The Oak Door

steak was good … although i preferred the fish and scallop
also a nice place to go for a quick drink with a bunch of investment bankers

Steak! steak ! Steak! Wagyu Beef is a must try! Everything is excellent, service, food, ambiance.

Great Wagyu beef! I had Wagyu in one other restaurant and this was the best. Great atmosphere and family friendly. No need for reservation.
The restaurant is located in the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.

I really enjoyed my dinner. I ordered the chef set menu, which included shrimp, crab cakes (little filling… Mostly crab!) clam chowder, a main course/​side and then dessert. I opted to pay 3000¥ more to have kobe beef. I can’t fault the restaurant, but I was not a fan of kobe. It was far too rich and buttery for my stomach. I asked to substitute macaroni and cheese as my side (300¥), and that was so worth it. In fact, I wished I would have brought a gladware to take the remaining macaroni. The staff was super attentive and The Oak Door was a great date.

Service is great. Very attentive waiters and bartenders. Very nice dining room and bar. We spent 4 hours here the other night, I smoked 3 Cuban cigars and my wife drank 4 glasses of wine. We snaked on appetizers and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly so we came back for dinner.

Went there with great expectations, and left enormously disappointted tonight.
I ordered the F1 japanase sirloin, and for a 6,000 yen piece of meat, I expected a lot more than a ridiculously small and basic piece of meat, half of it being fat, with little taste.
I asked for the Caesar salad to be served with the steak, and sure enough they brought it way before the meat was ready.
Theb i ordered the apple pie with coconut ice cream, and they brought me coffee ice cream. When i asked them why, they just said they were out of coconut… They just failed to ask me if coffee was ok!
Last straw, i ordered a Grand Marnier as «digestive» liquor, and they brought me a cognac.
Seriously, did I just pay 20,000 yen for 1 person for this awful dinner and service?
Do yourself a favor and go eat a nice kaiseki somewhere else. I had a 3 star michelin omakase a couple days before for almost the same price!

The service was very attentive (friendly and efficient and a new set of utensils with each item of the tasting menu), the food was well prepared and the price was reasonable for what you got. I ordered the Chef’s Premium Dinner Set for ¥14,400 and ¥3,000 supplement for the Kobe A5 Sirloin.
The first course was poached shrimp with cocktail sauce. The shrimp were large and pretty, and the cocktail sauce had the right amount of kick. However, the shrimp were not particularly sweet and a bit too firm for my taste so it was good but not great.
The second course was sizzling scallops with herb butter. This was excellent. I would have been happy with these scallops as a main dish, but I kept my eye on the prize — the Kobe beef.
The third course was New England clam chowder. This tasted fine with fresh ingredients, but it was a bit too plain and I added pepper. I think the clam chowder at Legal Seafood in Boston, MA is better.
The fourth course, finally, was the Kobe beef. Only 150 grams, but it was incredible. It tasted like no beef I’ve ever had. This was my first experience with Kobe beef, and each bite was delectable. Ever after cooking, you could see the striations of glistening fat permeating the steak. The steak was served with peppercorn, horseradish, and ponzu sauces on the side, but the steak needed nothing. It tasted like smooth beef butter almost. I wish I had only ordered the steak.
The finale was a chess pie, a classic Southern pie with corn meal. It came with some fresh whip cream and coffee ice cream. It was a big slice and very tasty, but I could not stop thinking about the Kobe.
I will be back!

Amazing Kogoshima steak.

Kobe beef by now is widely reputed as the best in the world, but extremely difficult to get outside of Asia. It’s so rare and open to fraud that they have certificates of authenticity from the legit ones and there’s even a website that tracks who produced it, who sold it, and who it was sold to and when it was exported (
). I remember when I first had «Kobe» it was a «Kobe» beef burger at some restaurant in Los Angeles. The menu may have changed to note that it’s «Certified domestic Kobe beef» and it was tasty, but I learned that what I had was not true Kobe. Anyways I could go on forever about the misconceptions of Kobe beef and how you really get it. The Oak Door is one of the restaurants that legitimately serves it.
We arrived early for our reservation and sat at the bar. I had asked if they would do a Moscow Mule and they informed me they do not have ginger beer, but they have ginger ale and if it would be an acceptable substitution. I accepted because I really wanted a drink, but I’m glad they knew that they didn’t have the ingredients for a proper Moscow Mule and told me upfront. My brother ordered a Macallan 12 on the rocks. I noticed his whiskey came with one piece of ice, but it was a large piece of ice that worked perfectly for this. It was cold but was so thick so it wouldn’t overly dilute the whisky. Well done Oak Door bar!
We were seated and reviewed the menu. Our eyes wandered between the kobe and a Japanese F1 Tomahawk 56oz cut. We had a hard time deciding until we convinced ourselves that true Kobe is hard to find and this is one of those moments where we can have it, so we settled on the Kobe. I ordered the Chef Exclusive Dinner Set (17 150 yen), which included an appetizer, Sizzling Hokkaido scallops with herb butter, soup, meat (I got the 5oz Kobe), side, and dessert. My brother opted for the 10oz kobe.
The starter I chose, Pan-​fried Taraba crab cakes, were tasty but felt a little watery on the inside. It tasted like it was previously frozen possibly or lacking an egg to help bind it all together. It was good, but not as good as I was hoping for.
The scallops were amazing. Perfectly cooked, with a crisp outside and tender inside. The herb butter melted on it perfectly and it came in a cast iron 8″ plate, still sizzling. I’ve never had better scallops.
The soup I ordered was the New England clam chowder. I’ve not had true NE clam chowder (I’ll have to someday) but the version here was tasty but very runny. I like my clam chowder thick.
Finally, we get to the beef (I actually had 3 options: Wagyu A4 tenderloin, Kobe A5 sirloin, or a wood roasted rock lobster). I came here for Kobe, I’m getting Kobe. It was only 5oz (150g) so kinda small. But O M G. What they say about this stuff is true. The waiter suggested we get it medium and not medium rare because it’s so tender and the fat distributed and melts so well, it’s better as a medium. He was right on with that call.
The kobe was still nice and red in the center, cooked perfectly and with just salt. Seared to perfection, the flavor was incredible. The best way I can describe it is if you’ve ever chewed on cooked steak fat, you know how tasty it is. Imagine that, but that you can actually eat it. It’s very rich naturally and firm, but a little tender too. This is possibly the best steak I’ve ever had. I’ve had lots of steak (and my brother is a biggue conniseur) and this was by far the best. Other places i’ve enjoyed are N9NE steakhouse @ Palms Las Vegas, the Bavette Steak from Fat Dog in Hollywood, CA, and the Churrasco Grilled Flank Steak from Weber Grill in Chicago. This Kobe instantly became #1. Hype? Partially but this REALLY lived up to it with its natural flavor. It came with 3 sauces, horseradish, a red wine sherry vinegar type of dressing, and ponzu. Those sauces did nothing to add to this steak, it didn’t need it.
The side I selected was their mashed potatoes with garlic chips and bacon. It was creamy and delicious full of flavor. It did not taste packaged or frozen, luckily.
The waiter recommended a cabernet sauvignon and while I can’t recall the vineyard, it was a good pairing with the steak.
Dessert was my choice between a NY Cheesecake or a tart. I was in the mood for something creamy so I chose the cheesecake. Let’s just say that I’ve had better cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. This one tasted frozen to me… it was very crumbly. Fresh cheesecake should not crumble. Frozen cheesecake crumbles and loses the rich flavor. If it wasn’t frozen, then this thing has definitely been sitting in a cold fridge.
The service was excellent to get our order, although after the steak our waiter was nowhere to be found afterward. It took a while to flag someone down and get the check.
Even with some flaws, overall I was not disappointed. The hype on Kobe beef held up and this place gets a 5.

The Oak Door offers a very good and high quality food selection combined with a spacious restaurant environment, which makes it really special within the Roppongi Hills neighborhood. What I personally very much like is the open kitchen set-​up, where you can literally observe the chefs preparing your meal. The best deals you can usually get during lunch time.

One of the typical (but good) steak restaurants that foreigners attend in Tokyo. Situated in the Grand Hyatt hotel (in the Roppongi Hills complex), the location is great and the décor is very attractive (dark wood paneling, high ceilings, large partially open kitchen, next to a cool bar). The food is good and not too overpriced given the surroundings. I have had both the Kobe beef and regular steaks; both are great. Order the garlic mash as a side (very delicious).
Additional tip — try to go for brunch on a weekend, you can sit outside in summer, it is very pleasant.

Ah, Oak Door, the realm of Kobe beef and amazing wine.
Oh, you want more than that?
Uh, to be honest, that is probably the simplest way I can describe how great this was. The beef was brought to us raw in a few different sized cuts and levels of ‘marble’, we pointed, and then a little later on it arrived, beautifully cooked and as tender as Princess Diana in suede gloves offering up a sheepskin blanket (that’s pretty tender, right?).
Yeah we had amazing fried scallops for starter, yeah the wine list was lengthy (although to my companions dismay they only had New World wines) and the waiter was both knowledgeable and courteous, but it was all about the beef.
Wow, the beef.

I’ve been to Oak Door for work lunches, special occasion dinners, date nights, and celebrations. Oh, not to mention the occasional Friday lunch — the type where you feel you deserve a treat and an early start to your weekend.
One can choose to come to Oak Door for the atmosphere or food. I personally come at lunch for the food (their sets are so much more reasonable than at dinner!) and only on special occasions for dinner.
Oak Door is both intimate, yet a place to see and be seen. The corner booths are more intimate, but the middle tables are definitely a place where you see «lunching ladies of leisure» and «power lunch men in suites».
The overall ambiance is wonderful and the service, as expected, is stellar. Oak Door is known as a steakhouse, but since I don’t eat beef, I can only comment on their other offerings.
BLT — some days it is OUT OF THIS WORLD, and other days… it’s decent. (I like that they have avocado)
Tuna Melt — I had it for the first time last week… oh my! I’m so glad I hadn’t discovered it before. It is one of the largest creamiest meltiest (unhealthiest?) sandwiches I’ve eaten. But oh-​so-​totally-​worth-​it. You don’t even miss the tart…
Oh the tarts… where do I start? With the lunch set you can choose one of the four seasonal tarts and ice cream. I’m usually too full for dessert at other restaurants, but when coming to the Oak Door, I make sure to have a light breakfast. If they have the chocolate tart as an option, go with that!
Dark, creamy, light, smooth,… too many senses to describe. (I think I may be drooling as I think about it and try to put it down in words)