Restaurant recommendations for group of 10

Our group consists of 3 families, total 10 of us. I will forsee problems looking for dinning places that can accommodate our group size.

Would appreciate if anyone can recommend us reasonable-priced restaurant (budget ard 2000yen per person), with easy access near train stations, provide english language menus or otherwise with pictures.

Will be putting up at Keio Plaza Shinjuku & Hotel Metropolitan at Ikebukuro.

Thanks in advance.

Hi
Was checking out Keio Plaza hotel
last weekend and found nice but not to
my taste for meals. What type of meals are you after?.
There are many types and styles all around
Shinjuku from Royal host across road on
west side of Keio plaza hotel to more Japanese and Asian in department stores there to common garden types on south side
walkway. Best thing to do is walk around at lunchtime and see if you can book in a group
of 10 at a set time.
Myself I like to walk and see window displays but the group size is to big for that.
Good luck.

Japanese food is fine for us. We don't mind travelling to other places like shibuya, harajuku for dining experiences.

How about those restaurants that are located within the shopping malls? Any adv?

Any recommendation pls? we will be there end Nov and hope to get the info handy.

Thanks alot.

I suggest that you avoid the crowd/busiest meal times by having your meals before or after the busiest periods. If not, break up into smaller groups and go to different but nearby restaurants. Whenever we travel as a couple or in small groups of 4, 6, 7 or 8 we always do this and usually find empty tables in most restaurants. In almost all cases, we ate in the same restaurants. The added benefit is that we can have a leisure meal and not feel rushed.

We usually have our light breakfast after 8:30am, our lunch at 11:15am and dinner at 5:30pm. For late meals, consider breakfast at 9:30am, lunch at 2:00pm and dinner at 8:00pm or there abouts. For reasonable priced restaurants, your best option is near train stations or dedicated levels of department stores as well as side streets.

Look for restaurants ahead of time and do as I suggest and you should have no problems finding suitable accommodation.

A group of 10 is fairly large for this but consider buying take-out foods from the basement floor of large department stores. You can buy rice balls, pickle vegetables, tempura, deep fried chicken, etc. Then, if your hotel room is large enough, eat together. Our group is smaller so we always do this in Japan. You can put together a great meal filled fun and memories.

My additional thoughts:

You'll be more successful with the early meal times. Take a tour of the the lower basement floors of department stores where they sell pre-cooked meals including the box-bento meals made up of an assortment of entrees with sides where most are priced less than 1,000yen. After about 7:30pm (every store's time differs)they'll mark down the prices to sell all before closing by anywhere from 10% to 40%. Look for the store with a lot of unsold box-bento meals after 6:30pm. Or you can simply pay the full price.

Whether you decide to buy 1 or 2 of your meals from here or not, it is something you have to see AND TASTE.

Have a great trip!
Harold

At Ikebukuro you can visit the basements of the Seibu and Tobu department stores after 8pm. Most of the food will be going at 30%-50% off. Try the potato and mixed vegetable salad, it's very nice. Or you could eat at a ramen stall, there's one outside the North exit of Ikebukuro Station, turn left at the exit and walk straight down, it's about a 3min walk. The stall's name is in Japanese, but the first two letters are Mandarin for Pork Bone. There's a big standee just outside the shop advertising the salty version of the ramen, you'll be able to spot it easily. The soup stock is absolutely delicious. I went to that shop for lunch often when I was in Ikebukuro last week.

As a fellow Singaporean I hope you have a great time in Japan!

My family of 5 was at Japan last Nov and we also stayed at Keio plaza. Makan (food) was not an issue cause we headed opposite the hotel main entrance and there are lots of food stall with price ranging from 450 to 600 yen per pax. My favourite was the beef bowl rice (~500 yen) and there are also lots of food stalls at Shinjuku station itself. The supermarket (Shunjuku station) at the basement offer discount of up to 50% after 8pm. We will be Japan again this Dec but will be centered around Osaka, Kyoto, Fukui and Nara.

Hope this help

Regards
Soon (Singapore)

Thanks for all the advice.

Your hotel might be able to help you make a reservation at an Izakaya for your group. I went to many different Izakayas - with groups associated with my husband's work, or my own group of teachers - during my stay in japan (or when a group of us wanted to eat together) and they are geared to accommodate parties of your size as well as casual diners. They would be able to offer you a set menu of a number of items - all served family style - usually with unlimited drinks, for a set period of time.
Quite honestly the izakaya food - izakaya is kind of a drinking establishment that also serves casual food - was my favorite in Japan.
I went to quite a nice Izakaya in Ikebukuro once - sorry, can't remember the name.

Anyway, approach the hotel with your request and see if they can help you. For ten you would probably be able to get a private room.

Thanks Spendthrift for sharing.

Oh yes, during our last trip, we ended up at one of those Izakaya in Shinjuku. Not so nice experience cos the place was so cramp and small, plus they only served light finger food, can't really understand the menu which was in Japanese, the staff also can't understand simple English, but as we were so exhausted on that winter night, we just have grab whatever they have.

Yes, I will remember to check with the hotel for more info and also make advance reservation if need to.

Thanks again

How about restaurants there?
Any recommendation for our group?

Thanks alot.

Daiwa Sushi and Sushi Dai.

Those stalls are near each other, and they'll always have very long queues, you wont miss it. Be prepared to stand waiting for an hour++ though.