10 Best Places to Eat in Niigata

Just an hour north of Tokyo by shinkansen bullet train, Niigata City is famous for winter sports, rice, sake and high-quality seafood. Lesser known than Tokyo, Niigata is actually the most populous city along the entire west coast of Japan. 

It’s a port city with a long history, but also has fantastic farmlands, and was recently designated a special zone for agriculture. It’s also called the city of “Food and Flowers” because it’s Japan’s largest producer of rice and tulips. 

Niigata rice is so popular that it has a special name, Koshihikari, and is the most popular in all of Japan. This rice is used to make Niigata sake, which is extremely popular. Being along the northern coast of the Japan sea, it is also well-known for its high quality seafood.

While winter sports are popular, there are plenty of things to do in Niigata, no matter the season. With so many great farms supplying local restaurants, it’s a lesser known, but great part of  the country to visit for a gastronomic adventure. The selection of fresh seafood from along the coast and near Sado island make for some of the most excellent sushi paired with the highest grade of local rice. 

So, if you’re ready to enjoy some of the best food in Japan while beating the crowds and enjoying some gorgeous views, let’s explore some of Niigata’s best restaurants!

Find out more: What to Eat in Niigata: The Prefecture of Rice and Sake

Kaiseki Shusekian is well known for its seafood, mountain vegetables and seasonal offerings — especially after it gained one Michelin Star from the Michelin Guide Niigata 2020. 

Lunch is a great time of day to visit as the lunch kaiseki multicourse menu offers high quality cuisine at a lower price point. It’s so popular that some locals even visit once a month, with many visiting the onsen nearby as well. 

A bit more of a niche offering at this restaurant are the matcha and seasonal desserts as well as the superb traditional Japanese lacquerware that the dishes are served on.

Presenting French cuisine with a Japanese sensibility, Restaurant Iso holds one Michelin star from the Michelin Guide Niigata 2020, both for its flavors and modern plating. The interior is beautiful with a stunning view of the Japanese style courtyard. 

While the style is French, ingredients range from local fish sourced from Sado island nearby to meat-centered dishes that change monthly. This popular restaurant requires reservations, so make sure to book before you visit.

Awarded a Michelin star by Michelin’s Guide Niigata 2020, Hatsune Sushi serves Edomae sushi, a traditional Tokyo-style sushi where each piece is served directly to the customer. This makes for a more intimate experience with the third-generation chef and owner. 

Hatsune sushi features local seafood specialties like Nanban shrimp, and offers a sake selection only from Niigata. Using Niigata rice, the sushi ingredients shine with seasonal ingredients carefully selected by the chef.

Serving fish and various Niigata specialties with seasonal accents, and with one Michelin Star from the Michelin Guide Niigata 2021, Common is well-known for its courses. 

Offering a more intimate atmosphere, the chef seeks to serve local food to guests while offering an elevated experience. After years as head chef at the prestigious Nadaman Imperial hotel, he finally made his way back to his hometown to open this restaurant. 

If you’re looking for some real Niigata pride from an experienced chef, this is the place. 

Since 1988, Araragi specializes in serving kaiseki cuisine based on seasonal ingredients. Araragi’s concept is that quality is determined by both seasonal ingredients and how they are paired. 

Despite holding one Michelin star from the Michelin Guide Niigata 2021, the chef is known by the locals to be friendly and welcoming. 

Using traditional techniques like grilling skewered smoked fish over a traditional coal brazier oven, you can enjoy not only Niigata ingredients, but some of the best ingredients sourced from across Japan.

Earning one Michelin star after only two years in business from the Michelin Guide Niigata in 2020, Sushi Arai has an extremely simple menu of three omakase options: nigiri, small plates or a pairing course which comes with 12 sake varieties. 

At the counter, guests can enjoy watching the chef masterfully prepare sushi from any angle, with excellent knifework, high quality Niigata rice and sake. 

The chef is also a Japanese sake sommelier, specializing in pairings, so with each pairing the sake cups are swapped out to match the style of the drink and provide the perfect temperature to pair with the sushi. 

Reservations are recommended as this restaurant can be booked out months in advance.

Nabejaya Korin, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, has served softshell turtle hot pot since 1846, housed in a “preserved cultural property.” 

The seating is traditional Japanese, meaning tatami and Japanese-style floor chairs, with a view of a Japanese garden, and the food ranges from the traditional hot pot to sashimi to Niigata’s famous Murakami beef. 

While the chefs come to the table to explain each dish, kaiseki style, the food is so amazing, it can stand for itself. Lunch is an 11-dish course that runs about 2.5 hours, and there are also private rooms for dinners and special events in the evening as well. 

For Kyoto-style kaiseki featuring Niigata ingredients that are freshly sourced that morning, take a seat at Uoyuki. 

Recognized by the Michelin Guide Niigata 2020, this restaurant is located in a very traditional area; Uoyuki’s logo, which is designed to look like a traditional lucky fish, fits with the locale. 

Having trained under head chefs in Kyoto, Uoyuki’s chef returned to Niigata and took up the family business as the third generation. His theme is simplicity, highlighting the subtle yet complex Japanese flavors while taking particular care himself over the details. 

He also selects his seafood daily, carefully considers which charcoal to use in his grill and even specializes in indigenous species of vegetables.

For a take on rural French cuisine by a chef that cut his teeth in Tokyo, Uozen is well-known for featuring unique local ingredients. The chef embraced his new life in the countryside by fishing, hunting and even farming. 

His dishes feature the wild boar and fish he has caught and local vegetables he grows, so the menu is always seasonal. Surrounded by lush views of rice fields, the atmosphere is rustic and the interior suits this as well. 

Having been featured in popular Japanese magazines and offering first-class meals on domestic JAL flights, it is a very popular restaurant, so reserving a table is always best. 

The dinner course at Uozen is served kaiseki-style over about 3.5 hours, so it’s a great way to slow down and enjoy a Japanese take on French cuisine in a rich countryside environment.

For a take on northern Italian cuisine, Osteria Bacco is one of the best restaurants in Niigata, offering handmade pasta and dishes with rustic simplicity. Using ingredients from Niigata and Italy, the chef’s concept makes natural flavors shine. 

After studying in prestigious one-star restaurants in Italy for three years, the chef moved back to his hometown of Niigata and opened this restaurant. It has one Michelin star from the Michelin Guide Niigata Special Edition of 2020 and the chef is both a member of a local chefs’ group as well as a sommelier. 

Bringing his experience of both traditional Italian and Japanese, Osteria Bacco features locally sourced seafood like barracuda and snow crab, and each dish can be expertly paired with wines ranging from the north to the south of Italy.

While the cuisine is of expert quality, locals love the restaurant for its more down to earth, family-friendly atmosphere.

With all it has to offer, whether it’s Michelin-starred traditional Japanese cuisine or winter sports, Niigata has so much to offer, and being only an hour away by shinkansen from Tokyo, it’s a great place to slow down and enjoy Japan. 

In this sushi-making cooking class in Niigata, you'll be taught how to turn local seafood and rice into handmade sushi, courtesy of a host with 50 years of experience as a sushi chef.

While making the sushi, you'll learn the history, culture and vocabulary of sushi, all while wearing professional chef attire.

Try a sake tasting in Niigata, located in Niigata City's oldest shrine! Local experts will share the relationship between Shinto religion and sake, throwing in the history, culture and traditions of Niigata for good measure.

Along with sake tastings, you'll also learn about tasting tips, pairings, flavor profiles and more. 

Join a sake meister in this sake tasting and food pairing experience, and let your taste buds take a journey of traditional Japanese sake and recommended dishes.

Walk away from this tasting knowing how to categorize sake flavor profiles and with knowledge of your favorite sake and food pairings.

Still need more Niigata goodness? Explore Niigata's specialty foods and get to know the best things to do in Niigata, whether it’s relaxing in an onsen or soaking up some breathtaking views.

Yes! Niigata is one of the regions with the most sake breweries in all of Japan, and the area is also famous for its rice production. Its rice fields offer some beautiful views.

Niigata Prefecture is well-known across Japan for its premium sake and rice production, all of which also create beautiful backdrops of lush nature.

Niigata is known mostly for its rice, but is also famous for big, fresh strawberries and seafood.