7 best restaurants with a view in Tokyo

The restaurants at Top of Yebisu, the two sky-high dining floors of Yebisu Garden Place on levels 38 and 39, are big on views – some with equally lofty price tags to match. That is why we love The Kintan Steak, where you can spend as little as ¥1,280 during lunch and still get the same scenery.

Run by the popular Kintan yakiniku chain known for its aged beef tongue, The Kintan Steak is a more elevated dining experience – and we don’t just mean the location. The restaurant offers various cuts of premium beef from blade to fillet and sirloin, grilled on an iron griddle and served with over 20 kinds of vegetables for a balanced meal.

A sumptuous dinner course could set you back ¥8,800 but the affordable lunch deals start from a mere ¥1,280. There are ten options including skirt steak, beef tongue steak and thick-cut Iwate brand pork steak, and they all come with free refills of rice, salad and soup, plus dessert.

For the best seat in the house, request the window-side counter, which is also perfect for solo diners. Here, the Tokyo cityscape sprawls out right in front of you, and you’ll have a clear view of Tokyo Tower and Skytree.

Cult classic ‘Lost in Translation’ may have propelled Park Hyatt Tokyo to international stardom, but we reckon even without Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray, the hotel, along with its star New York Bar and the adjacent New York Grill, would still be a Tokyo icon. It’s all down to the epic views.

Perched on the 52nd floor of the luxury hotel, the restaurant is built around an open kitchen while looking out at the sprawling skyline that stretches from Shinjuku to the further reaches of Tokyo. The glimmering cityscape looks particularly mesmerising at night, when you feast on a sumptuous menu dominated by premium beef (both local and imported) and sustainable seafood.

This is one to save for special occasions, especially if you’re out to impress. The ever-popular four-course Chef’s Signature Menu will set you back ¥19,800 at dinnertime, or come for the decadent brunch with champagne, dessert and coffee at ¥9,900 on weekends and holidays.

The stylish Tokyo Edition hotel sure knows how to turn a meal into an occasion. The breathtaking lobby, which also houses the all-day Blue Room restaurant, is already an Instagram staple thanks to its lush, plant-filled setting. Throw in a direct, eye-level view of the Tokyo Tower, along with a sprawling skyline that stretches towards Tokyo Bay and beyond, and you have a winner.

Day and night offer different moods as the city turns on the lights, but for the best meal and view combo, we recommend the weekend brunch. Not least because for ¥8,300 per person, you get to enjoy nine sharing dishes that take you from fresh starters to hearty mains and then decadent desserts. Just don’t forget to feast your eyes on the stunning view once in a while.

This all-day dining, French bistro-inspired restaurant may not have the sky-high cityscape vistas of the other entries on this list, but it commands one of the rarest views in the city – an unobstructed peek into the inner arteries of Tokyo Station. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls look out to the stately grand dame that is the Marunouchi terminal building, along with the surrounding skyscrapers as well as a jumble of tracks serving the city’s (and the country’s) most important train and shinkansen lines.

As it’s the Four Seasons, expect to splurge a little here, with lunch and dinner sets priced at ¥8,800. The afternoon tea, available all week from ¥7,600, does it differently by first serving you hot, freshly prepared savouries before bringing out the desserts.

This TsuruTonTan outlet on the tenth floor of Tokyu Plaza Ginza may look grand, but don’t let its fine dining interior discourage you. It’s still the affordable udon joint we know and love – the portions are just as big and the bowls even bigger. While you’re not high enough to get a sweeping panorama of Tokyo, you can still enjoy a good view of Ginza’s fancy retail highrises. Snatch a counter seat against the window and you can look down at the Sukiyabashi Crossing, Ginza’s answer to Shibuya Scramble.

TsuruTonTan Udon Noodle Brasserie is perfect for families and groups, as there are cocoon-like box seats that can accommodate six as well as communal tables fit for ten. Most of the comforting udon bowls cost around ¥1,500; the noodles are made in-house and everything is cooked to order. What’s even better is that you can request up to three times the amount of noodles for free. And if you’re looking to make an occasion of this, complement your meal with side dishes such as sashimi and tempura. Or go all out with a sukiyaki hot pot set meal with udon noodles and seasonal side dishes from just ¥4,500. 

A long-estalished restaurant in Ginza specialising in yoshoku (Japanese-style western) cuisine, Shiseido Parlour's relatively newer offshot in With Harajuku is easily one of its most scenic locations. The luxurious dining salon opens out to a breathtaking view of Meiji Jingu Shrine's lush forest while the adjacent lounge overlooks the building's garden terrace.

Lunch courses are priced from ¥4,000 while dinner will set you back at least ¥8,000. Expect a French-inspired western meal celebrating seasonal Japanese produce, with dishes such as beef cheeks braised in red wine, vegetable terrine and crustacean bisque. You can also opt for a wine pairing curated by the in-house sommerliers to elevate your meal experience.

Tokyo Skytree is not the only vantage point to get a jaw-dropping sight of the Tokyo metropolitan sprawl. You can do it while sitting down for a teppanyaki meal at the opposite building, or more specifically, at Motenro on the 31st floor of Tokyo Solamachi. Sure, it’s not as high as Skytree’s observation deck, but at Motenro, when you pay for the meal, the view comes free.

As its name suggests, Teppanyaki Motenro specialises in dishes cooked on the classic Japanese flat iron grill, with special emphasis on steak and spiny lobster. For dinner you can splurge on course meals starting from ¥5,500 while being mesmerised by the glistering cityscape. But daytime is where the deal’s at. Set lunches start from a mere ¥3,300 and they come with an appetiser, refillable rice, dessert and coffee/tea.