If I’m being totally honest, my favorite dining experiences over 7 trips to Japan have not revolved around sushi, ramen, or tonkatsu, but around wagyu beef. Yes, a sushi omakase can be absolutely sublime, but the environment is typically a lot more subdued to pay respect to your sushi master. A premium yakiniku experience with your group of friends on the other hand, where every single piece of melt-in-your-mouth marbled wagyu beef is cooked meticulously in front of you to perfection while you drink and revel without judgement? That’s definitely more my style.
That being said, there are so many ways to enjoy all grades of wagyu beef, whether it’s grilled yakiniku style, cooked in broth for shabu shabu or sukiyaki, deep fried into gyukatsu, eaten in a sando or served over rice. So here are my top picks for enjoying all the Japanese wagyu beef at a variety of price points.
Price ranges per person for food only:
$ – Under US$20
$$ – US$21 – $50
$$$ – US$51 – $100
$$$$ – Over US$100
Yoroniku
$$$ – Yakiniku translates to grilled meat, and chef Vanne Kuwahara’s yakiniku restaurant in Ebisu is my all-time favorite place to get it thus far. You can think of it as a meat omakase, where you get course after course of different cuts of the highest grade wagyu beef, with each one cooked meticulously over the charcoal grill in front of you in the best way to highlight that specific cut. Yakiniku honestly puts regular steakhouses to shame considering that every piece of beef you eat is at its prime temperature for maximum enjoyment – no cold steak here!
While the 18 course menu changes slightly, particularly for the grilled cuts of beef like the unreal kainomi beef included in the carousel post above, you can always expect to get some of their signatures like an utterly perfect fried chateaubriand cutlet sando and wagyu sushi with caviar. Despite Yoroniku’s high-end menu and service, the atmosphere is quite relaxed and lively, with tables drinking and having a good time. They even put sparklers in our delicious kakigori, or Japanese shaved ice, which also sets them apart from other yakiniku restaurants so definitely come here for a celebration.
Sumibi Yakiniku Nakahara
$$$$ – Neck and neck with Yoroniku is chef Kentaro Henry’s yakiniku restaurant that specializes in wagyu beef tongue. Even if you’ve never had beef tongue before, if you love beef, then you absolutely need to try their “legendary” beef tongue course. It’s truly is the stuff of legends, with 3 different cuts cooked to perfection right in front of you to showcase the different textures and flavors.
This particular course was actually better at Nakahara than at Yoroniku, which is reflected in the higher price here, though you’re getting a similar experience at both restaurants with a variety of different cuts of the highest grade wagyu cooked in front of you. If you care more about the meat itself than sides or dessert, then Nakahara is the yakiniku restaurant for you with a more beef-focused 8 course menu. Just make sure to add on their amazing gyukatsu sando!
Shabuki Ginza
$$$ – This shabu shabu restaurant serves up 2 hours of all-you-can-eat premium wagyu, kobe and omi beef sets that you can prepay for just 8500 yen (US$55). This is best enjoyed with a group, as you can book a private room with comfortable horigotatsu seating where you sit with your shoes off in a table that’s low to the ground, but with sunken seats so you’re still sitting upright in your seat.
Besides the endless high quality beef and a variety of vegetables and mushrooms that you dip into your choice of shabu shabu or sukiyaki sauce, there’s also the option to add unlimited alcohol so you’re in for a fun and filling dinner.
Stand Hiroki
$ – This new shop just outside the busy Dogenzaka strip of Shibuya is quickly becoming known for their wagyu beef lunch box. For 2500 yen (US$16.50), you get a layer of luxurious thinly sliced raw A4 wagyu that gets warmed up by the bed of hot rice it sits on, resulting in a melt-in-your-mouth texture and a flavor that is enhanced by the raw egg yolk sauce. It comes with a side salad and soup, and only 30 portions are available per day so be sure to arrive early to snag one.
Shima
$$$ – Shima is a full-service teppanyaki steakhouse in Ginza, though it’s best known for this takeaway steak sandwich that was all the rage on Instagram years ago. The sandwich is made from the end cuts of the A5 wagyu they serve in the restaurant, paired with a savory tomato jam and sharp whole grain mustard sauce for a perfectly balanced bite.
I’ve never actually had a full meal here, but was lucky enough to snag this absolutely insane steak sandwich years ago by politely going in at the end of lunch service and asking if they had any available. My understanding is that they currently only offer the sandwiches if you actually dine here for a meal (which is supposed to also be excellent) or if you’re able to get your hotel concierge to reserve a steak sandwich on your behalf, so give it a try if you want to try what might be the best steak sandwich of your life.
Gyukatsu Motomura
$ – You can find this chain of gyukatsu restaurants in practically every neighborhood of Tokyo, so do a google maps search to find one near you if you want to enjoy their delicious deep-fried wagyu beef cutlets. You’re likely to find a wait, but it’s worth it for this super affordable way to enjoy crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside gyukatsu that you can finish cooking to your liking on a hot stone.
Once you’ve had your fill of wagyu beef, check out my guides on where to eat pork tonkatsu, ramen, and udon. Venturing north to Hokkaido? See my favorite places to eat in Niseko (wagyu beef included!).
