Shinjuku station food alley question

Outside of Shinkjuku station on the north end, is a group of tiny restaurant stands; almost like a back alley of food huts.There are several dozen and each one only seats 5-10 people and much of the food is on skewers or similar. Does anyone know if these are affordable and how do you generally order the food? Is it a meal or do they just charge you by the skewer? Unlike the rest of Tokyo, there is very little english on the signs. I am dying to eat there on my next trip in a few weeks, but I don't know the routine. Any help is appreciated.

The type of food you decribe is Kushimono. Haven't been to where you're asking for a couple of years, but the last time I was there they charged per skewer (kushi). At some stalls, you could just point to what you wanted.

Thanks for the info. Do you remember how much it cost? Or is there an easy way to ask for the prices? I'm afraid of a repeat performance in the Ginza where a few skewers of food and a few beers cost $80 per person.

I think the alley also gets refered to as piss alley. Don't worry about the prices too much. They certainly won't rival those of Ginza! But sorry, I don't know more specifics.

But I am sure a meal in the piss alley can be a great experience.

Uji is right it is refered to as piss alley because there are really no bathrooms around after you've been drinking all night long. Don't worry about prices, it was pretty inexpensive. When I was last there, there were many salarymen and after drinking for a while they all wanted to practice English. I don't think they serve anything else to drink beside beer, but don't know if you can bring your own.

At least nowadays, there is a public toilet in the piss alley, but it is certainly not Tokyo's best looked after. I find it a sight by itself.

I suppose that your cheapest option might be to go to all-you-can-eat/drink restaurants in Shinjuku, but the ally or street you�fre talking would disappear in the future. You can find that kind of streets near Shinbashi/Yurakucho St. or Shibuya St.
You usually order beer, sake or other alcohol and then your favorite small dishes or Yakitori there. In case you cannot apply your pointing strategy and I am afraid that it is the last place in Japan where you can find an English menu, so pay 2000/3000yen first and say �gBeeru to Osusume wo Onegaishimasu�h or beer and stall�fs specials please in English.

can you name of the "-you-can-eat/drink restaurants in Shinjuku" you mentioned. I'm going to Shinjuku in March.

It depends upon how much you usually eat and drink.

If you don't mind eating meat, mou mou pradise in Shinjuku East exit is one of the cheapest all you can eat/drink restaurant, 2900JPY for 90min. You can choose a beef/pork dish among Sukiyaki, Shabushabu, and Hot Pot. When you want to eat both beef and pork, you pay 210JPY more.
Tt usually costs you about 500JPY for a beer in Japan. So if you eat much and drink couples of beer there, I suppose it would be a good deal.

Following is the map and a 200JPY off coupon:
http://g.pia.co.jp/shuto/shop_service/cpif0001.jsp?shp_cd=50479&coupon_seq_no=1&jldiv=4&OID=

Some reviews in English:
http://www.virtualtourist.com/vt/ec9cc/2/ed13/

All-you-can-eat: Tabehoudai
All-you-can-drink: Nomihoudai

I don't think you eat and drink much everyday, so it might be a good idea to have lunch or dinner at following franchised Japanese set menu or Teishoku restaurants.

Sakura Suisan
When you order 500JPY lunch menu there, you can eat rice, raw eggs, Japanese pickles and drink miso soup as much as you can. Their main dishes for lunch are mainly fish.

MeshiyaDon
When you order their set menu, you can eat rice and pickles as much as you can.

Tenya, tempura restaurant
Otoya, Teishoku restaurant

They don't have eat/drink as much you can menus, but you can eat dinner at reasonable prices less than 1000yen. And the quality is better than the above two, I think.

Thanks for all the answers to my original question. I just returned to the US from Japan and I stopped by the piss alley in Shinjuku. I ate at one of the skewer places and spent 2600 yen for 6 skewers of chicken and 2 beers. I figure that the beers were 400 yen apiece, and the skewers therefore were 300 yen apiece. Thanks again for everyone's help.

Good info. pacman. Thanks a lot.

Actually I find it rather expensive to eat in this alley. I was ripped off once and never went back again.

You can get similar food in the supermarkets and the sticks of meat cost only 100-200 yen. Of course, there's no place for you to sit down and enjoy your meal. They're more like on-the-go kind of food.

Do they welcome women at those places? A friend who visited Japan mentioned that women don't normally eat there.

Folks, I work in a skyscraper not far from the restaurants you describe. I have lived in Japan a number of years, speak Japanese and enjoy Japan immensely. I was shocked however when I and several foreign and Japanese guests were refused entry to no less than six of these restaurants even though they had plenty of empty seats. We were told their seats were booked, which we soon saw was a lie as they offered the seats in each case to the very next Japanese passers by. I challenged at one and was told frankly in Japanese "we don't want foreigners in here". We found one restaurant run by Koreans happy to take us in, but by then we had lost our appetite. Very disappointing and indeed relatively rare in Japan, I avoid that lane like the plague. I'm not all doom and gloom however, and I fully recommend any of the restaurants under or adjacent to the JR Yamanote line train tracks between Yurakucho and Shimbashi that have a similar authentic Japanese old world feel.

Very disappointing and indeed relatively rare in Japan, I avoid that lane like the plague.
There are more restaurants like this, unfortunately. The owners most likely can't be bothered to deal with foreigners as they imagine the foreigners might not know how to eat the food,
what to choose from the menu, smell bad, use the soap in the bath, (oh no, that is in an onsen ^_^;;), etc. They can't be bothered.
http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html

The owners most likely can't be bothered to deal with foreigners as they imagine the foreigners might not know how to eat the food,
what to choose from the menu,

I am afraid that this discriminatory praxis is probably at least partially based on actual negative experiences with foreign guests rather than just imagination.

There is one (or two?) stalls at Ikebukuro and I think Shinagawa that sells either ramen or those kushiyaki's. They serve foreigners and they do so rather happily, which is a good thing.

I don't know the story with Shinuku stalls however I think its main intention is to cater for Japanese workers after work. If you think about it, if every foreigner goes there, it will probably lose some of its appeal.

Perhaps someone could open a new piss alley 2 and serve 'Foreigners Only Beyond this Point'... now that's a smart business idea.

I went there on a previous trip and again today and can recommend the noodle place on the right towards the end of the lane. I went there with my kids, 2 and 4 and we had three bowls of ramen and a large beer for about 2700 yen. We then went to have a yakatori and started again from the beginning of the lane, nr. the station. A Chinese lady invited us to her place after we asked how much each stick would cost. She said about 200 yen for each, but then as soon as we sat down, she gave us an English menu that said there was a mandatory 300 yen charge per seat, and then poured us some foul tasting iced tea that the menu indicated was 400 yen per glass. Not only that, but she said there was a minimum order of two sticks per type of order. We promptly left and refused to pay, as we felt we were being screwed.

I went there 2 years ago and I zoomed on a place with a surly looking chef and at least 8 cats roaming allover, including the countertop, the food preparation area etc. My Japanese buddy was horrified and dragged me all the way to Asakusa where we ended up eating in a street stall anyway. I was the only Caucasian and the 3 or 4 other customers,besides my friend, were tough looking old seniors. My buddy had to translate several dozen questions from these guys who were actually very friendly. the food wasn't bad either.