An izakaya is neither a restaurant nor a bar. It is a place where eating and drinking run side by side at the same table, which is why the sequence you order in, the little dish that lands the moment you sit down, and the way you pay all differ from what either of those would do. This guide walks the evening in sequence, from the entrance to the bill, and pins down the four things that trip people up most — otoshi, all-you-can-drink plans, smoking, and payment — using only what can be confirmed in official sources. All prices are as published by the operators as of July 2026.

From the door to your seat: what to settle in the first three minutes

You give the number in your party at the door and are shown to a counter seat, a table, a sunken-floor booth (horigotatsu) or a private room. In busy hours you will often hear "ni-jikan-sei" — a two-hour limit on the table. Whether it can be extended depends on that night's bookings. Ask two things while you are being seated: whether there is a time limit, and what time last orders are. Everything you order later follows from those two answers.

A hot or cold towel (oshibori) arrives, and staff usually take drink orders before food. If you want time with the menu, order drinks first — that is normal, not rude. "Toriaezu nama" is the standard opening line for "a draft beer to start," usually said on behalf of the whole table. If someone is not drinking, oolong tea or non-alcoholic beer goes in the same round, and no explanation is expected of them.

Read the prices carefully. Tax-inclusive display is a legal obligation for businesses, but the National Tax Agency accepts any format that makes the tax-included figure clear. "11,000 yen (10,000 yen before tax)" is permitted, and so is "10,000 yen (11,000 yen including tax)," where the number in large type is the pre-tax one. So the big figure on the menu is not always what you will pay. Some izakaya also add a service charge, a late-night surcharge or a seat charge. Those are each shop's own policy rather than law, so read the small print in the corner of the menu or on the sign at the entrance before you order.

Otoshi: the small dish you did not order

A few minutes after you sit down, a small dish nobody asked for appears. This is otoshi (tsukidashi in the Kansai region), and it is added to the bill. The clearest way to read it is as a cover charge delivered in the form of food. Japanese izakaya never adopted the Western table charge or automatic service charge, and this took its place. From the operator's side it also secures a minimum spend per head in a business where nobody can predict how long a table will stay.

How much? In an August 2023 survey by Synchro Food, a company that runs services for the restaurant industry, of 373 restaurant owners and operators — 272 of them in formats where otoshi or service charges apply — 29.4 percent said they charge none of these, which is to say that around 70 percent charge something. The itemized figures come from a multiple-response question: otoshi 38.2 percent, seat charge 28.7 percent, service charge 15.1 percent. Shops can levy more than one, so those three overlap and sum past 100 percent rather than adding up to the 70. Among otoshi prices, 300–399 yen was the largest band at 40.4 percent, followed by 500–599 yen at 21.2 percent and 400–499 yen at 14.4 percent. Read that as roughly 300–600 yen per person with a wide spread, not as a fixed rate.

Whether you can decline depends on the shop, and chains often publish their policy. Miraizaka, operated by Watami, states on its official course page that otoshi is 330 yen including tax and cannot be removed. Torikizoku, by contrast, states on its own site that it charges customers no otoshi, no seat charge and no late-night fee. At independent shops, saying "otoshi wa irimasen" (we will skip the otoshi) as you are seated will sometimes work; refusing after the dish is already on the table rarely does. If you are going to say it, say it before your first order.

  • Otoshi, tsukidashi, "charge" and seat fee all describe the same line item; only the wording changes by shop
  • The moment to ask is at the door or the instant you sit down — not after the dish arrives
  • If the amount is posted on the website or at the entrance, that is what you will pay
  • Some chains publish a policy: Torikizoku states on its site that it does not charge otoshi

Ordering: share plates, small rounds, as many times as you like

Izakaya food comes on shared plates. Instead of each person picking one dish, the table orders three to five things, then adds more while eating. Small individual plates (torizara) are provided on request — say "torizara o kudasai." Ordering everything at once tends to strand food late in the evening, and fried dishes and sashimi lose the moment they were made for.

There is no limit on how many rounds you order. Press the call button if the table has one; otherwise catch a staff member's eye and say "sumimasen." Raising your hand to call staff is not rude in Japan. Tablets at the table, or QR-code ordering from your own phone, are now common, and many of them switch to English, Chinese and Korean. The order history on the device is how you confirm what actually went through.

As a rough sequence for two or three people: start with something fast such as edamame or cold tofu, then add one grilled dish, one fried dish and one sashimi. Yakitori is sometimes sold two skewers to a plate, and whether single skewers are possible varies by shop. Finishing with rice or noodles (shime) is a common habit, but it cannot be ordered once last orders have passed — decide about 15 minutes before.

All-you-can-drink: the clock and last orders are the whole thing

Nomihodai lets you order as many drinks from a set list as you like within a fixed period. Two things matter more than the headline price: it is timed, and last orders come before the clock runs out. At Miraizaka, the official site lists a standalone all-you-can-drink plan at 1,980 yen including tax for 120 minutes, available from one person, with last orders 30 minutes before the end. Banquet courses with drinks included start at around 3,300 yen including tax (120 minutes, seven dishes, at selected branches) and run up to 6,000 yen including tax (150 minutes, nine dishes), all from three people. Some branches also list a 3,000-yen after-21:00 course, so the line-up depends on the branch. The 30-minute last-order rule applies across all of them. These are the conditions published on the official site as of July 2026.

The conditions vary by shop. Course-based plans usually require everyone at the table to order the same course, so one person cannot opt out. Even standalone plans sometimes require all guests at the table to join. In practice you often cannot order the next drink while a glass is still unfinished, and one drink per person at a time is a common rule. The drink list is fixed per plan, and anything outside it is charged separately.

Whether it pays off is arithmetic. If single drinks run 400–600 yen, the break-even is roughly four drinks in 120 minutes. Light drinkers and people there mainly for the food usually spend less ordering individually. Some shops offer a soft-drink-only plan, or let you add non-alcoholic drinks to the list for a supplement. Ask before you order if anyone in the group is not drinking.

  • Many shops start the clock when the order is entered, not at the toast. Confirm which
  • Last orders are typically 30 minutes before the end (Miraizaka states 30 minutes on its site)
  • Course plans usually require the whole table to order the same course
  • Extensions, and what they cost, are up to the shop and are often refused when busy

Smoking: what the revised Health Promotion Act changed

Since the revised Health Promotion Act took full effect in April 2020, restaurants and bars are non-smoking indoors as a rule. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare explains that smoking is confined to rooms meeting set standards, and that whether you may eat and drink inside them depends on the type. You can smoke in a smoking-only room but not eat there. Rooms for heated tobacco products allow eating and drinking as a transitional measure. So do "smoking-purpose facilities" — venues whose main business is smoking itself, which the ministry describes as bars and snack bars run primarily for smoking, tobacco shops that permit smoking on the premises, and public smoking rooms — and the "smoking-permitted rooms" granted to small pre-existing businesses.

That last category is transitional, and the national criteria are specific. Tokyo's Tama-Fuchu Public Health Center sets them out: the business was operating before April 1, 2020, customer floor area is 100 square meters or less, and it is run by an individual or a company capitalized at 50 million yen or less. Tokyo's own passive smoking ordinance adds one more condition on top — no employees, family workers excepted — so inside Tokyo a restaurant with staff is non-smoking indoors as a rule regardless of its size. It can still install a smoking-only room, where nothing may be eaten, or a heated-tobacco room, where food is allowed; what it cannot have is a smoking-permitted room covering the floor you sit on. The same small izakaya is therefore treated differently in Tokyo than elsewhere in Japan.

For customers, the age rule bites hardest. The ministry states that people under 20 are barred from smoking areas entirely, even when their purpose is not to smoke, and that this holds even for staff. An izakaya where the whole floor permits smoking is therefore off-limits if you have children with you. Premises with smoking facilities must display a sign, so the mark at the entrance tells you whether the whole shop allows smoking, whether there is a dedicated room, or whether it is entirely smoke-free. Reservation sites carry the same classification in their listings.

Paying: at the table or at the register

The most common pattern is that you pick up the check at your table and pay at the register. If a slip is sitting on the table, take it with you. If there is none, say "o-kaikei onegaishimasu" (the bill, please) and staff will bring it, or you give your table number at the register. On tablet systems, a "check" button summons staff. Handing over a card at the table is not usual outside higher-priced restaurants.

Payment methods vary a great deal. Chains generally take credit cards, transit IC cards and QR-code payments, while small independent shops are often cash-only. Stickers at the entrance or beside the register show what is accepted, so look on the way in rather than on the way out. Carrying a few thousand yen in cash keeps a cash-only shop from turning into a problem.

Splitting the bill is normal at izakaya: "betsubetsu de onegaishimasu" gets you an even split per head at most shops. Itemized splitting, where each person pays for what they ordered, is a different matter and is sometimes refused when the shop is busy. Watch for late-night surcharges too — Miraizaka states on its site that guests arriving after 22:00 are charged an extra 10 percent on food and drink. If you plan to stay late, check whether the shop applies one before you settle in.

  • "O-kaikei onegaishimasu" asks for the bill; crossing your index fingers reads as the same request
  • "Betsubetsu de" means an even split; itemized splitting can be refused when the shop is busy
  • A receipt and a ryoshusho (a formal receipt naming the payer) are different — ask at payment if you need the latter
  • No tipping. JNTO states it is not common to tip for services in bars, cafes, restaurants, taxis and hotels

If there are things you cannot eat

Izakaya dishes often contain animal-derived ingredients you cannot see. The Japan Tourism Agency's guide to hosting vegetarian, vegan and Muslim travelers (April 2024) points to two Japan-specific traps: dashi made with animal-derived ingredients such as bonito, and the alcohol in seasonings including mirin and soy sauce. Simmered vegetables, miso soup, tempura dipping sauce and pickles can all be built on fish-based dashi, so "it is vegetables, therefore it is fine" does not hold. The guide's recommended fix is dashi drawn from plant sources such as kombu, and some kitchens do make it from kombu and shiitake alone — which is exactly why the question has to be about which dashi the kitchen uses, not just whether a dish contains meat.

For Muslim travelers, pork and alcohol are the issues. The same guide notes that most Muslims avoid alcohol, mirin included, and that some also avoid the trace alcohol in seasonings such as soy sauce. Mirin and cooking sake run through Japanese cooking, and frying oil and utensils are frequently shared across dishes. The guide raises shared cooking equipment, and ingredients finding their way in during preparation, as points worth checking. An izakaya turns over many different dishes in one kitchen at once, so complete separation is hard to expect. The practical route is to pick a shop that publishes its policy, or to call before you go.

With allergies, how you communicate decides the outcome. Saying "I am allergic to X" alone may not prompt anyone to check trace ingredients in dashi or sauces. Writing the ingredient in Japanese on paper or on your phone screen is the most reliable method, and most chains publish an allergen table on their website. Get an answer to "can you serve this dish?" before you order rather than after. Asking early also keeps open the option of walking to another shop.

Small habits that keep the evening smooth

There is no tipping in Japan. JNTO's guidance says it is not common to tip for services in bars, cafes, restaurants, taxis and hotels. You do not need to add anything for good service, and cash left on the table may well be chased down the street and handed back. "Gochisosama deshita" — thank you for the meal — on the way out does the job.

Alcohol is served only to people aged 20 and over, and you may be asked for identification if you look young. A passport or residence card settles it; a night out without either may not. Some shops also dislike large amounts of food being left behind, which is one more argument for ordering in small rounds you will actually finish.

  • Wait for the toast (kanpai) before drinking — everyone's glass arrives first
  • Raising a hand to call staff is not rude; use the call button if the table has one
  • The oshibori towel is for your hands, not your face or neck
  • Book by phone or online; Friday nights and December's year-end party season are hard to walk into

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