Originally Posted by
gnaget
Probably the name. A Chinese (or Hong Kong in those days) tourist stumbled across Daiwa and saw the 大。
I go there around lunchtime (to Takahashi) and there are still queues at Dai and Daiwa. Apparently it is 2-3 hours in the early. Christ, eating sushi in the early morning. No thanks.
I think Western tourists see all the Chinese tourists in line and think "wow look at all the locals queuing; we have to go there!"
Going to Tsukiji and eating sushi early in the morning is a first day rite of passage for many tourists from the west because of our horrible jet lag. We wake up at 3:00 am - and there's nothing to do except go to Tsukiji. Then we feel like it's lunch time a few hours later - so we eat at a nearby sushi restaurant. Once we get over our jet lag - our reaction is the same as yours
.
I think almost all repeat customers/regulars in all restaurants everywhere get treated well. On both of our trips - a fair number of customers at the restaurants where we dined were regulars. Even a place like Jiro apparently has many regulars. And I guess it can be difficult balancing the needs/wants of regulars against the needs/wants of hordes of tourists. Especially in a very small restaurant where the "vibe" will be totally different if the majority of diners are tourists as opposed to locals/regulars. I wouldn't be surprised if restaurants like Jiro (and many others) limit the number of tourists so they don't totally overwhelm the place. Robyn