Ro's Recz

Address: 4 Chome-8-5 Jingumae, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan

Maisen is one of the most popular tonkatsu restaurants in Tokyo, and it is always one of my first stops when I am in Japan. The last time I was in Tokyo, I found another excellent tonkatsu restaurant, Hasegawa, but the options at the two restaurants are a bit different.

While I prefer the katsu at Hasegawa (only slightly), Maisen has a wider variety of options. The menu at Hasegawa consists mainly of different cuts of katsu with rice. Maisen, though, has other options such as katsu-don and katsu curry.

While I enjoy eating katsu by itself, I would prefer katsu-don (katsu with onions and egg over rice) or katsu curry. I think both ways of preparation enhance the experience of eating katsu, and both are particularly good at Maisen. Also, Maisen offers katsu sandwiches, which consist of katsu, katsu sauce, and cabbage. This is also a very good option, especially for takeout.

There are quite a few locations of Maisen within Tokyo, but the original one is in Omotesando. If you have a chance to go to this one, I would recommend this as the best choice; still, if there are other locations closer to you, these will also be good. If you are looking for tonkatsu in Japan, the two easy choices are Maisen and Hasegawa (it just comes down to personal preference and what you want to order).

Maisen Recommendation Rating: 4

This post has now been updated to reflect a new ratings system that I have implemented, which is scored as follows:

1: Something worth checking out if you have time

2: Something that is a hit for some people, but not a must for everyone

3: Something worth prioritizing if interested

4: Something worth making time to check out

5: An absolute home run, worth going out of your way for