Signs that a restaurant is not good

When picking a restaurant in the US I can easily identify if a restaurant is bad, but I am struggling to do the same selecting restaurants in Japan. What are some signs that a restaurant is not good? I know a lot of people use Tabelog, but I find it somewhat confusing to navigate and also I don’t trust reviews because they are subjective. There is no way of knowing if the reviewer has good taste in food. I see a lot of reviews with something like “This was the best meal we had in Japan” Maybe everything that person ate in Japan was bad and the restaurant that was “the best” was just the least worst. I have also seen some reviews regarding Michelin star restaurants or restaurants that have gotten exposure in Western countries that say “Not good there were too many foreigners” OK, but what about the food???

Some signs that a restaurant is not good in the US
It is a chain restaurant like Applebee’s or McDonald’s
It has a menu with 10 pages of items
It has a menu with pictures
It has a laminated menu (this is maybe case by case, but I feel like it is a good indicator)
It has overly attractive wait staff
It has poor or outdated interior design
It is located in a shopping mall
It has Celebrity ownership
It is located in a tourist trap area (Times Square)
The items on the menu are more expensive than a comparable restaurant because the restaurant has a good view

I find bad restaurants in Japan to be very rare. Food quality and service are generally very good.
The few bad experiences I made are along touristy streets (where service can be below-par) and with low-cost chain stores (which lower quality alongside the price).

Two of your points will be different in Japan:

Pictures: Lots of Japanese restaurants will have pictures in their menu, and models of the food in the window.

Shopping malls: Lots of department stores, shopping buildings, etc. have a restaurant floor with good-quality restaurants.

Some signs that a restaurant is not good in the US
Those do not apply in Japan. Chains can be great, cheap can be even better, pictures and laminated menus - usual. Your expectations are way off the mark.

What are some signs that a restaurant is not good?

As you say in the rest of your post, this is highly subjective. I don't think there are any universal signs in Japan that indicate that a restaurant is bad. By "bad", I mean to the point that you cannot finish the food. Most of your criterias do not apply in Japan.

Thanks for the replies. … if you ever come to the US my rules are pretty trustworthy so keep them in mind. There are of course exceptions. For example Shake Shack is pretty good compared to other fast food restaurants and possibly better than a lot of non fast food hamburger and fries restaurants. Although I probably wouldn’t recommend fast food in general to a tourist when there are a lot of better options.

I am aware that a lot of restaurants in Japan have picture menus and that is why I asked my question because I understand the necessity of the picture menu, but then what are the signs? I also understand that sometimes the cheap “unsophisticated” food is the best food. I am from Philadelphia we are known for a sandwich called a cheesesteak it is cheap and the restaurants typically do not look like the place where you want to eat. With that being said, there are good and bad cheesesteaks and you would have to ask a local where to go.

In Japan the restaurants can look very run-down, and still serve good food. And although I tend to steer clear from chain restaurants, I recently found out that Saizeriya's mentaiko pasta did fit my taste.

I will answer the opposite question: how to find a restaurant you will like? If you know your preferences well, it is easier to narrow down your options. Regardless of the overall rating of a restaurant, the most interesting comments are those that describe the dishes in detail.

For example, noodles (ramen/udon). What you can find out from the comments (and pictures) are: noodle thickness & texture, flavor of the broth (is it chicken, pork, fish? is it too salty?), size of the meat chunks.
Unagi: does that restaurant serve it firm, or rather soft? Is their sauce rather sweet, or salty?

etc...

Overall, the food quality in Japan is high, but you will probably have a few "passable" meals anyways (sorry).

I have been to two bad restaurants. They had one common indicator: there were very empty.

Patrick,

As a Japanese resident in Greater Tokyo, I totally understand what you mean. And a looot of restaurants in Japan are not good! In fact, to me, the good ones are very rare and scarce. For example, there is a far-away town I travel to about twice a year, and I make it a rule to visit the ones I always love and try at least one new one. That way, I can come home satisfied.

Enough about me. As you said, it's subjective. But here are some things that work for me:
(Unlike your list, these are the "good" ones instead of the "not good" ones)

1. Not chain.
2. Not highly advertised or not advertised at all.
3. No flashy signs at the door.
4. Small but have been in business for more than a few years.
5. Big but relatively new.
6. Big but have been in business for more than a few decades, although not always crowded.
7. Have regular local customers.
8. Doesn't play dance-club music.
9. Doesn't provide menu for tourists (such as English just for the sake of tourists. But menus in good American food restaurants would have English on it)

Below are some things that contradict with your list of US restaurants.

Yes, US eateries with overly attractive wait staff usually serve something like dance-club food. Meanwhile, a lot of good organic food type eateries in Japan have wait staff that just happen to be stylish. People who are picky about what they wear are often picky on the food they serve as well.

Yes, people who don't care about having poor or outdated interior design often don't care about maintaining or updating the quality of their food. But I feel that a lot of mom-and-pop restaurants, both in the US and in Japan, don't care about interior while they focus on their food. So, you can't always judge by the interior.

It's true that shopping malls aren't the "best". But it can be pretty good to a certain extent, especially if it's in an area where there is no other choice but to join a mall to run an eatery. Also, a lot of the newer malls in the city run the whole mall under the policy to keep quality, and you can often find good eateries in reasonable prices there.

It's also no secret that when a business starts to take in too many customers than they can afford to, the quality is not going to catch up. You can see that from both your list and mine.

One of the easiest ways to find a good reasonable restaurant is to ask a taxi driver. Or you can ask a concierge, who'd often tell you to ask a taxi driver.

I hope you have fun walking around for good ones!

Thanks Uco … in Tokyo I am interested in these places

Tonkatsu Hasegawa: I was interested in Butagumi as well, but this works really well with my itinerary and from pictures the outside of the shop has no English which I think is a good sign. I know it is popular, but I plan to get there before it opens to avoid lines

Ginza Kagari (otemachi): I was also interested in Tsuta and Nakiryu, but they are not convenient locations for me also Tsuta now has a location in Brooklyn that I can easily go to. Ginza Kagari has multiple locations and I should be able to get there before it opens to hopefully avoid long lines. I am concerned about it having become too popular and the quality suffering and also having to wait a long time.

Savoy Azubujan or Savoy Tomato and Cheese: Again maybe became too popular for its own good, but I would like to try Japanese pizza and while the Tuna pizza sounds weird to me it is also intriguing

If there’s too much English signage and it’s full of foreigners. Might not be “bad” but probably lackluster. I’m vegan so I’ve seen the good and bad of restaurants that specialize in attracting mostly foreigners.

@Uco
I was surprised to read your harsh comment about restaurants in Japan. Maybe our definition of "good" is different?

Upon reflection, the restaurants that were good enough that I would recommend them, or revisit again, are indeed not that many. Most fall in the "okay" category, between good and bad, or "it was good but I could do that at home if I had the ingredients".

Mellye I think there is a misunderstanding here when I say bad what I really mean is lackluster/ uninspiring. I think Uco understood this. I think that in the US it is probably not likely that you will find “unedible” food although we do have a lot of “not good” food. If I was desperate I could eat at Applebee’s or even McDonald’s, but I would rather not. As well if you are looking for Pizza there is a wide range in quality even in cities that are known for Pizza like New York. Could you imagine the disappointment finding out that you went to a pizza place that was a 5/10 when on the same block there is a Pizza place that is a 9/10? That is what I am trying to avoid.

Another point for clarification: Some of the best restaurants are not super high end restaurants, but mid range or very often “cheap” eats, however, when comparing restaurants in the same price range it is important to understand what is driving the cost. In the case of “good” restaurants the cost is due to quality ingredients, good service, and exceptional technique whereas “bad” restaurants the price is driven by superficial things like good view, near a very touristy spot, has overly attractive wait staff.

I know the overly attractive wait staff thing maybe sounds weird, but it is definitely a thing in Western countries especially in very large cities like New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome. The most obvious example of this is at the chain restaurant Hooter’s. they hire attractive waitresses to compensate for lack luster food. In Los Angeles and New York there are a lot of aspiring actors that get jobs waiting tables to pay their bills. As well we have a tip culture in the US and more attractive wait staff typically get larger tips. In many restaurants tips are shared among the wait staff so there is incentive to hire/ retain wait staff that get big tips.

Thanks for the clarifications :)
While I have been to very few bad restaurants, there were some that left me thinking "for a fraction of the price, a sandwich would have been quicker, and just as enjoyable".

I think you should be safe with your checklist and Uco's. The only criterias that I would remove are:
- It has a menu with pictures
- It has a laminated menu
- It has poor or outdated interior design
because you might miss quite a few good restaurants otherwise.

About chains, some of my favourite sweets shops are chain stores, albeit on a smaller scale (~5 stores). Nationwide (cheap) fastfood chains are usually a last resort, when everything else is closed, though.

Regarding restaurants in shopping malls, there is a big difference between upscale department stores in big cities (there you can find "not bad" restaurants), and shopping malls in small towns (usually very uninspiring - that's how I ended up at Saizeriya, which wasn't bad, but I wish I had found somewhere else to eat). On other forums and websites, I saw several people recommend the underground food halls of department stores. However, most of what I tested there was average.


The most obvious example of this is at the chain restaurant Hooter’s. they hire attractive waitresses to compensate for lack luster food.

You might encounter something similar in Japan: young women employees holding signs and hailing passerby in front of restaurants. (No idea how the quality actually is, the noise just makes walk away as fast as possible...)

Shake Shack - worst restaurant I've ever been to in Japan.

JapanCustomTours worse than McDonald’s/Lotteria/Mosburger? What didn’t you like about it? In the US I would say it is above most other fast food chains especially on the East coast … the quality is pretty high although it is also significantly more expensive as well.

I have heard that KFC in Japan is much better than it is in the US, but I don’t think I will travel to Japan to have KFC :)

Mellye, Patrick, yes, you got it right about me.

And just so that you'd know, I love McDonalds. It reminds me of the four years I spent in California when I was a kid. Similarly, there are these certain "childhood memory" junk foods in Japan, and people would go to their local boring malls craving for them, which I fully understand. But I wouldn't recommend it to every visitor who don't share the same memories. I also like to leave it to friends to choose the restaurants we meet, and I eat everything on the plate. (I hate to leave leftovers behind!) But quite often, they're not my favorites. And I do tend to have good relationships with friends who know where to get really good food. In other words, I know which friends to ask when I'm looking for one.

Back to the topic, I never knew that tuna pizza was a thing in Japan. But you should keep in mind that "tsuna (ツナ)" and "maguro (まぐろ or マグロ)" are pretty much two different things in Japan. The former is your everyday canned whitemeat tuna. The latter is the kind you'd get on your raw-fish sushi.

Honestly, though, I'm not too crazy about these "maguro + teenage favorites" types of food. It's one of those "okay but turn me down" type of food for me. If you're interested in pizza with a Japanese taste, I would recommend the ones topped with "shirasu" (しらす or シラス whitebait). And you should get one from a place that identifies themselves as an "Italian restaurant" or a place where they bake their pizza in a real 石窯 (ishigama / brick oven). You will know if they have the oven, because ones that do always mention it, and they usually have an open kitchen where you can see the oven.

I also know what you're talking about when you mention pizza in NYC. The dollar pizza stands offer pizza that are just as boring (but okay) as the ones in delivery pizza places in Japan. But the great ones would use fantastic tomato sauce.

Also, you should focus on soup stocks, especially when going to traditional Japanese food places. The best places would always serve great "dashi". And note that many of the good eateries can be found in residential areas, because the ones that survive there means they're good.

But if you like seafood, one of the easier places to find foreign-visitor-friendly eateries with reasonable quality near Tokyo is Enoshima near Kamakura. Once you walk across the only bridge to the tiny island, you'll see a row of eateries serving grilled seafood and various donburi dishes. So far, the places I've been to have all been great despite being very accessible. And the stroll around the sea resort is very cozy. You should take the cute Enoden train which offers nice views as well.

Forgot to mention that I loved Shake Shack in Yokohama (Minatoirai) so much that I went back a couple of times. But I did think that they weren't exactly more affordable than the other non-chain burger places that are increasing in Japan.

Uco,
If you have Netflix check out the series "Ugly Delicious" season 1 episode 1 "Pizza". It is a show hosted by David Chang who is a celebrated Korean American chef who runs Momofuku in New York and has opened up other well received restaurants in New York and LA. The episode discusses pizza around the world in particular pizza that breaks away from the standard. Restaurants in the episode include Lucali in Brooklyn which I would say is one of the best pizzas in New York/ that I have had in my life. He also visits Savoy and Seirinkan in Tokyo with the comedian Aziz Ansari.

The pizza at Savoy is cooked in a brick pizza oven by chef Ryu Yoshimura. The Tuna they use is meguro and instead of a tomato sauce base they have a sauce that is mayonnaise based ... it sounds really weird, but Yoshimura san explains that it is like Pizza sushi replacing the rice with the pizza dough. They also served more standard pizza like margherita. Both David Chang and Aziz Ansari looked confused by what was happening, but then really enjoyed the pizza. the segment starts shortly after the 4:00 minute mark.

Another pizza place in Tokyo that I won't go to because I don't have the time and it is too much food for one sitting is The Pizza bar on 38th in the mandarin oriental in Tokyo. They serve a pizza 8 course kaiseki and it recently won an award for the best pizza in Asia.