When you eat out in Japan, there’s something that helps even before you try to read the menu.
Take one look at the restaurant’s entrance.
The entrance gives you clues about how that restaurant works. There are three things to look for.
- Is there a ticket machine (券売機) at the entrance?
- Are replicas of the dishes (food samples, 食品サンプル) on display out front?
- When you walk in, does someone call out 「いらっしゃいませ」 (irasshaimase, “welcome”) and show you to a table?
Once you know these, you can tell how to order and when to pay before you even go in.
1 A ticket machine at the entrance — you order and pay right there
Ramen and gyudon (beef bowl) shops often have a ticket machine (a vending machine that sells meal tickets) near the entrance.
All you do is put in money and press the button for the dish or drink you want. Take your change and the ticket that comes out. Hand the ticket to the staff, wait at your seat, and your food is brought to you.
In other words, it’s a place where you can order and pay without saying a single word of Japanese.
Some ramen shops don’t have a ticket machine, and you order by telling the staff instead.
At ramen and gyudon shops in Japan, you’ll often see people eating alone. At a shop with a ticket machine, you just buy a ticket, hand it over and wait. You can walk in without feeling awkward, even when you’re traveling solo.
If the buttons are only in Japanese and you can’t read them, use a translation app on your smartphone, or point at the ticket machine and ask the staff. How to put in your bills and find the right button is covered in the “Restaurants with a Ticket Machine” article.
2 Samples out front — what kind of place it is, and roughly how much
Some restaurants have a display case out front, filled with replicas that look just like the dishes. These are food samples.
From the samples, you can often tell what dishes you’ll get and roughly what they cost, before you go in.
Even if the menu is only in Japanese, there’s no need to panic. You can order by pointing at a sample. If you can’t make yourself understood inside, you can also step back outside and point to the sample you want.
Food samples are said to have originated in Japan, between the end of the Taisho era and the start of the Showa era.
What’s on display differs from shop to shop. Comparing them as you walk down the street is one of the pleasures of eating out in Japan.
3 「いらっしゃいませ」 and a table — order at your table, pay at the end
At some restaurants, when you walk in, someone calls out 「いらっしゃいませ」 (irasshaimase, “welcome”), asks how many are in your party, and shows you to a table. One way they may ask is 「何名様ですか」 (nanmei-sama desu ka, “How many people?”).
At places like this, if you wait a moment at the entrance, a staff member will take you to your table.
Once you sit down, water or tea is often brought to you first. Water that comes without you asking for it is usually free.
You order at your table. To call a staff member, say 「すみません」 (sumimasen, “excuse me”), or press the call button if there’s one on the table.
More and more restaurants now let you order on a tablet at the table, or by scanning a QR code with your own smartphone. These screens are often multilingual with photos, so here too you can order without speaking.
You pay after you’ve finished eating. At some places you take the bill to the register near the exit, and at others you pay at the table.
At an izakaya (居酒屋), a small dish comes first
Among restaurants like this, izakaya (Japanese-style pubs) have a small quirk of their own.
Before you order, a small dish may be brought to you. It’s called otoshi (お通し), and there may be a charge for it when you pay. It’s a kind of cover charge.
You won’t know what you’ll get until you sit down, and that’s part of the fun.
At izakaya and casual restaurants, when you go as a group, it’s normal for everyone to share the dishes. At some places, each person orders their own.
How to enjoy an izakaya is covered in the “Izakaya (居酒屋)” article.
For now, just these three
If there’s a ticket machine, buy first.
If there are samples, you can point to show what you want.
If you’re shown to a table, order at the table and pay at the end.
Know these three, and it’s easier to decide calmly, standing out front, whether to go in.
More clues at the entrance
Besides these three signs, there are other things the entrance can tell you.
The cards and e-money a restaurant accepts are sometimes shown as logos at the entrance or the register. Some places spell it out in words, such as 「現金のみ」 (cash only) or 「各種カード使えます」 (various cards accepted). Some places don’t put up logos, so if you want to pay by card, first check the signs at the entrance or the register. If you can’t find any, show your card to the staff as you go in and check with them, and you won’t be stuck after you’ve eaten.
In the countryside, there are many places that take cash only. Carry some cash with you too. The safest thing is to check before you go in, but if you find out after eating that you can’t use your card, you can show the staff a screen on your translation app and talk it over with them.
As a rule, smoking is banned indoors at restaurants in Japan. Places where you can smoke are required to put up an official sign, at the entrance or elsewhere. 喫煙可能店 (smoking allowed) means a place where you can smoke anywhere inside. People under 20 can’t enter these places, even if they don’t smoke. Whether you dislike smoke, want to smoke or are traveling with family, you can tell before you go in.
At some restaurants you take off your shoes before stepping up onto the raised floor. There’s often a shelf for shoes, so just follow what the people around you do and you’ll be fine.
The same at every restaurant
There’s no custom of tipping at restaurants in Japan.
If you want to show your thanks, instead of a tip, say 「ありがとうございました」 (arigatou gozaimashita, “thank you very much”) with a smile.
The next articles go through how each type of restaurant works, one by one.
※ How restaurants work, how you pay and how charges are set differ from one restaurant to another. When you actually eat out, check the restaurant’s signs and follow the staff’s guidance.
