How to choose restaurants

Hi everyone,

My husband and I will be going to Japan for three weeks soon and are foodies. We are very much looking forward to the Japanese cuisine. We are wondering if we will have better results if we select restaurants on the spot as we travel, or based on research done before the trip.

In some other countries with good cuisine, such as Italy, I have found that we are much more likely to be happy with the food if we specifically go to restaurants that are recommended in guidebooks or have high ratings on sites such as TripAdvisor. In places like Rome, for example, there are many mediocre restaurants which survive due to their reliance on tourists (i.e. without needing to build a local base of repeat customers). Therefore, even though Italian food is so good, if we were to select a restaurant randomly it is not at all a sure thing that it will be good.

How is it for Japan? If we select places to eat randomly as we sightsee, are we likely to have good experiences? Or is it much better/safer to do thorough research in advance and make a list of potential restaurants for eating?

Thanks very much.

I would recommend a mix. Look up some specific restaurants that you definitely want to hit so that you can plan that into your schedule, but leave some spots open to explore whatever restaurants you end up coming across.

Btw, what's your itinerary? Maybe we can recommend some things.

I can�Lt recommend any restaurants as I have never been to Japan. However, I am travelling in 2 weeks and would very much like some recommendations. I prefer local cuisine.
I will be staying in tokyo, Nagoya, Hakone, Nikko, Kamakura, Kanazawa, Takayama, Osaka, Kyoto, Mount Koya, Mishayima, Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Any recommendations are welcome!!

i am also a foodie. and best is always to ask local foody-people where to eat best. if you tell me the places, which you go, i can maybe have some recommendations for you since i am collecting good food places.

Check Tabelog, or follow the crowds/queues and your nose.
Usually, in most case in Japan, if you see queues or crowds, the food is pretty good (not always the case in other countries though...).

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+130290

http://www9.nhk.or.jp/anime/sushi/

Thanks for the advice everyone. We will do a mix of pre-selected restaurants and ones selected on the spot based on what locals say and what appears busy.

We would be interested in restaurant recommendations for the following places: Tokyo, Takayama, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Yakushima.

Thanks!

Here are some recommendations for Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kanazawa: http://bento.com

I suggest do research and get recommendations from locals. What I do when I'm in Japan is wander around and just see what you find. A lot of the best mom & pop places are to be found by walking through the back alleys of Tokyo.

For Tokyo restaurants - http://www.sunnypages.jp

In some streets, malls, department stores, there are quite a few restaurants side by side.
Big department stores for example have several floors with nothing but restaurants.
They have menu and prices outside and some have wax models of their food..

Looking inside from the door, checking if the place looks interesting, busy but not overcrowded also helps...
I have been in many restaurants and have never been unhappy with my choices.

Not so much a specific restaurant recommendation, but if you're foodies I'd say make sure you look into what the regional specialties are.

We had excellent Houba miso hida beef in Takayama and this is coming from a person that normally can't stand the taste of red meat. In fact we went to the same restaurant twice in Takayama. I can't remember the name of it but it was on one of the 3 historical streets and didn't look like much from the outside. Pricey but worth it. I think we did find mention of it in a guide book after we visited though.

In Kanazawa you'll want to go for seafood etc etc

Do some research ahead of time - it will save walking around as you will know (roughly) where you can eat in different places. Even with planning, somethings places are closed (day off) or renovations (I had this with my preferred options in Kanazawa this week).

Some of the best places will not be ground-level, and you might need local knowledge to find (you could ask your hotel for recommendations, but that might not be cheap). A lot of good restaurants don't include English or have lots of nice pictures, so that makes it harder.

Takayama Hida beef BBQ is a great meal - several to choose from. Try the place next to http://www.hidagyu-maruaki.co.jp/meat/index.html (one side is the shop, the other is the restaurant).