10-Second Review: Meat Man, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo

While in Tokyo for a 36-hour quick visit, my fiancé and I were looking for a great, fun and not too-expensive robatayaki grill. Our concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo Marunouchi highly recommended Meat Man. It’s a small, upscale chain with just a few locations around the city. He booked us two seats at the counter at the Roppongi location.

Meat Man Tokyo — Meat Man in Roppongi, Tokyo (Photo by Brad A. Johnson)

As is typical for Tokyo, when we arrived at Meat Man, we appeared to be the only two people in the restaurant who did not speak Japanese, and no one on site would admit to knowing English. After realizing we weren’t going to be able to read the Japanese menu, they scrounged up an “English” version, which included only some fancy limited-time specials. We ended up just pointing to things we saw coming off the grill, and that worked well enough. The food was delicious, especially the tsukuni (chicken meatball skewers) and the beef tongue with porcini mushrooms.

I should note: While this place is small, like a typical robatayaki (only about 20 seats total), they do much more than robata. They make all sorts of things with meat, from charbroiled steaks to beef stew, and even Japanese tacos. They also have an all-you-can-drink option for about $35 per person, and while we weren’t in that state of mind, it seems almost everyone else in the restaurant was. This place is lively, bordering on crazy. Totally delicious and fun. Exactly what we were looking for.

Dinner for two, about $120 before drinks. Japan, 〒106-0032 Tokyo, Minato City, Roppongi, 4 Chome−8−8 石橋ビル１階, @meatman_roppongi