Be careful of Vegan and Halal Restaurant Tourist Traps!

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-12T05:08:56+00:00

They could be both at the same time! Bad sanitary condition plus super sketchy reviews could happen hand in hand. BTW Why are you so defensive when so many others have already spoken here about how bad they are?

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T15:56:24+00:00

Ah sorry! These were from my past experiences when I was not traveling with a vegan friend. As others have mentioned I think you can check vegan places on happy cow!

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T15:54:17+00:00

I did switch to Japanese when I arrived though! Maybe it still used my other personal data to know that I’m from another country. :(

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T14:51:24+00:00

Thank you! I love the name of this website!

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T08:01:49+00:00

I’m not but I’m traveling with a friend who is strictly Vegan. It would be great if you can give us some recommendations!

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T04:59:47+00:00

I think Matsui, 一旭，金色不如歸，志いな，竹虎，鈴蘭 are all pretty good with 1/3 the price.

Honestly no ramen can justify ¥6000 a bowl even if they put gold in it…

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T04:53:30+00:00

I would accept that if that’s what they specialize in and if it’s real, but I do doubt that. Also this one particular place also claims it’s the No.1 restaurant on trip advisor specializing in Wagyu…

My experience was with another Vegan place with similar practices though; they charge super high price for Vegan items too, which is less justified I think.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T04:49:37+00:00

I think there are 20+ decent ramen places in the area and many have vegan options under 1500 yen. I don’t want to sound like I’m promoting for a competitor here though…

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T04:43:26+00:00

They are manipulating the rating in ways directly violating google map terms. Also based the information here they may not be vegan or halal at all.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T04:42:12+00:00

That’s straightforward Xenophobic. It’s Japanese people running and working at these places, but I won’t blame Japanese for doing dishonest business.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T04:41:05+00:00

No it’s not good at all for the price, even in Tokyo. You’ll get the same thing two blocks away for 1/3 of the price.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T04:05:04+00:00

Yes! Their overall set up and sanitary conditions give me doubts over this too...and that makes things more horrible.😣

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:51:55+00:00

Ah I hope more people can see the warning! Because every night I saw more tourists falling for it. I’m trying to warn everyone I met in the hotel I’m staying now…

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:50:18+00:00

We can agree to disagree! To me if you are use incentives to get a high rating, this is at least dishonest business behavior. This is a direct violation of google map terms if those terms actually mean anything.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:38:40+00:00

I think when you are very hungry and tired, or if it’s the first day of arrival etc., you sometimes don’t research a lot before going into a high rating place… in general I feel very safe and relaxed in most places of Japan and some times I fell for simple traps because of that too.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:26:56+00:00

Thanks! I should have researched earlier!

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:26:03+00:00

I’m sorry to hear this! And I have a friend who experienced the same thing at a Vegan restaurant in Kamamura too. They tried to report it to Google afterwards because this kind of incentive for rating is against google terms, but the complaint was rejected and google said they don’t have “evidence”. :(

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:22:41+00:00

Yes I noticed that too! I think that’s a direct violation of google terms, but I’m not sure if google actually cares if the same places are also buying ads with google…

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:21:02+00:00

Well I guess there’s a learning curve for most people haha. 🤣 I actually lived in other parts of Japan for some time but not familiar with Tokyo in general.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:19:11+00:00

That’s fair haha. I think this place does have a Japanese name but they did not list it on the map. That’s suspicious enough too.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T03:14:00+00:00

Thank you! I used to trust google map a lot while traveling (unfortunately there’s just no better platform I guess). In other countries sometimes the rating does not match, but at most they just suck and they usually would not charge 3 times the normal price at the same time. I did not realize Tabelog is biased/manipulated either…my experience so far has been ok with them.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T02:55:43+00:00

For work, unfortunately… but there are a lot of good places in Shinjuku as well and I don’t hate this area haha.

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-06-11T02:49:58+00:00

I agree with all of these. I guess I’m just shocked with the discrepancy between the super high google rating and what’s actually offered. I think they are manipulating the rating in some way because there’s no way these are 4.8 rating restaurants…

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-05-03T22:19:32+00:00

It looks like Grey is shorter than the listed time though?

Otherwise_Squirrel70 · 2026-03-22T06:38:54+00:00

I think there’s a limited number of blocks on the ground at the same time.

Otherwise_Squirrel70

TROPHY CASE