Restaurant · Narita (Omotesando)

Kawatoyo Honten 川豊本店

Narita's most famous unagi house, founded in 1910, in a registered-heritage wooden building on Omotesando where chefs split and grill eels in the front window. Unaju over charcoal with the town's signature sweet-savory tare.

About

Kawatoyo has been serving eel since 1910, and its old timber building, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property since 2020, with a row of chefs slicing live eels at speed, is the image everyone carries away from Omotesando. The eel is steamed then grilled in the Kanto style, so it comes out soft and almost melting, glazed with a sauce that has been topped up for generations, and served over rice in lacquer boxes in portions of two-thirds, one or one-and-a-half eels. Add kimosui (eel-liver soup) and koi no arai (chilled carp sashimi) for the full temple-town experience. The dining rooms upstairs and in the back are big and turn over quickly, but the queue on weekends and holidays can still run long.

Highlights

• Live eels split and grilled in the shop window
• Fluffy Kanto-style steamed and grilled unaju
• Wooden building registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property
• Koi no arai (carp sashimi) and kimosui liver soup
• Takeaway counter for unaju bento

Tips

• On busy days numbered tickets are handed out from mid-morning; the website shows current waiting status
• The 1-eel size is the sweet spot; 2/3 is plenty for lunch before a flight
• Weekday lunch before 11:30 is the quietest
• Prices change with eel supply

Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-09

Nearby

• KikuyaRestaurant · 10 m away
• Miyoshiya (Narita)Café & Sweets · 20 m away
• Narita Tourist Pavilion (Narita Kankokan)Museum · 20 m away
• WAQOO NaritasanmonzenStay · 60 m away
• Narita Yakushido HallPhoto Spot · 150 m away
• Wakamatsu HontenStay · 150 m away
• Nagomi no Yoneya Sohonten & Narita Yokan MuseumUnique Store · 210 m away
• HOUEI COFFEE Naritasan MonzenCafé & Sweets · 250 m away