Superb beef and a genuine sense of occasion, at a price that includes a service charge and a phone call. Lunch is the smart way in; dinner is for a celebration.
Good fortune
- Excellent marbled beef, cooked with care
- A lunch bowl at ¥2,200 gives you the Imahan experience cheaply
- Open every day, with dinner last orders at 20:30
- Next door to the Tsukuba Express station
Tie it to the rack
- Dinner is expensive once service and the starter are added
- Booking by phone only; lunch can't be reserved
- Lunch specials are limited to 20 a day and do sell out
- Three separate "Imahans" make it easy to go to the wrong one
At Senso-ji you tie a bad fortune to the rack and leave it behind. We use the same scale for our verdicts.
Asakusa Imahan is worth it, as long as you know which Imahan you are going to and when to go. The restaurant on Kokusai-dori serves some of the best sukiyaki in Tokyo, in a room that feels unhurried and old. Dinner is a genuine splurge. Lunch, which you cannot book, is one of the best-value treats in the neighborhood.
Which Imahan is this?
There are three businesses called Imahan, and confusion between them is the single most common mistake.
| Name | Where | Relationship |
|---|---|---|
| Asakusa Imahan (浅草今半), Kokusai-dori Honten | 3-1-12 Nishi-Asakusa, by Tsukuba Express Exit A2 | The one this review covers. Founded 1895. |
| Sukiyaki Imahan Honten (すき焼き 今半本店) | 1-19-7 Asakusa | A separate business. Closed Tuesdays, minimum two guests. |
| Ningyocho Imahan (人形町今半) | Ningyocho, central Tokyo | A different company since 1956; books through TableCheck. |
Asakusa Imahan's only restaurant in Asakusa is the Kokusai-dori main store. Its one other restaurant, Kirakutei, is inside Isetan in Shinjuku. The company also runs bento counters and an online shop. Those are take-away, not the restaurant.
When you give a taxi driver the address or search for it on a map, use 3-1-12 Nishi-Asakusa or the phone number, not just "Imahan".
A little history
Takaoka Bantaro opened a gyunabe (beef hot-pot) shop in April 1895 at Honjo-Azumabashi, across the Sumida from Asakusa. A shop called Imahan opened at Kaminarimon in 1913, and Asakusa Imahan moved to its current site in March 1928. So "since 1895" is the company. "Asakusa since 1928" is the building you walk into. Ningyocho Imahan started as a branch in 1952 and went its own way in 1956.
Lunch: the smart way in
From 11:30 to 14:30, Imahan serves a lunch menu that is much cheaper than dinner. None of it can be reserved.
| Lunch dish | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hyakunen gyudon ("100-year" beef bowl) | ¥2,200 | 20 a day |
| Meiji sukiyaki-don | ¥3,300 | 20 a day |
| Sirloin steak-don | ¥3,300 | |
| Sukiyaki or shabu-shabu lunch set | ¥5,390 | |
| Lunch kaiseki | ¥8,250 | |
| "Asakusa Imahan gozen" | ¥11,000 | 20 a day |
The ¥2,200 gyudon is the cheapest way to eat Imahan beef, and because it is limited to 20 servings, it is the dish people queue for. If you want it, be there before 11:30. The ¥5,390 sukiyaki lunch set is the better choice if sukiyaki is the point of your visit. On its own it sits just under the ¥5,500 threshold for the service charge (a drink will tip you over), which makes it the sweet spot on the menu.
Seating stops between 14:30 and 16:00, so don't arrive at 14:15 expecting a relaxed meal.
Dinner and the full menu
The full menu is served at both lunch and dinner. Sukiyaki or shabu-shabu gozen sets start at ¥9,680 for shimofuri (marbled) beef and climb through premium grades to ¥19,800 for a three-cut tasting. Kaiseki courses run ¥18,700–¥25,300. At the top, Kobe beef sets cost ¥22,000–¥33,000, and Kobe beef kaiseki starts at ¥29,700.
Two extras are added to the full menu, and you should budget for them:
- A beef tsukudani starter (beef simmered in soy) at ¥440 per person, served automatically.
- A 10% service charge once food and drink exceed ¥5,500 per person, which at dinner is always.
So a ¥9,680 set works out to about ¥11,100 a head before drinks. That is not outrageous for top-grade sukiyaki in Tokyo, but it is not the number on the menu.
The last start time you can book is 19:00, and the kitchen takes last orders at 20:30. Private rooms require courses from ¥16,500 (special rooms from ¥18,700). On weekdays they are only available from 16:00; daytime private rooms run on weekends and holidays only.
How to book
This is where most visitors trip up. Asakusa Imahan's official channel is the telephone: +81-3-3841-1114. There is an email address on the Japanese site, but the restaurant says replies are slow, and there is no online booking system on its own website. GetYourGuide does not sell Imahan. You may find the restaurant listed on third-party reservation sites; those are not the restaurant's own channel, so check the details carefully if you use one.
If you are not comfortable phoning in Japanese, ask your hotel front desk to call for you. That is normal practice in Tokyo, and most hotels will do it happily. Have ready your date, time (19:00 at the latest), number of people, and whether you want a table or a private room.
For lunch, you don't book: you walk in and wait.
Getting there
The restaurant is next door to Tsukuba Express Asakusa, Exit A2, on Kokusai-dori. That is a different station from the Ginza Line Asakusa by Kaminarimon (see our getting there guide). From Tawaramachi on the Ginza Line, Exit 3, it is 7 minutes; from Tobu Asakusa 10; from Toei Asakusa, Exit A4, 14. From Senso-ji, walk west past Hoppy Street and Rokku to Kokusai-dori, about 10 minutes.
Imahan is open every day of the year, but it occasionally closes for a few days for repairs, so check the official page for notices before you make the trip. Payment is by cash, card or QR code.
How it fits into a day in Asakusa
The easiest plan is a morning at the temple, perhaps on a guided walking tour, then an Imahan lunch queue at 11:15. Dinner works well after the lit temple at dusk, with a 19:00 booking so you can walk back through the illuminated grounds afterward (see Asakusa at night). If Imahan is beyond your budget, our food in Asakusa guide has tempura, eel and stew at a fraction of the price. And if you want someone else to choose where you eat, an evening food tour covers four smaller places in one go.
Prefer a guided food evening? See the Asakusa food tour from US$71.54 · GetYourGuide
The verdict
Asakusa Imahan earns its reputation. The beef is excellent, the room has the calm of a place that has done one thing for more than a century, and lunch makes it accessible. The caveats are practical rather than culinary: phone-only booking, a service charge that changes the math at dinner, limited lunch specials, and two other "Imahans" waiting to confuse you. Know those, and it is the best special-occasion meal in Asakusa.