Favorite Food Spots & Tips on Finding Good Spots (Tokyo)

I just included this just in case you have an emergency. Please know there are SOOOOOO many other good options out there!

General tips for doing research

I know this is a lot of work but follow the steps below when doing Google searches. English search results are not very reliable when it comes to finding good local food.

use Google Translate to translate your search query to Japanese
do your search in Japanese
use the translate feature on Google Chrome to translate whole websites & search results

Try to use the Tabelog (https://tabelog.com/en/) website or app. This is the go-to app in Japan and is much more reliable for reviews. Don’t use Yelp. Anything above a 3.5/5 is considered really good. I know, Japanese people have high standards for food.

Check out the underground floors of major department stores (ex: JR Atre, Lumine, Tobu, Seibu, Tokyu, Isetan, Takashimaya etc) There are a bunch of high quality yet affordable lunch boxes, beautiful desserts, salads offerings but tourists don’t seem to know about it. Take advantage of it! Locals utilize these offerings to treat themselves or to buy small gifts for others.
Bakeries in Japan are also top level. They’re also EVERYWHERE, just trust me and try one for breakfast or lunch.