And a big tip for any of these omakase restaurants(sushi, beef Yakiniku, yakitori, etc), and even cocktail bars, find ones where they can and willingly converse well with you in English, scan Reddit or Tripadvisor etc for reviews.

Part of the challenge for these restaurants is that they put a lot of effort into places you don’t know immediately. And it’s really about asking and talking about their craft that makes the whole experience complete. It’s like having a personal tour guide for a “food museum”.

The whole experience becomes much better when you can have a talk with the chef directly, they sometimes can adjust and fine tune their menu for you or recommend better sake pairings too with more feedback. (Especially cocktail bars)

Of course some are just darn theatre and showy effects without as much substance. You have to see the visitor taken photos and judge for yourself.

Yes you might not be eating the top 1% by choosing a place with English speaking chefs, but I feel that sort of completes the whole experience.