Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
Private-room crab for serious occasions only.
Ginza Kitafuku is a reservation-only live crab specialist on the third floor of a quiet Ginza building, with 16 seats across three private rooms and eight consecutive Tabelog Bronze Awards from 2019 to 2026. Dinner runs JPY 60,000–79,999 per person before a 10% service charge. Book if whole-crab theatre in a private setting is the occasion — there is no direct equivalent at this tier in the neighbourhood.
Ginza Kitafuku is not a crab restaurant in the casual, all-you-can-eat sense. It is a reservation-only, course-format specialist with 16 seats across three private rooms on the third floor of a quiet Ginza building, where dinner runs JPY 60,000–79,999 per person before the 10% service charge. If you are expecting something looser, reset that expectation now. This is a structured, high-commitment evening built around whole live crab prepared in front of you, and it has earned the Tabelog Bronze Award every year from 2019 through 2026, alongside a Tabelog score of 3.88 and a Google rating of 4.6 from 205 reviews. It also appears on the Opinionated About Dining Leading Restaurants in Japan list, ranked #270 in 2025 and #266 in 2024. For a crab-focused specialist in Ginza, that consistency of recognition is the most useful signal you have.
Ginza Kitafuku sits inside the Ginza 745 Building, on a side street five minutes on foot from Ginza Station, which makes it more discreet than most restaurants at this price point. The room is built around sunken seating and a format that emphasises the visual theatre of live crab preparation, so the experience begins the moment the crab arrives at the table. The three private rooms accommodate two, four, six, or eight people, with a maximum of 12 guests across the whole restaurant at any one time. That scale is worth noting: at peak hours you are sharing the building with fewer than a dozen other diners.
The kitchen works with live crab as the centrepiece, supplemented by Japanese cuisine and seasonal additions including bamboo shoots in spring, pike eel in summer, and soft-shelled turtle year-round. The soft-shelled turtle (suppon) option in particular is rare in this format in Ginza, and distinguishes Kitafuku from venues that focus purely on kani. Drinks run to sake, shochu, and wine. The room is entirely non-smoking, with credit cards accepted across all major networks. Children are welcome, and a children's course at JPY 5,500 is available for guests under 10, which is an unusual concession at this price tier and makes Kitafuku more viable for family occasions than most comparable venues in the neighbourhood.
The price is the main qualification. At JPY 60,000–79,999 per head, Kitafuku is not a spontaneous dinner. The kitchen also warns that crab procurement prices fluctuate, meaning the amount due on the day can exceed what was quoted at booking. Plan for the leading of the range. The cancellation policy is strict: 100% of the course fee if you cancel within 24 hours, and the same charge applies if you arrive more than 30 minutes late without prior notice. These are standard terms for this tier of Tokyo dining, but they require real commitment at the booking stage.
For the food-focused traveller trying to understand where Kitafuku sits in Tokyo's wider dining geography, the short answer is: it occupies a specific niche that no obvious direct competitor fills in Ginza. The closest comparisons are across categories. RyuGin offers kaiseki at a comparable price point with broader seasonal range. Harutaka delivers sushi at a similar or higher spend. Neither replicates the whole-crab theatre format. If a single-ingredient, specialist course around live seafood is what you are after, Kitafuku is the credentialled option in its category for Ginza. Beyond Tokyo, HAJIME in Osaka and Gion Sasaki in Kyoto offer context for how Japan's broader high-end dining range compares, if you are building a Japan itinerary.
Dinner slots open at 17:00, 17:30, 18:00, 19:00, and 20:30. Lunch seatings, less commonly discussed, begin at 12:00, 12:30, and 13:00, and are priced the same as dinner, making the meal-time distinction primarily about schedule rather than value. The restaurant is open year-round except Obon and year-end or New Year holidays. Same-day and next-day reservations can only be made by phone; all other bookings can be arranged through standard channels. Groups of seven or more must contact the restaurant directly. Payment on the day is by credit card only; debit and prepaid cards are not recommended.
Ginza Kitafuku is at 7-4-5 Ginza, Ginza 745 Building 3F, Chuo City, Tokyo. A five-minute walk from Ginza Station. Open daily 17:00–23:30, with lunch by arrangement. Reservation-only. 16 seats across three private rooms. 10% service charge applies. Credit cards accepted: Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Amex, Diners. No electronic money or QR code payments. Children's meals available at JPY 5,500 for under-10s. Parking not available on site.
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For comparable spending at a different format, Harutaka is the strongest sushi alternative at the same price tier, and RyuGin covers kaiseki with a broader seasonal scope. If you want French at a similar level, L'Effervescence and Sézanne are both strong options in Tokyo. Crony sits at a slightly more accessible price point for innovative French. For crab specifically, Kitafuku has no direct Ginza equivalent at this tier.
Dinner is the default and the more common booking, but lunch is priced identically at JPY 60,000–79,999 per person. If your schedule allows, lunch can be easier to book and gives you the full course without a late evening commitment. The food and format are the same at both seatings, so the choice is logistical rather than qualitative.
Yes, and it is better suited to special occasions than most venues at this price. The private rooms accommodate groups of two to eight, the format is theatrical enough to anchor an evening, and the eight consecutive Tabelog Bronze Awards give the meal a credentialled anchor that holds up as a reason to book. The children's course at JPY 5,500 also makes it workable for multi-generational family dinners, which is unusual at this level.
Booking difficulty is rated easy relative to the category, but given the 16-seat capacity and private-room format, booking at least two to three weeks out is sensible for specific dates. For peak periods such as Golden Week or the year-end season (noting the restaurant closes over Obon and New Year), extend that lead time. Same-day bookings require a phone call and depend on availability.
No. The restaurant has 16 seats across three private rooms with sunken seating, but there is no bar counter or walk-in counter option. All dining is by reservation, and the format is a fixed course rather than à la carte. If a counter experience around live seafood is specifically what you want, Harutaka provides a sushi counter equivalent at a comparable price.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ginza kitafuku | Easy | — | |
| Harutaka | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
| L'Effervescence | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
| RyuGin | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
| HOMMAGE | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
| Crony | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Tokyo for this tier.
For a different format at a similar price point, RyuGin offers kaiseki with equal seasonal rigour and a stronger international profile. If crab is non-negotiable but you want a broader seafood course, Harutaka handles premium seafood in an intimate counter setting. Ginza Kitafuku's case is its singular focus: the entire course is built around live crab, which none of its Ginza peers replicate at this level of specialisation, according to its eight consecutive Tabelog Bronze wins.
Both services run the same price band (¥60,000–¥79,999 per person plus 10% service charge), so neither offers a value advantage. Dinner seatings start from 17:00 and run later, which suits the private-room format better for occasions. Lunch starts at 12:00 and may be easier to book on shorter notice, but same-day and next-day reservations require a phone call regardless of the meal.
Yes, and the room structure supports it directly: three private rooms accommodate groups of 2, 4, 6, or 8, with no private room surcharge. The venue is listed on Tabelog as family-friendly and occasion-recommended, with children's meals available at ¥5,500 for under-10s. At ¥60k–¥80k per head before service charge, it is a deliberate spend, not an impulse dinner, which makes it better suited to milestone occasions than casual outings.
Book as early as possible. The restaurant holds only 16 seats across three private rooms, and its eight-year Tabelog Bronze streak means demand is consistent. Same-day and next-day reservations are only accepted by phone (+81-50-3628-6368), and groups of 7 or more must call the restaurant directly. The 100% cancellation fee within 24 hours signals the kitchen commits to your booking, so treat your reservation date as fixed once confirmed.
No. Ginza Kitafuku operates entirely in private rooms across its 16-seat space — there is no bar or counter seating listed in the venue data. All three rooms are bookable for parties of 2 to 8, and the format is course-only. If a walk-in counter experience is what you want, this is not the right venue; consider Harutaka instead for a counter-based premium seafood format in Tokyo.
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