I was considering not posting this review as a way to just move on, but I thought people should know about our experience at this joke of a restaurant for future reference.
With a Tabelog silver award, sushi Ryujiro was one of the omakase experience we looked forward to in our first trip to Japan. Prior to this, we dined at Sushi Namba and had reservations to sushi Sanshin in Osaka. Needless to say, Namba and Sanshin both provided exemplary service and delicious sushi – worth their awards and acclaim (Sushi Sanshin easily being the best with a significantly cheaper price point as well). After our omakase experiences, we couldn’t help but wonder how Ryujiro was so awful compared to these places while charging similar or higher prices.
We booked the main counter for dinner in late August. Once we got there, something already seemed off. We noticed all the foreigners were being seated at the very end of the counter, away from the Taisho. FYI, there were 3 Koreans (my girlfriend and I included) and 6 Japanese guests and all 3 of us were seated in the corner. We knew the seating arrangement was clearly planned and segregated, but we thought nothing of it as I’m aware that English is not commonly spoken so having Japanese speakers close to the Taisho made sense to us from an atmosphere point of view. However, what didn’t expect was the utter lack of communication and outright disrespect towards us from the Taisho and his staff.
While he was jovial, extremely friendly and talkative to his Japanese guests, he proceeded to completely ignore the three of us who were seated in the “gaijin corner”. He never acknowledged our presence; never even glanced or looked our way the entire time, only coming by to drop by his piece of sushi that we could tell was hastily made. The difference in attitude towards the two groups became so uncomfortable and jarring that the Korean gentleman sitting next to me proceeded to ignore the Taisho as well, going on his phone for the duration of the dinner.
While I can overlook Ryujiro’s lack of communication and acknowledgment towards us gaijin, here are the three events that really soured our experience:
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When ordering a glass of sake I wanted, the sous chef said it was only available by the bottle at ¥11000. I thought it was strange so I just passed on it, but literally 2 mins after a Japanese guest asked for the same sake and they promptly and discreetly served him by the glass after seeking permission from the Taisho (without bringing out the bottle in case we caught on). When I asked the sous chef if I can order the same sake the Japanese guest just ordered, he rudely exclaimed “No!” with a disgusted look and no other explanation. This level of service shocked me so greatly as I never been discriminated like this at a restaurant before. Refusing to give sake to a paying customer while giving the same sake to someone else is something I can never understand and really pointed out that we were being discriminated against.
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Ryujiro would always serve the smallest or most “unappealing” pieces of sushi to gaijins. As the whole counter can see the pieces of fish being cut up and served, this act of discrimination felt even more humiliating and purposeful. When he would get around to making the sushi for us, he would always seem distracted loudly talking and joking with the Japanese customers; not even looking at the sushi in his hands. One time a piece of tuna fell out and he quickly picked it up and placed it on top of the rice to serve it to us. The same thing happened to a Japanese customer, but that time he told the sous chef to eat the sushi while he made a new one from scratch for the customer. This really pissed me off.
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The sushi was not even that good. Believe me when I say that we had better sushi at a standing sushi bar for a third of the price the next day. The quality of the sushi does not even come close to Namba or Sanshin while charging similar or higher prices. The service they provided was the worst we experienced in Japan and definitely stained what would be a perfect trip. This is what led us to determine that Sushi Ryujiro is really a joke of a place, charging premium prices to make foreigner customers feel unwanted and uncomfortable for mediocre sushi.
The only positive from this experience was the kind sous chef who we can tell tried his best to make conversation and acknowledge our presence. At times it felt that he knew that Ryujiro despises foreigners and he would try his best to accommodate us despite that.
In conclusion, this was the worst dining experience we had in Japan, and the only negative one. This was really disappointing as we expected a better level of service and quality being that this restaurant is positively reviewed on this sub and the fact that it’s a Tabelog silver restaurant.
We were confused about the treatment we received that day but later became angry as we dined in other omakase sushiyas and received better quality fish and service for a lesser price. Please tell me if there’s anything wrong with what I said or if I’m being too sensitive. FYI this is the first time I’m ever writing a negative review like this of a restaurant but I felt that people should know.
I ultimately believe that if I’m paying +$300/pp for a Michelin star experience, I at least want to be treated like I’m welcome at the establishment. But maybe that’s asking too much for a gaijin 🤷♂️
by VisibleCarpenter2105
25 Comments
The dreaded gaijin corner seems unavoidable nowadays.
I’ve come to grips with the fact that I will never go to Tokyo because this behavior appears to be the norm, not the exception.
Thanks for this. It’s a legit review and you should post it far and wide. If enough people have the same experience they might consider changing their ways.
I don’t doubt your experience at all; I just wanted to give our experience from July. We’re 2 Americans and while the sous chef talked to us mostly (he was so nice and chatty!), the head chef would talk to us often as best he could (it seemed like he had trouble with English). And when we finished the meal, they both came outside to see us off and walked us to the taxi. We had great service there, including drinks. Overall preferred the food at Takamitsu, but don’t regret going to Ryujiro in the least.
is there a way to dispute the tip if it already occurred by the time you arrived (not sure how the service charge is applied)?
In other words, call your credit card company, and ask to remove or dispute the tip.
then email the restaurant and explain that because the tip was presumably for “excellent service” that was never delivered, in fact, the service was discriminatory and dreadful, you had no choice but to remove the tip.
I went solo to Japan and ate at serval Michelin restaurants. I also was put in the corner at many but whether it was because I was dining solo or as a foreigner I couldn’t tell you. I coped with the language barrier by ordering a lot of alcohol. Usually a full bottle for myself which seemed to amuse them as I drank it all and satisfy their quota for my spending. I also just played the role of oblivious foreigner by just being friendly, asking questions and complimenting the food no matter what. I never noticed a difference in food quality so I might have been upset if I did. I did have a bad experience at Jiro sushi but they treated everyone terribly so it didn’t feel discriminatory.
Not that it should matter in being treated so terribly, but I’m curious if you speak any Japanese at all? My Japanese is not good, but I’ve been working at it and am around maybe a rough N4 conversational level, and I’ve noticed that just trying to make small talk usually causes chefs and servers to warm to me, or at least they are pleasantly surprised I can say something.
Again, even if you couldn’t mutter an arigato, you shouldn’t have been treated like this, but it sounds like the chef was so prejudiced that even if you spoke some Japanese, he wouldn’t have cared (which I’ve encountered before and it’s just about the worst feeling in the world to be so disregarded after putting in sincere effort).
OP are you white?
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Sorry to hear about your experience, OP. But the food still looks incredible.
Despite this experience, people still defend the restaurant in the comments.
Lol. Never ceases to amaze me when people are suprised that the Japanese are racist. They don’t like anybody besides other Japanese people.
Sorry to hear about the poor experience.
I visited Umi when Ryujiro was manning the counter and it was one the most fun omakase experiences I’ve had — fwiw the seating was majority foreigners who spoke no Japanese, but he went out of his way to try and explain things in broken English to those guests. He definitely does not “despise” foreigners lol.
I will admit though, that you are certainly losing out on half of the experience if you do not speak Japanese. Myself and a young couple who were regulars were the only Japanese speakers there that night, and he did spend a majority of the time chatting the three of us up. Not in like a pointed, I’m gonna ignore the rest of the restaurant way — I just think he’s a gregarious guy and that he naturally gravitates towards that type of energy. It’s what makes his omakase so unique and fun, but I can see how it could feel like a slight if you aren’t in the circle of folks yukking it up.
As for the sake thing, that just sounds like bending the rules for regulars rather than discriminating against foreigners. They should be more discreet about it, but pretty much every high end sushiya would also let their regulars do that sort of thing. It is what it is.
The putting the dropped neta back on the shari thing — that is straight up unacceptable IMO and I’m shocked to hear it. Lazy and unprofessional. Should be called out.
Personally this is not a place I would recommend if you are not fluent in Japanese, as so much of what makes the experience special is dependent on not just being able to understand the chef, but really actively communicating back and forth with him throughout the meal.
Thanks for sharing. Perhaps tourists should speak with their money. Stop going to Japan to travel, take your money elsewhere. We aren’t welcome, so why go? I sure won’t be.
Japanese society really needs to look in the mirror re: treatment of foreigners.
Sad to hear about this. I’ve eaten in a few dozen Michelins in Japan and haven’t experienced this myself thankfully. In fact we’ve been seated in front of the chef/owner on at least a half dozen occasions including at some 3 stars.
Still, your post is a reminder that this still exists where it really shouldn’t.
I went here last year. We were also seated in the “gaijin corner” but didn’t think anything of it, or of the fact that we received almost no interaction, since I don’t expect them to speak my languages. But a few times, they forgot to even introduce the item they placed in front of us, which was the only interaction we had aside from the goodbye bows.
With respect to the food, the sous chef (or someone who was not the taisho) made a lot of our pieces, and at least one or two of them were clearly not as well-made. E.g., the nori wrapped around the uni gunkan was not “sealed” — there was a loose flap — and there was a bit of rice sticking to the outside. The taste was good but nothing mind-blowing. We didn’t feel disrespected but thought the place was overrated and not deserving of the price.
The fact that the person next to you was talking on his phone the whole time at a fine dining restaurant is why foreigners get put in the corner. He would have been asked to leave at most places.
My husband and I are currently in Japan and have been seated in the Gaijin corner for most of our reservations where it’s clear the chef doesn’t fluently speak English. I honestly don’t mind it- we can speak a bit of Japanese and chime in from time to time and I understand it’s just harder for the chefs to communicate with us. They pop over, or have a sous chef pop over and explain a dish to us – I honestly appreciate the extra time/work. Plus we often have a side angle view of the cooking and my husband loves making mental notes of techniques and tools for us to bring home. I’m also visibly very pregnant and have found every service experience has been extremely friendly and I’m given big portions, which probably helps.
That all said, if I was being treated worse like you’re describing or being given subpar cuts, I’d notice and I’d be pissed off. The corner doesn’t bother me but if the food quality and options for food/drinks dropped off I’d be pissed too. That’s the part that gets me.
Damn! Japanese premium restaurants not having a great week. 😓
I’m really sorry for your experience! I dined with Nakamura-San in the Umi days and generally had a decent experience with him but this was maybe 6 years ago. His English wasn’t great but tried to make a comment about everything he would serve me. My date was a Japanese woman and he interacted with her a lot and she had a wonderful time though. I was put on the far left side of the counter, next to the wall at Umi. Is that the gaijin corner? I wasn’t served by a sous chef.
At Sukiyabashi Jiro in Roppongi, I was at the far left again and the sous chefs were present but did not serve me, it was Takashi. Many reviews of this restaurant are quite negative but I personally was treated quite well as he was super friendly with me and my date. We have pictures together after the dinner as well and chatted. Buuutt… other experiences for people in the building weren’t as great. There was a family of Chinese guests who brought their children and it didn’t go as well for them from the start. He couldn’t communicate with them as well as he wanted and they were using chopsticks in an interesting way that made each piece of sushi fall apart. This upset chef quite much so and he would routinely grab the sushi out of their chopsticks grasp and throw it away – whatever bits were left in the chopsticks that is. He would lean over to me and “apologize” saying “I’m sorry the Chinese are ruining the night.” Sous chefs were not spared his anger as well, they basically physically struck whenever they ‘messed up’ – I didn’t catch the errors. He would beat them right behind the counter in all of our line of sight.
Dining at the counter at Hakkoku, I was off to the extreme left again but it was a great opportunity to talk with the sous chef at the time who runs Saikou now. Great time chatting with him.
Masashi, I was at the far right, furthest from the door. but it seemed close to where chef was preparing the sushi. He didn’t chat with us much but the service was great from the rest of the staff.
Sushi Yuu, I was at the far right, furthest from the entrance but all of the staff, host, waitress, sous chef and head chef were awesome. Very funny and kind.
Satake, furthest right.
Ginza Onodera, always on the further left regardless of NYC or Tokyo.
Man, I’m getting depressed, I never even thought about counter position before. But it was mostly fun though, maybe pure ignorance sure. Oh, I’m Asian American.
We are from Mexico and went a couple of months ago, although we were seated also in the corner and didnt have as much interaction with Ryujiro…. he was always smilling and tried to explain a couple of nigiris which we didnt know what they were, his english is very limited but the sou chef helped us quite a bit. (and a couple right next to us).
We neither had issues with getting drinks by the glass. And the only sushi made by the sou chef was the maki. There was only one nigiri that i can remember that wasnt perfect. It went a little bit sideways in my plate but i dont see an issue with that.
Dont want to invalidate your experience, just sharing how our experience was. Sushi quality was good but we had better in other cities; but I would still comeback because of the tuna 🙂
I can tell you that I was looking into a ryujiro seat this week, and I took it off my favorites on omakase because of this. This is important.
On a different note, I did the “nigiri only” seating at Namba Hibiya Friday night. He was remarkably professional.
I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m 1/4 Japanese and have also noticed the way I’m treated when I’m with my Japanese cousins versus when I’m by myself or with my white partner is drastically different at some places—even if I’m speaking flawless native-sounding Japanese like the kind I grew up with. Japan has historically been a monoculture and some people just choose to perpetuate this by being flaming assholes to anyone they feel isn’t 100% Japanese. Very unfortunate and a truly antiquated way of thinking, and unfortunately it seems to be worse with prestigious classes so I’m saddened but not surprised you were shit on at a Michelin star restaurant and treated better at a street eatery. This tracks with my experiences as well 😔
I feel like at other restaurants in other countries, one would speak up about this level of service and quality. If I could visibly see I was getting an inferior piece of food but paying the same price as others sitting right next to me, why can I not speak out about this and refuse it? Why do we treat the chef as some kind of god we should be grateful to receive anything from – when we are paying?
I’m not a sushi connoisseur so I’ve never been to a sushiya like this and don’t know fully what the cultural etiquette is. But if they’re going to treat someone (poorly and discriminatorily) as a gaijin, then why keep playing by their rules of hiding displeasure?
This kind of behavior should be addressed in the moment, not accepted as “oh well, they’re just racist, that’s just how it is here”. Maybe that’s easier said than done, but I think we put the Japanese on a pedestal sometimes and don’t call them out as much as they should be.