Reviews for Arigato Travel / Arigato Japan Food Tours
542 reviews
Amüsant!
Sehr stimmungsvoll. Lee ist für uns ein „Westküsten-Amerikaner aus dem Bilderbuch“, mit großem Japan-Herzen. Es war unterhaltsam!
Product: Absolute Osaka Food Tour
Disappointing Tour
We were a group of 6 visiting Tokyo for the first time and were really looking forward to this tour as our introduction to Shinjuku’s food scene. At ¥26,400 per person, expectations were high. Unfortunately the experience fell short in a few significant ways. The good: The tour started promisingly. Our guide took us through Omoide Yokocho and brought us to a charming little spot that we genuinely loved; exactly what we were hoping for from the entire tour. Intimate, pre-arranged, and authentically Tokyo. He also had some interesting anecdotes along the way that we enjoyed. Where it went wrong: From the second stop onward, things declined noticeably. He took us to a ramen spot in an underground mall where there was clearly no reservation. We waited over 15 minutes and couldn’t sit together as a group. For a pre-booked tour at this price point, we expected every stop to know we were coming, the way the first spot did. Every other food tour we’ve done in cities around the world operates this way. Instead this felt improvised. We also want to flag the pescatarian issue specifically. One member of our group is pescatarian - something we disclosed months in advance when booking and were assured was no problem. Yet at this stop our guide told us this wasn’t his usual spot, but he brought us here specifically because they had a vegan ramen option for our pescatarian guest. We appreciated the thought, but we had no trouble finding excellent ramen spots with both meat and non-meat options throughout Tokyo on our own. This felt like something that should have been planned long before the tour date. The food progression: A food tour should feel like a curated journey of small bites and shareables across multiple spots. After the first stop, the portions became full meals: a complete ramen for each person, followed by a full spread at an izakaya. By the end we were uncomfortably full rather than pleasantly satisfied. It’s not about being fed too much - it’s that the pacing and structure made no sense for a food tour format. The guiding itself: Our guide meant well and was clearly a kind person, but he didn’t take command of the group the way a good tour guide should. He frequently asked us what we wanted to do next - which is the last thing you want to hear from someone you’ve hired to show you around. At Golden Gai he had no plan, wandering between bars trying to find one that might take a group of 6 and soliciting our opinions along the way. We didn’t need a tour guide for that - we needed someone with a plan. By the 3.5 hour mark we were exhausted, overly full, and honestly a little bored. We made the decision to call it a night before the Golden Gai bar portion and took a cab back to our hotel. We don’t doubt the tour was designed with good intentions, and the concept - Omoide Yokocho, Kabukicho, Golden Gai - is genuinely a great one. But the execution on this particular evening was poor. For nearly $180 per person we expected a seamlessly guided, pre-arranged experience from start to finish. We got about 20 minutes of that. We would not recommend this tour in its current form.
Product: Shinjuku Golden Gai Food Tour
Fun and Delicious
Did Shimbashi food tour with Joe. Really fun and delicious food. Joe was a terrific guide
Product: Flavors of Japan Food Tour in Tokyo
Toffe gids voor culinair Ginza (Tokio)
We hadden het genoegen om half Japanse-half Braziliaanse Ully10 als gids te mogen hebben. Ze gaf culinaire en culturele tips en deed dat met veel enthousiasme en authenticiteit. Vraag naar Ully als je deze tour door Ginza wil doen.
Product: Tokyo Allstar Food Tour
Breakfast Fishmarket Tour - The best!
The Tsukiji Breakfast Tour with Shigaki was an extraordinary experience in every sense and in a good way: raw and for us exotic fish for breakfast, after we wandered the market and could choose what we wanted to try, but also got recommendations. And it was all really delicious and paired with Sake. The market itself is an experience, but Shigaki made it special with his knowledge and enthusiasm for the local food and drinks. Also, at the meeting point, Turret Coffee, we had the best coffee we had in all of Tokyo!
Product: Arigato Japan Food Tours
Wonderful, fun tour!
We had a wonderful tour with Lee as our guide. He took us to some of his favorite out of the way places, where we tasted several unique, yet delicious Japanese foods.
Product: Osaka Shinsekai Evening Food Tour
Wonderful family experience
We booked a private food tour with Saika, and had an amazing time! This was our second time in Japan and we still got to experience new food and spots we will definitely be going back to! She was an amazing guide and we would highly recommend her
Product: Best of Shibuya Food Tour
Food tour with Ray from Arigato travel
I wish we had booked this tour earlier in our trip as we would have cancelled some of the fancy restaurants we had pre booked. This trip showed us and our 2 kids aged 16 and 12 some of the varieties in foods from different regions of Japan. Honestly, the food was great, really delicious and surprisingly varied. It made us realise how easy it is to eat really great food, easily and not spend our whole evening in one restaurant. We mistakenly booked more high end restaurants most nights and this left us feeling very full before bed and with no time to visit the areas as it was very late when the meals were over. In hindsight it would’ve been more beneficial to have fewer long dinners and use the knowledge from our food tour with Ray from Arigato travel to choose quick, tasty and faster fun meals so we would’ve had time to explore after. Next time I’ll do the food tour first. Also Ray was great at prebooking and planning based on our needs which was so helpful. He also showed us how to greet locals, be polite in ordering and leaving and many other helpful local customs. I would highly recommend Ray for your tour.
Product: Best of Shibuya Food Tour
A taste of Osaka streets
Our guide Miyuki (Miki) met us promptly at the agreed location and time. Miki was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and proud to be showing us part of her local experience. The food tour was great as well as Miki's enthusiasm in showing us Osaka's wealth of delights. She was open to many questions and we loved her natural flair to connect with people. We would thoroughly recommend this tour with Miki
Product: Osaka Shinsekai Evening Food Tour
Shibuya Local food scene
Our tour with Jane was both fun and educational. The food selections were amazing and not places that we would find on our own. The local history and etiquette that she gave us was a definite bonus. Jane was friendly and very knowledgeable. Thank you.
Product: Best of Shibuya Food Tour
Great food tour!
Jane was amazing! She worked never hard to make sure we had everything we needed. The food tour was great and tasty, I never would have known any of the spots existed if it weren’t for her. The picnic was my favorite part!
Product: Classic Tsukiji Food Tour
It was awesome. Great I had a fun time with Jane.
Jane did a wonderful job with this tour! We had premium fish and memorable meals that made our trip spectacular! Thank you Jane!
Product: Flavors of Japan Food Tour in Tokyo
Delicious
Excellent food tour Jane was great
Product: Classic Tsukiji Food Tour
Excellent tour with even better food
Excellent tour with very knowledgeable guide (Emmanuel). He introduced the Izakaya culture, food and background and we had together an entertaining evening.
Product: Shimbashi Hidden Gem Walking Tour
Walking and food tour in Gion , Kyoto
We had a great tour with Lin in the Gion area in Kyoto. It was a very informative but, also a fun tur, as Lin was very humoristic. That made the tour very amusing . She had a immense knowlege about the history, the traditionl architecture , and the Geisha Culture. After the tour we had a traditional Kaiseki meal together with great conversations on our cultures, countries and travels we had made. With her perfect english / american language she was very easy to understand for us coming from Norway
Product: Arigato Japan Food Tours
Insider look at Kabukicho
Daniel was knowledgeable, interesting and eager to show us all about the Kabukicho history and hidden information. The food was delicious and plentiful. TripAdvisor show this as a 3 hour tour, which is what we planned for, but well into the 4th hour we had to leave and miss the final stop. Maybe TripAdvisor needs to update the description; plan accordingly for a longer tour. Overall, fun and interesting.
Product: Shinjuku Golden Gai Food Tour
Best of Shibuya food tour
We had a fantastic food tour of the Shibuya area of Tokyo. The food was wonderful and our guide Saika was fabulous. Her knowledge of the food stops and local area was excellent.
Product: Best of Shibuya Food Tour
Excellent
An amazing morning with Clara, our guide, not only did we sample some great food but also learnt a lot about the origins of Japanese cuisine and the history of the Nihonbashi area. A great experience- would highly recommend. Thank you Clara.
Product: Flavors of Japan Food Tour in Tokyo
Highly recommend
Alex was the best. Funny. Knowledgeable. Definitely worth the price. The food tour was one of the highlights of our visit to Tokyo.
Product: Best of Shibuya Food Tour
Didn’t Leave Hungry!
Our guide Shigeki provided us with a wonderful morning at the Tsukiji market. Without him we would have missed half the things we saw and ate. The tour included A LOT of food, we were full when it concluded!
Product: Classic Tsukiji Food Tour