Japanese Restaurant Name Ideas

Ready to open your sushi restaurant or Japanese cuisine establishment? Looking for a cool name? Check out this list of hundreds of Japanese restaurant name ideas for all types of Japanese food including; noodle shops serving udon soba ramen noodles, tempura, sushi, yakitori, and shabu-shabu too!

Japanese Restaurant Name Ideas

There are many types of Japanese restaurants, each serving a particular type of Japanese food. Below are name suggestions listed by restaurant type.

Sushi Restaurant Names

FYI – If you are interested in opening a restaurant read my detailed list of restaurant startup costs for equipment, rent, food, and marketing here

Sushi is more popular in the USA and Canada than it is in Japan. Serving cold rice dressed with vinegar, formed into various shapes, and garnished with raw seafood or vegetables.

Funny Sushi  Roll Names

These are funny Sushi names from actual restaurants reviewed on Yelp

Tempura Restaurants

Udon Restaurants

Thick Japanese wheat-flour noodles.

Kaiseki

>> How to Name Your Restaurant in 6 Easy Steps

Traditional Japanese cuisine served in multiple courses. Each course is small and aesthetically pleasing. It’s not unusual for Kaiseki meals to have 8 courses or more.

Honzen-ryori

Specializing in Okinawan cuisine, also know as Ryukyuan cuisine, these restaurants can be found throughout Japan serving traditional dishes such as Jushi, Goya chanpuru, mimigaa (pigs ears) with alcoholic beverages awamori and orion beer.

Japanese & Sushi Restaurant Name Generator

Restaurant name generator I used to create even the name ideas below- https://businessnamegenerator.com/restaurants-business-name-generator-ideas/

I tested it by using these Japanese food keywords (ramen, noodles, fish, vinegar, shrimp, rice)

Power Tips on How to Use Business Name Generators to name your restaurant.

Get the best results by first brainstorming a list of keywords. These are words and phrases (2 or more words) that relate to your restaurant’s menu and concept. They do not have to be necessarily the ones that will be contained in your final restaurant name.

An easy way to brainstorm keywords to use in name generators is to use Google. Put in your restaurant type (Japanese cuisine) plus “keywords”. Scroll through the page and pick up related words. I found these keywords =  tokyo, hibachi, noodle bar, nobu, kyoto, japanese language and moshi moshi (hello on the phone)

Another source of creative keywords to use in the Japanese restaurant name generator is a glossary of Japanese food words and phrases

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Named Best Japanese Restaurants in America

The food critics and American diners have named these Japanese restaurants as the best in America. While some are ramen shops and other Sushi joints, all serve the best Japanese cuisine. Get inspiration for your restaurant branding from these success stories.

Reviews previously published on the New York Post

Raku, Las Vegas, NV

A favorite of Vegas and visiting chefs, Raku is housed unceremoniously in a Chinatown strip mall, but it’s one of the most compelling reasons to get off the strip.

No sushi is served in the James Beard Award-nominated restaurant’s diminutive digs, just Japanese favorites like silky housemade tofu, exotic offerings like Kobe beef liver sashimi, and plenty of comfort food—from udon noodle soups to donburi (egg-and-rice bowls).

You’ll also find a long lineup of items destined for the robata grill, which uses charcoal imported from Japan for just the right degree of crispness: everything from Iberico pork to apple-marinated lamb chop to enoki mushroom with bacon.

If you crave something sweet after all that fine imported soy sauce, head to Raku Sweets, a desserts-only restaurant, just across the parking lot.

Sushi Yasuda, New York, NY

In 2011, Naomichi Yasuda shocked devotees of his lauded midtown stalwart—open since 1999—when he announced that he would be returning to Japan. Fans breathed a sigh of relief when he turned the simple maple counter over to longtime kitchen lieutenants Tatsuya Sekiguchi and Mitsuru Tamura.

Reserve a seat at the bar of this bamboo-clad space to watch Tatsu and Mitsu—as they’re affectionately called by regulars—dispatch purist renditions of nigiri onto wooden trays in elegant, efficient movements. Like the old master, the pair eschew over-the-top combos, letting the primo seafood and their superior knife skills shine.

Shunji Japanese Cuisine, Los Angeles, CA

Shunji almost looks like it could belong in the Shire—with its circular frame and low ceiling, Bilbo Baggins would feel right at home.

Not so Shire-like is the fantastic sushi inside this Pico Boulevard restaurant, including the well-curated omakase available at lunch and dinner. But first, ask about the fried oysters, which come four to an order and will convert even the oyster averse among us with its soft, pillowy exterior shielding a juicy helping of mollusk inside.

The lunch omakase special—seven pieces for $23—might have you trying scallop and salmon, blue fin tuna and mackerel, flying fish and more. When ordering a la carte, though, the Santa Barbara uni is a strong contender, as is the yellowtail.

Chef Shunji Nakao knows exactly how much wasabi to hide in each scoop of rice, and when your plate has been picked clean, a steaming cup of green tea helps ease your way into the outside world—LA, not the Shire, in case you needed a reminder.

10 Best Japanese Restaurants in Tokyo

Tripadvisor members voted these Tokyo restaurants to be the best serving authentic Japanese cuisine. Get ideas from these successful businesses for your new restaurants. Read these reviews posted by happy diners

Sakutsuki

A teppanyaki restaurant on the 9th floor of a multi-purpose building in the middle of Ginza. Speaking of Ginza, there is an image of a night shop, but in the daytime, there is a different face at noon and it is interesting. It can be enjoyed at a casual price in the daytime and can be used quite easily.

Uomasu NigyochoI ate the ultimate horse mackerel at lunch. It was very thick and very delicious. I’m going to eat again at lunch

Ise Sueyoshi

Ise Sueyoshi is a private Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. Placed between Roppongi and Hiroo. We serving traditional “Kaiseki” style Japanese cuisine with an English guide. The owner trained in “Kikunoi” restaurant.

After trained, I spent a year in Tronto, Canada and trained around the world. Returning to Japan with a desire to ‘disseminate Japanese cuisine as a part of this country’s culture’, he headed back to his native Mie to form connections with farmers and other producers.

Blessed with the ample fruits of both the mountains and the sea, the prefecture has long been known as a treasure trove of foodstuffs. He finally opened his own place in 2015, focusing on ingredients

Nabezo Shibuya Center Street

We had all you can eat menu at 4.800 yen. Great meat and Nahid was a great guide, he explained to us everything about shabu-shabu and sukiyaki. Thank you so much!

Good meat and good dinner, the service is good. I had a wonderful time here. And the price is reasonable. Thanks!!

Japanese Restaurant Names Meanings

Says.com wrote an interesting, and funny, article about what the Japanese names of restaurants mean in English translation.

Zanmai – Luxury, indulgence, passion for something (like sushi!)

Sakae – Prosperity (Looks like Sake a Japanese word many English speakers understand )

Ichibanboshi – The First Star of the Evening – Ichiban (first or best), Boshi (star)

Rakuzen – Joy of Dining (my favorite name since it is easy to say and translates to what your restaurant is offering – a joyful dining experience)

Related Articles:

Big List of Restaurant Name Ideas

Get name inspiration for Chinese restaurant names on my list

Naming tips and seafood restaurant name ideas on my list

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