Nihonbashi Otako Main Branch Review Summary

We really wanted to try oden in Japan, and this place was a great place to satisfy that craving. They have English menus with pictures, so it was still relatively easy to point to what we wanted to order.

You have to order at least 1 drink per person with the oden, but that's not a big deal in the end. All the items were so flavorful that the drinks end up helping.

My only negative would be the narrow stairs up the multiple levels.

We saw the queue was quite long at around 7pm so we decided to come back later. At around 8pm, we waited for about 10-15 mins to get inside. We just ordered oden and honestly we were disappointed. The soup base was too strong so the oden was salty. The oden I tried in Fukuoka 屋台 was way better - flavourful but not salty, and the atmosphere there was also better.

A good vibe Izakaya with vegan vegetarian options on their menu. Tofu is a must try dish when you visit. On the menu, you may choose half size of tofu over rice, so you can try more dishes even you travel solo.

Very popular store. Queued for 30+ minutes for a work day dinner. The flavor tasted very rich and strong. Some might find it salty but I liked it.

Oden tastes good enough, full of flavor, bit too savory though. However, the reception guy was very disappointing. I can feel he discriminates foreign customers comparing to local ones, and takes the excuse of ‘cash only’ for granted. I would have given zero star to the service if I could, but it’s unfair because honestly the waitress was very enthusiastic and supportive when I got totally no clue about what to order.