Atami Street Food, Honestly Judged: Skip the Abalone Skewers and the Negitoro Cone — Japanese Visitors Back the Pudding and the 150-Yen Manju
熱海の食べ歩き、正直な総意：アワビ串とネギトロソフトはスキップ、プリンと150円温泉饅頭が勝ち
By Rakutaro · Tokyo, Japan
Under an honest walk-through of Atami's shopping streets (1,130 comments), Japanese commenters sort the seaside resort's famous snack strip into clear winners and losers. The losers are, awkwardly, the seafood: the photogenic negitoro tuna soft-serve cone draws the top comment of the thread, "finishing all the tuna and then hitting a cone full of plain sushi rice is pure hell" (5,427 likes), and three separate commenters call the abalone skewers small, flavorless and overhyped. One deadpan reply sums the whole thing up: "It's supposed to be the town you go to for seafood, and not a single seafood item got praised." The winners are the humble ones: Atami Pudding, which one commenter calls "genuinely that good," the fishcake sticks at Maruten, and a 150-yen fresh-steamed onsen manju, plus a branch-shop trick that skips the pudding queue entirely.
“It's supposed to be the town you go to for seafood, and not a single seafood item got praised, lol.”
魚介食べに行くとこってイメージなのに、魚介が一切褒められてないの草
Where Japanese visitors go instead
In the end, the 150-yen fresh-steamed onsen manju and the under-200-yen fresh-baked senbei were the strongest things on the street, value included.
結局、150円の出来立て温泉饅頭と200円しないくらいの焼きたて煎餅がコスパ含めて最強だった
— @うーま-h5o31 likesSeriously — there's a "drinkable warabi-mochi" in this shopping street that I'd recommend to the entire world. Please just try drinking it……
マジでここの商店街にある飲むわらびもちってやつあるんだけど、全世界のみんなにおすすめしたいくらいおいしいから飲んで見てほしい……
— @12sa-2tzu5370 likesAt Maruten, try the cheese stick!! It's been my favorite since childhood. Can't promise it suits your taste, but…
まる天はチーズ棒食べてほしい！！子供の頃からずっと好きな味です！お口に合うかわかりませんが…
— @user-bv5fn7lj1t22 likesBy the way — the Atami Pudding main shop has a brutal queue, but there's a branch counter in the souvenir corner inside Atami Bay Resort Korakuen near the port where you can buy it with zero wait. The building has a beautiful onsen facility and restaurants attached, so you won't be bored either.
ちなみに熱海プリンは本店で買おうとするとめちゃくちゃ並ぶので熱海港近くにある熱海ベイリゾート後楽園の中にある土産物屋さんコーナーに分店があるのでノータイムで買えるそちらがおすすめ めっちゃ綺麗な温泉施設とレストランが併設されてるから飽きない
— @gusoku-nw2sd181 likes
Places named in this article
- Atami Pudding (main shop)Near Atami Station / shopping streets
The thread's clearest winner: "the verdict matched mine. I want it again" (2,069 likes), and another commenter says "It's genuinely that good." Expect a serious queue at the main shop (see the branch trick in the FAQ).
- Isoage Maruten (Atami)Atami shopping streets
The fried-fishcake stand multiple commenters vouch for — the octopus stick is the star, with the cheese stick and jaga-butter as fan picks. A chain, so you can retry it elsewhere in Japan.
- Ichigo BonBon ATAMI HOUSEAtami shopping streets
The strawberry-sweets shop from the thread — renamed from bonbonBERRY (as of writing). The soft-serve verdict depends on the season ("the strawberries were properly sweet" when one commenter went), and a fan tips the mixed soft-serve with strawberries packed underneath instead of the all-red cone.
- Genraku (Atami)Heiwa-dori shopping street
The "drinkable warabi-mochi" one commenter would "recommend to the entire world" (370 likes) — as of writing, the shop selling it on the arcade is Genraku, the manju specialist on Heiwa-dori.
Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.
FAQ
- Is Atami street food worth it?
- Selectively, per this thread. The photogenic seafood items lost — the negitoro tuna cone (5,427-like takedown) and the abalone skewers (three separate verdicts of small, flavorless and overhyped) — while the cheap classics won: Atami Pudding, Maruten's fishcake sticks, and a 150-yen fresh-steamed onsen manju that one commenter rates the strongest thing on the street, value included.
- What should I skip in Atami?
- The thread's two clear skips: the negitoro soft-serve cone — once the tuna topping is gone you're left eating plain sushi rice out of a cone, "pure hell" per the top comment — and the abalone skewers, which even commenters who wanted to like them call small, flavorless and overhyped by other influencers.
- Is Atami Pudding worth the queue?
- The pudding earns it: "the verdict matched mine. I want it again" drew 2,069 likes. The queue may be optional, though. One reply (181 likes) points to a branch counter in the souvenir corner inside Atami Bay Resort Korakuen near the port, where the same pudding is sold with zero wait. That was true as of writing, so check before you count on it.
- Is Atami a good day trip from Tokyo?
- It's one of the easiest — under an hour by Shinkansen from Tokyo Station — and this thread shows the town's revival is real: one commenter recalls the arcade looking like a shuttered, deserted shopping street years ago, and says it has bounced back a lot since. Go for the onsen and the retro arcade; eat by the thread's rules above.
Is Atami Worth Visiting Now? "Atami Used to Be Practically the Byword for a Ghost Town"
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What Japanese visitors said — picked from the top 70 of 1,130 comments
That negitoro soft-serve cone — finishing all the tuna and then hitting a cone full of plain sushi rice is pure hell, lol. The whole point of sushi is the balance: fish and rice together in one bite.
ネギトロのソフト、ネギトロ全部食べたあとにシャリ出てくるの地獄すぎるw 寿司って一口サイズでネタとシャリ同時に食べられるバランスの良さが良いところなのに
"I've never had abalone like this" is such a perfectly loaded line — I burst out laughing.
こんなアワビ食べたことないが皮肉効きすぎてて笑ちゃった
When the abalone skewer came up I was thinking "this was small, flavorless and not good when I had it…" — and then he flat-out said "not delicious." Instantly earned my trust.
あわび串出た時 「コレ小さいし風味なくて美味しくなかったんよな…」と心の中で思ってたら 「美味しくない」ってハッキリ言ってくれたので なんか信用してしまった
A certain big YouTuber raves about Atami's abalone skewers, and I always thought "is it really that good, though?" Hearing this honest verdict — yeah, exactly.
某YouTuberが熱海のアワビ串めっちゃ好きだけど、正直そんなに美味しいか？って思ってたから主の感想聞いて、だよねーって思った
Atami Pudding is the one thing here I'd actually eaten, so I braced myself when it came up — but the verdict matched mine. I want it again.
熱海プリンだけ食べたことあるから名前出た時ちょっと身構えたけど感想同じで良かった また食べたい
Even locals eat Atami Pudding. It's genuinely that good.
熱海プリンは地元民でも食う。それぐらいちゃんと美味い
I'm from Shizuoka and I've honestly never understood what everyone does in Atami — videos like this at least confirm they're all just eating enormous amounts. Hilarious.
静岡県民だけどまじでみんな熱海でなにしてんのかわからないからこういうの見るとなんかめちゃくちゃ食べてることだけわかっておもろい
When I went to bonbonBERRY the strawberries were properly sweet, so it really must depend on the season. Personally I liked the mixed soft-serve with a ton of strawberries packed at the bottom better than the all-red cone!! Want to go again~
ボンボンベリー前行った時はちゃんといちご甘かったからほんと時期によるんだろうな わたし的にはあの赤いソフトよりもミックスソフトの下にすごい沢山いちごがはいってるやつが好きだった〜！！また行きたいな〜