Walk-ins only: 8 best no-reservation restaurants, cafés and bars in Tokyo

The humble hamburg is a homestyle staple in Japan, where patties of minced beef mixed with onion are grilled, dressed with a sweet-savoury demi-glace sauce, and served over rice. Found in family-friendly yoshoku (Japanese-Western) restaurants, it often shares the menu with retro dishes like omurice and Neapolitan spaghetti. At Hamburg Yoshi, however, this delicious dish is the star attraction.

Each counter seat at this open-kitchen venue features a tiny grill to keep your little pan of sauce from splitting as you tuck into your hamburg teishoku set. Starting at ¥1,800, a hamburg set includes mini patties, rice, miso soup, and a raw egg to mix with your meatballs to balance out the richness. You can also opt for larger portions or more premium beef cuts with extra charge. 

The restaurant is open from 11.30am-8.30pm daily, but closes as soon as the food runs out. So plan for a late lunch or an early dinner if you want the best chance of getting a spot without waiting in line.

Tachigui, or tachinomi, refers to Japan’s age-old tradition of eating while standing up. This custom dates back to the Edo period (1603-1868), when hungry merchants would stand around sushi or soba stalls on the streets, having little time to sit down for a proper meal between trades. Nowadays, you’ll be able to find ‘standing restaurants’ serving all kinds of fare from ramen to French food, but there’s something irresistible about the smell of yakiniku that wafts out from Jiromaru onto the streets of Akihabara.

The meat here is displayed in glass cases, similiar to a sushi restaurant, with the grades and cuts of wagyu listed on wooden planks behind the counter. Meat can be ordered in single slices (prices generally range between ¥80 and ¥330), which you cook on your own barbecue, so you’ll be able to sample a full array of flavours from different types of beef. 

Sushi Ginza Onodera stands among the city’s most prestigious high-end sushi spots, offering omakase courses for dinner at ¥27,500. If you can’t get a reservation or the full omakase course stretches beyond your budget, the restaurant group's sister establishment in Omotesando might be the perfect alternative.

Unlike its upscale counterpart in Ginza, Kaitensushi Ginza Onodera in Omotesando offers a relaxed, conveyor-belt sushi experience that you can rock up for in shorts and T-shirt. Like other conveyor-belt sushi joints, it only welcomes walk-ins, but sets itself apart with offerings that are a notch above the usual fare. 

Here, sushi is prepared in the Edomae style, featuring rice mixed with akazu vinegar for a distinctive copper hue. The tuna is sourced from Yamauyuki, the same esteemed Toyosu tuna wholesaler the flagship Ginza restaurant uses, to ensure consistent, top-notch quality.

Don't leave without a plate of the honmaguro torotakumaki (¥720), where minced tuna, shiso and crunchy pickled radish are rolled with Edomae sushi rice and wrapped in a crisp sheet of nori, or the engawa aburi, a piece of lighty torched flatfish nigiri (¥540). 

Tokyo Confidential is a refreshing new addition to Tokyo’s cocktail scene with its stylish yet unpretentious vibe. Unlike the city's more traditional cocktail bars, its door policies are much more relaxed, i.e. there are no reservations and strict rules to get in the way of a good time.

The team behind the bar brings impressive credentials to the table. Its founder Holly Graham was ranked among the world’s top ten most influential people in the bar industry in 2021. You’re in equally good hands with head bartender Wakana Murata, who was part of the opening team of the swanky Gold Bar at Tokyo Edition hotel. Plus, the food menu is supervised by chef Daniel Calvert of the two Michelin-starred Sézanne.

Drink wise, you’ll find a selection of signature cocktails including low- and no-ABV options. Highlights include the Glass Slipper, a low-ABV, lip-smacking mix of yuzu liqueur, pandan, fresh melon and soda. For something stronger, Destroy All Monsters is a deceptively dangerous martini-style cocktail made with miso brown butter-washed gin, manzanilla sherry, bianco vermouth and ponzu.

Kaisendon is pretty much the only dish on the menu at this Nihonbashi institution. Tsujihan isn’t exactly a well-kept secret anymore, so expect to queue – sometimes up to two hours – for a seat. But the wait is worth it when you can dig into a bowl of fluffy rice topped with tuna, shellfish, salmon roe, leek, cucumber, uni and more, priced from an affordable ¥1,250 to ¥3,600. You'll also be served a small side dish of sashimi with sesame dressing. Everything is wonderfully flavourful, textural and very moreish.

Tsujihan's kaisendon is best enjoyed in two ways. First, pour in some soy sauce and mix everything together before digging in – but don't finish it. Save half the portion and request for the restaurant's signature seabream broth, which will be poured onto the rice, turning the leftover into a warm, comforting bowl of ochazuke.

To avoid the crowds, come later in the afternoon, or try one of Tsujihan's other less busy branches in Kagurazaka, Ark Hills Akasaka and Tokyo Midtown Roppongi.

Though chicken skewers were traditionally a casual street food, some yakitori restaurants have hoisted themselves among Tokyo’s most difficult-to-book restaurants, with Michelin star establishments serving high-grade chicken morsels omakase style to discerning diners. Yet, many long-standing yakitori spots still embrace the traditional approach, welcoming only walk-ins without any online reservation system. Take-chan in Ginza is one of these places. 

With a sliding glass door partially obstructed from view by a potted bamboo plant and beverage crates stacked in front of the store front, this cosy locale doesn't look like the sort of restaurant one could casually walk into uninvited, but that’s far from the case here. 

This family-owned restaurant has been in business for over 50 years, offering a warm welcome to loyal regulars and first-time visitors alike. Don't be shy to ask for the English menu if you want to know what to expect in the omakase course (¥4,000), which include skewers of barbecue duck with miso, tsukune chicken meatballs and crispy bits of chicken skin seasoned with soy sauce.

If you’re looking for a smaller meal to wash down with a couple of drinks, you can opt for the half course, which comes with five skewers instead of eight for ¥3,000. If you see anything you don’t like, the chef will happily swap out chicken liver or heart for thigh or breast pieces. Just remember that the old-school approach here also means that the restaurant doesn’t take credit cards, so bring cash. 

This cosy neighbourhood taqueria has quickly become a favourite brunch spot, drawing locals in search of a nourishing start to their day with natural, freshly sourced ingredients. Born in Mexico, owner and head chef Marco Garcia weaves seasonal Japanese ingredients through traditional Mexican dishes. Think ayu (sweetfish) taco, shiso salsa and guacamole topped with shirasu (whitebait). Marco also imports corn from his homeland, which he grinds freshly in-house every day to make into tortillas, which are then cooked on a flat plancha grill in front of diners. 

Weekends and holidays always see the restaurant abuzz with diners. There’s also an inevitable queue outside the restaurant starting around 11am. For the best chance at getting seated on the spot, visit on a weekday or just before opening time on weekends.

Nothing really screams ‘Tokyo’ like sipping on a latte in the middle of Harajuku with Totoro’s face etched into the fluffy milk foam. The city is teeming with cafés boasting cute custom coffee, but Reissue was the first café of its kind in Tokyo when it opened in 2015.

Here, latte designs come in 2D and 3D. You can either pick a design from the menu or pull up an image on your phone and show your barista what to recreate in your cup. Reissue is busy at any given time of day, but the café won’t take reservations by phone. Instead, plan to get there right as the cafe opens, or leave your name and phone number at the door before exploring the neighbouring shops while you wait for a table to open.