Gonpachi

Gonpachi treads the fine line between tourist trap and decent izakaya. When it was described to me, I thought we were in store for a decent meal in a beautiful setting. Upon entering and seeing the celebrity photos on the wall, my hopes were somewhat dashed. I suppose I should have been suspicious because of the «you have two hours from your reservation time to eat your meal» policy, but I thought, it’s a popular place, they can’t let people linger all night…
The service was cold and inattentive, and the food was largely unremarkable. We sampled a variety of sushi (small, poorly cut pieces), soba noodles (bland and boring), and a variety of yakitori. About half of our skewers arrived right away, and then after about 30 minute of no food arriving at our table, we had to ask where the rest had gone? Luckily, they saved the stuffed shiitake mushrooms and bacon-​wrapped asparagus for last, so I suppose it was worth the wait, but overall, I can’t say that we were too impressed.
While they boast an impressive clientele and a clear popularity with tourists from around the world, I’m afraid I found a better atmosphere in little hole-​in-​the-​wall yakitori joints than here.

Good touristy place or spot for infrequent business visitors (me) — Kill Bill scene sparks memories from the movie
Service was so-​so, but the crowd warranted managing expectations a bit.
Quite loud and boisterous — food was yummy and eclectic

I would have never known about this place if it weren’t for a person I met on my last day in Tokyo. Hooray for travelers with common interests! Gonpachi is the restaurant that inspired the epic «Kill BIll Vol 1» fight scene. Since I ended not going to the famous robot restaurant, I figured this place would be the one to replace that even though it’s not technically a themed restaurant and left leaving content and full of Japanese food to end my last night in Tokyo.
When you first walk-​in, it’s actually really huge. You’ll see the picture of the owner with director Quentin Tarantino in the waiting area and a posters of the Kill Bill movies. There is an outside dining area in the front and the inside has two floors with the first having about if I had to guess, 100 seats. The second floor surrounds half the perimeter of the first floor with about 50 seats. For a Monday night, the place was packed and the atmosphere that more exciting.
The menu is extensive with set courses, kushi katsu (fried sticks of food), tempura sets, appetizers, yakitori, sushi and ramen. It was a lot and it was great to have so many choices. There was also a sake menu which was a must. I ended up getting a tempura set and a few sticks of kushi-​katsu and it was more than enough. While the quality of the tempura wasn’t exactly my favorite dish of the trip, the meal and experience made up for it. The three sakes we shared all had such distinct flavors and really good.
The only downside was the slow service. It took a bit long to get our server to get our order but I’m guessing it was due to it being crowded that night. Gonpachi was still a fun meal to end my last night in Tokyo and if you’re a fan of the Kill Bill movies, you’ll definitely enjoy it.
Happy eating and remember: Don’t deny, satisfy!

The atmosphere is very Japanese! Recommended for special occasions to hang out with friends and family.
The foods are delicious and they serve pretty fast. Many variations of food from sashimi, salad, skewer, rice bowl, dessert. Overall is really good! Would love to come again!

Sure, it’s touristy. And sure, some of the dishes on the menu may be overpriced. But, I loved my experience here!
First off, a reservation is not necessary if you go for lunch. Next, lunch priced aren’t bad. 2000 yen for a multiple course meal. The food was good, but the ambiance of this place is what sets it apart. Very friendly staff that says «Arigatou goiziymas» out-​loud and in unison whenever someone leaves the restaurant. It really feels like your at the movie scene, which I really loved.
Highly recommended for Kill Bill fans and non-​fans alike!

I love this place! I had my hotel concierge help me make a 9pm reservation at this izakaya. Many people say that it is too touristy, which is kinda true considering most of the customers here seem to be foreigners, but the food was good and atmosphere was fun.
I enjoyed the chicken karaage, their foie gras skewers, soba, and croquette. Their drinks are pretty good too with a very generous pour. I think prices here are pretty good (by US standards), but likely on the pricy side by japanese izakaya standards. Nonetheless, I love this place and would definitely be back!

Worth a visit for the décor. Was the setting in the movie Kill Bill. Also was a site where Prime Minister Koizumi hosted US President Bush during a visit. Recommend to bring overseas visitor for those reasons.
Food itself is okay but there are much better spots at much better prices within walking distance.

A must-​visit for any tourist in Tokyo.
The food is great, very kind attendants and the Kill Bill’s atmosphere, of course.

We were recommended by the Mandarin Oriental to give this place a visit. They will soon receive a tongue lashing from my end.
This place is such an obvious tourist trap. Not only that, the quality of food here is abysmal. It is tailored for the first time tourist to Tokyo who wants to feel some authenticity with the comforts of it being tourist friendly.
If I were you, I would stay many many miles away from this place.

yes, i know that kill bill was never filmed here but i still wanted to eat here just so i can say, hey, i ate there! we got there right when they opened since i read some reviews that it can get very busy. there were already a few people seated when we came in. the server was nice. she spoke english so that was helpful but honestly, we were getting used to just pointing what we wanted to eat. i had their special dish for the week which was spicy tuna over rice and bf had the shrimp tempura. the food was good. it filled us up but nothing to write home about. i did love the décor and i can see why this was his inspiration for that scene.

Ok, so let’s get one thing straight. This is not the spot where Uma Thurman fought a bunch of crazy martial arts master and one schoolgirl from hell. That was done on a sound stage somewhere in Hollywood.
However, it is the inspiration for that place. And looks just like it. And it a pretty damn badass and beautiful spot. And it is one you should see, because it has all the things from the movie. The stairs. The private rooms on the second floor. The beautiful garden out back. And lots of Kill Bill merchandise.
Beyond that bit of awesome though, the spot is only OK. We came and got some only OK cocktails that were overpriced and the service was non-​existent.
However, they did let us up to the private garden even though they were preparing for a private party and that was very excellent of them. Plus, as a giant Kill Bill fan here, I needed to come. How can you not? Too cool

I’ve been here three times and I must say that this restaurant is a lunch spot. The dinner selection and prices were expensive for what you get and just okay in taste. For lunch a simple egg and chicken don was satisfying and around 800 yen.
The reason why I am a fan is because I think that this is a great place to go out for lunch. The atmosphere is very relaxing and the staff is extremely friendly (relative to the already friendly service in Japan).
Will definitely return for lunch.

This place is decent. It does sound like a tourist trap, but it is where Kill Bill was filmed, and the atmosphere is quite nice. Except for the club-​like music.
The gizzard, tebasaki (chicken wings), gonpachi salad, kara age, and sashimi were really good.
There are a lot of foreigners and the food is a tad by more expensive, but it’s not bad. The view from the second floor is really nice.

We left our comfortable flat in Shinagawa, taking two trains and an Über to get to/​from this place, because I thought it’d be cool to eat at the restaurant made famous by the scene in «Kill Bill» that it inspired. Gonpachi has a very quaint design and a cozy atmosphere; it looks and feels awesome. But the dishes we tried were subpar, at best (and that’s putting it nicely). In fact, as we were sorting out the bill, I overheard a Japanese businessman commenting to his colleague regarding the sushi, saying «この寿司が不味い！» Unfortunately, this translates to «This sushi is BAD!»
So glad we didn’t try the sushi.

TOURIST TRAP ALERT. Easily the worst food experience I had during my trip to Japan.
I came here because it was late and we were tired of finding a place that was open on a Sunday evening. Our hotel concierge recommended this place. We weren’t thinking so we decided to visit this shop.
The interior felt like what I imagine Benihana feels like: extremely American. Not cool. Club music? What is going on.
The food was okay but quite expensive which is shocking since most of Japan was quite cheap. The sushi was not fresh.

It’s where they filmed kill bill. It didn’t look that big like in kill bill. Overall food was ok. The resultant look amazing price was ok too

Did the tourist thing and checked this place out. Make a reservation. It is crazy busy because the other tourists were here too for the Kill Bill inspired experience. We had a great server that made good recommendations. For 6 people, we had an overall decently priced meal considering we did multiple servings of appetizers and the Super Temptation sushi sampler.
The Mojoitos and shozu drinks were pretty delicious. The skewers were great to. There were bacon wrapped asparagus and beef skewers. Those are great starters. Make a reservation and plan to have an expiration on your time once seated. Because of how many parties they take on, they’ll tell you that you have a reservation but have to be out of there by a certain time typically 2 hours later.

Kill that sushi bill…
Gonpachi is one of the nicest restaurants I’ve been to so far. It has two floors, where the upper one has an open view to the lower. Also the upper serves sushi and I think that lower doesn’t, but cannot be sure… I’ve had the greatest time visiting this place with my friends. The food — there are so many different varieties of Japanese food that one can get lost in the menu. So I let them choose and prepared myself for the surprise! :) That’s why I’m not sure what I exactly had, but it was delicious! Also my memory was a bit impaired by the excessive mixed drinking of sake and beer ;)
All of that summed up to a quite a nice bill. Soooo… This is a tourist attraction more than a regular go to place. A lot of celebrities had their sushi there including a famous movie director which one time went there and was so amazed by the place that he put it in his movie ;)

Just so you’re aware now, this is NOT where they shot Kill Bill. Tarantino was heavily inspired by the layout here, and he used the design for a SET he built on that movie. It’ll look familiar to those who know the film, but just keep in mind there was no actual shooting done here.
Even though it was a busy night, my dad & I were able to grab a seat at the bar. Service here seemed a bit quicker than if you’re at a table. We started off with some sake and a couple beers. My dad just wanted tuna sashimi, which was easy enough. I went with a bigger assortment, including skewers of beef, chicken and foie gras, and a massive plate of chef’s choice sashimi. This was my first time having foie gras and it tasted so rich and smoky, due to being grilled, but they also topped it with a slice of strawberry which added to the flavors of savory fat. The sashimi was outrageously good; I didn’t even care that I couldn’t identify half of what was in there.
Some reviews have noted service wasn’t great, but we had no problems. There was always a waiter available when we needed one. Maybe these people weren’t being proactive enough about motioning one over? I don’t know, but we had no issues.

Very touristy, yes, but a must-​do! This place is the location of the fighting scene in Kill Bill, where Uma Thurman gets company of a squadron of sword fighters, and of course Lucy Liu.
There is the sushi restaurant upstairs, which we didn’t visit — we went to the open section of the restaurant which is known for skewers. Every guest receives a loud greeting from the chefs behind the grill down below as you are announced by the hostess, same as you leave. It is a very lively, loud place — so don’t come here if you feel like talking, this is more people watching and drinking & eating only.
Staff were friendly and the food was nice, the beer also ;-)
No place for haute cuisine but great for a fun night out!