11 Top Eel Rice Restaurants in Tokyo 2024

Izuei (Main Store) is located across the Shinobazu Pond at Ueon Park. This is an eel and rice specialty store that has been around for 260 years. The restaurant is meticulously laid out and decorated, showing care towards your dining experience everywhere. Servers are all older ladies garbed in kimonos. They are elegant, friendly, polite and hard-working. Their eel can be made in Kabayaki or Shirayaki style. The eel is very juicy and melts in your mouth. Have a bite of the fatty eel and you’re tasting not only gourmet but history. The eel rice here is about JPY 2,700.00.

Nodaiwa is a famous eel rice house that has been running for 5 generations. In Tokyo they have 3 branches, with the most famous one being the main store in Azabu district, near the Tokyo Tower. The decor inside is very elegant and retro. The eel dishes here carry on the traditional styles of Edo. This age-old shop only chooses the finest, natural eel. The meat is extremely soft and melts in your mouth. Coupled with a thick layer of glaze you’ll get a natural bite of joy. They put a lot of care into their dishes too. The eel on rice is placed inside authentic Wajima-nuri laquer dishes. The cover is engraved with the store’s name. They look very high-end and fancy.

Obana still claims that top spot for eel rice in Tokyo. In 2010, it was awarded with a Michelin 1-star. The restaurant itself is a Japanese styled building and there is a small shrine inside the courtyard. It is very elegant and refined. Obana chooses natural eels rather than farmed eels, which some stores use. The ingredients are very fresh and the chef is extremely professional. They take great care in treating and grilling the fish, ensuring each piece is equal in shape, colouring, size and flavour. The lines get very long here during the weekend. If you go during the week it will be a lot better.

Established in 1907, this Japanese eel rice specialty store looks like a B & B or hotel from the outside. The main entrance is very modest and surrounded with plants and a bamboo fence. It has that retro design and decor that many guests love. Order a few dishes and wait for your chef to prepare the eel fresh. They grill on the spot and lay the fatty but not fattening eel on the rice. The glaze is absolutely wonderful with rice! The cuisine definitely carries on to traditional Edo cuisine. They close pretty early at night and don’t stay open for many hours during the day. Remember, good food doesn’t wait around for customers.

Miyagawa Honten has been operating since Meiji 26th Year and has been going strong in the Tsukiji area for about a hundred years. Eel on rice is best known for being prepared fresh and on demand, which is why it takes more time. Diners would need to be prepared to wait for it. Time is the best companion to such gastronomic wonders. The tasty eel on rice here is definitely worth your wait! Based on the portions, eel on rice is separated into 5 levels, starting from JPY 2,100 to 4,725, and the lunch/dinner is the same price.

This is a renowned older restaurant of eel that has been opened for a few decades and not far from Kabuto. There are only 15 seats in the restaurant, but it’s got everything a restauranthas to offer. The dining atmosphere is great, and the eel on rice and eel skewers are all wonderful. You’ll definitely want to come back for more.

Unazen is a restaurant that only offers eel on rice, and everyone who comes here really just comes for that dish. The menu here is very simple in this older restaurant, you only get several choices of eel on rice. The most popular is obviously the highest grade of eel on rice. The chef will prepare the fish fresh at the bar every day, and they are grilled to order. Rice is cooked based on strict and specific times and are served at the same time of the grilled eel. Coupled with the clear eel liver soup and the chewy, aromatic grilled eel liver, this is a great meal.

Kanda Kikukawa has been open since the 22nd year in the Showa era. It’s also taking a top spot when it comes to eel restaurants and is quite popular. Decor here is rustic and practical; you can relax here. The cut of eel here is thicker and fattier than other shops. Each serving will require 1.5 portion of an eel.

The Asakusaunatetsu is a pretty famous eel cuisine restaurant. It’s the first to come up with the innovative salted eel and rice in bucket which isn’t found anywhere else. Other than this special eel dish, there are great skewers here. They are fresh, yummy, with their menu offering almost every part imaginable in the eel. If you want to try something unique this is a great choice here.

Akasaka Fukinuki is an eel restaurant that has been open for some hundred years and is apparently the only Kanto-style eel on rice offered in Tokyo. It is highly popular. The restaurant is located on the 14th floor of Shinjuku’s Rikamu, where diners can enjoy a great night view of Tokyo and a yummy bed of eel on rice. Dishes here are expensive. Based on their serving portions, you can choose supreme grade, high grade, pine, bamboo and plum flower grade, ranging from JPY 1,900 to 5,600, but lunch prices are cheaper here.

Chikuyoutei is an older restaurant serving eel rice and it was offered a Michelin 1 star in 2010. This is a place which primarily serves eel and is made from unique recipes. It’s soft to the taste, but fatty enough to offer excellent flavour and sauce. You’ll love it. Japanese tatami can be seen all throughout the restaurant and there are ceramics and calligraphy on display everywhere. You see a blend of history and art everywhere. The biggest private room can house 28 people and it’s a great place to invite guests to dine with you.