plus 1 pm on weekends), so reserve as early as possible.

Here's a restaurant that's run like a formal ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant focused on luxury) but has the feel of a rough-cut izakaya (Japanese pub). Neither inaccessible nor outrageously expensive, Tatsumiya is pleasantly cluttered with antique chests, braziers, clocks, lanterns, bowls, utensils, and craftwork, some of it for sale. The evening meal is in the kaiseki style, meaning multiple courses are served; tradition demands that the meal include something raw, something boiled, something vinegary, and something grilled. The kaiseki dinner is served only until 8:30, and you must reserve ahead for it. Tatsumiya also serves a light lunch, plus a variety of nabe (one-pot seafood and vegetable stews, prepared at your table) until 10. The pork nabe is the house specialty.

The entrance here may make you feel as if you are stepping into a nondescript office, but once inside you will get a front-row seat for some professional and exceptional frying (and even some private tables if you want a truly luxe experience). The tempura here is excellent for dinner, but the lunch sets are reasonably priced (one-third to half the cost of dinner) yet can still give you a proper tempura experience. You can also order additional individual pieces à la carte or as recommended by the chef.

In addition to its elegant decor, plush sofas, and outdoor patio, The Palace Lounge also offers one of Tokyo's best afternoon tea sets, which includes both Japanese and European sweets. The extensive tea menu also makes it a good place to try a variety of unique, high-end teas while taking a quiet break from the day's sightseeing.

Really taking pride in their coffee, the Roastery serves up some good single-origin coffee. Tucked away along a shopping street connecting Omotesando to Shibuya, the shop offers outdoor seating, giving you a place to watch the shoppers stream by.

This branch of Hong Kong's famous restaurant serves up a variety of authentic and accessible dim sum dishes in a casual atmosphere. Some highlights include the steamed pork spareribs with black bean sauce, deep-fried eggplant with shrimp, and the steamed rice rolls filled with beef, pork, or shrimp. Be sure to try the daikon mochi (pan-fried daikon cake) which manages to be both crispy and creamy all in one bite. Lines can be very long on weekends and right around lunch or dinner, so it is best to arrive before the store opens or in the late afternoon. For a quick snack, the shop also has a dedicated take-out window just for its signature baked BBQ pork buns.

The deep-fried, breaded pork cutlets at this casual restaurant just south of Ueno Park's pond combine generous portions with melt-in-the-mouth tenderness, and for a great price. Set meals here come with enough rice, miso soup, shredded cabbage, and pickles to loosen your belt a notch or two.

A family joint, Tonki is a success that never went conglomerate or added frills to what it does best: deep-fried pork cutlets, soup, raw-cabbage salad, rice, pickles, and tea. That's the standard course, and almost everybody orders it, with good reason—it's utterly delicious. Just listen to customers in line as they put in their usual orders while a server comes around to take it. Then go ahead and join in; the wait is only about 10 minutes, but the line continues every night until the place closes at 10:45.

This casual American chain is world-famous for its barbecued ribs. It also serves kid-size (and much larger) portions of burgers, chicken strips, and fried shrimp. The chain, which started in Miami in the 1970s, is dwindling in the U.S., but it's still going strong overseas. There's another branch in the Hanzomon area.

When you're looking for a break from all the ramen, tempura, and yakitori, this restaurant on the 45th floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel serves a mix of international flavors that range from American to Southeast Asian to Mediterranean. The prix-fixe lunches include a three-course business lunch (¥6,500), and there are dinners with four and five courses, including one that focuses on produce from Hokkaido (¥13,000). A plush brunch (¥9,500) is also available weekends and holidays. Best of all, the dining room overlooks a panorama of the Tokyo Sky Tree and Tokyo Tower, which is where the eatery gets its name.

Sit down and savor a glass of carefully selected wine from Trattoria Creatta’s impressive cellar. Sitting on the terrace beside Wadakura Moat on a warm summer's day, diners can choose from a modest, yet flavorful, selection of fresh pasta. When the lights go down, the atmosphere turns intimate with candle-lit dinners and attentive service. Reservations are recommended.

In an area that teems with sushi bars, this one maintains its reputation as one of the best. Tsukiji Edo-Gin drapes generous slabs of fish over the vinegared rice rather than perching them demurely on top. The centerpiece of the main room is a huge tank where the day's ingredients swim about until required; it doesn't get any fresher than this. Set menus here are reasonable, especially for lunch, but a big appetite for specialties like sea urchin and otoro tuna can put a dent in your budget. One affordable way to do dinner is to sit at the counter and order the Edo nigiri set, where the chef serves his choice of sushi for a set price.

Tucked away in a side street, this friendly café takes its name from the little "turret" trucks that used to cart produce around the old Tsukiji Market. The owner, Kawasaki-san, serves a powerful espresso in ceramic sake cups but also creates Instagramable latte art, all for similar prices to the far less enjoyable Starbucks on the corner.

This intimate counter-only sushi restaurant in Naka-Meguro’s backstreets serves omakase courses based on what the owner-chef sources each day from Toyosu Market, so you never know exactly what you will be served; just that it will be incredible. While fish takes center-stage, herbs and vegetables are also incorporated into Udatsu’s often modern take on sushi. Taking that a step further, there’s also a vegetarian sushi course (that needs to be reserved at least two days in advance). Like many sushi restaurants, opting for lunch rather than dinner will make Udatsu a far more affordable experience; though if you are going to splurge at night, this is one place well worth it.

When it comes to preparation, this long-running unagi (freshwater eel) restaurant sticks to tradition, claiming to follow a 200-year-old recipe. For its ingredients, however, Maekawa takes a modern turn towards sustainability. Instead of using (rapidly dwindling) wild caught unagi, the restaurant uses only the highest quality domestically farmed unagi for its dishes. Choose from the una-ju (eel over rice served in a lacquered box), kabayaki (sweet grilled eel set meal), or shirayaki (plain grilled eel without sweet glaze). Maekawa offers a few small side dishes such as sashimi and dashi-tamago (Japanese rolled omelet) but like most classic unagi restaurants,  Maekawa does exactly one thing and does it well.

This classic izakaya epitomizes the casual yet lively nights out of a down-to-earth district like Fukagawa. Opened in the 1950s, the four floors here include counter-only seats on the first and second floors that are ideal for watching and chatting with the chefs, and then tables for larger groups on the third and fourth floors. Wherever you sit, the focus is mostly on seafood, with the fresh cuts of sashimi (of whatever fish is sourced that day), especially good when paired with one of the sakes on the menu. The only challenge is ordering if your Japanese isn’t up to scratch, as the menu is handwritten in Japanese on the walls. However, this being Fukagawa, the friendly staff will find a way to get you well fed, even if that means pointing at other diners' dishes. Or you could ask for what they recommend (osusume wa nan desu ka?) and go with the flow.

High-quality marbled beef is taken quite seriously in Japan—cuts are ranked based on the ratio, distribution, and sweetness of the fat in relation to the meat. At Ushibenkei, you can sample some pieces of the highest rank at reasonable prices in a charmingly rustic atmosphere. Although you could order á la carte, for the full (and easier) experience select a gyu-nabe ("beef pot") course, and your server will move a shichirin (a portable coal-burning stove) to your table and prepare a range of cow tongue, beef, tofu, and vegetables in front of your eyes. The meat is fresh enough to be safely eaten raw, so don't be surprised if you are given paper-thin cuts of beef that are only lightly seared.

For a quick caffeine break, Verve serves up single-origin beans from around the world in fashionable, but laidback surrounds. They also have herb teas, sandwiches, and sweet treats like carrot cake and vegan cookies.

Originally a teahouse, Waentei-Kikko is now a cozy, country-style Japanese restaurant serving kaiseki-style set meals along with premium sake. What makes this place extra special is that the owner, Fukui Kodai, is a traditional Japanese Tsugaru-shamisen (string instrument) musician, who performs at scheduled times throughout the day. Narrow your field of vision, shut out the world outside, and you could be back in the waning days of Meiji-period Japan.