Is Gyukatsu Motomura Worth It? Japanese Diners Mourn the Chain That Went All-In on Tourists

What Japanese visitors said — picked from the top 60 of 2,163 comments

• “Hugely popular with foreigners” — I love how that compliment reads as an insult.

  外国人に大人気とかいう褒め言葉に聞こえる悪口好き

  — @ねむ-v8j5,823 likes

• “Symbolic Japanese-ness.” What a way to finally put into words the thing I could never quite express!

  「記号的和風」 今まで上手く表現できなかったことをこんな分かりやすい言葉にできるとは！

  — @mini59587,096 likes

• Build up the name, pull in the foreign tourists, then crater the quality and jack up the price. Clever.

  ある程度知名度を作って外人を呼んでから質をガクッと下げて値段をグンッと上げるの賢い

  — @志ひ10,666 likes

• Hold on — Motomura was bought out. By the company that runs Saint Marc. The owners now aren't the owners back then; today's approach is pure Saint Marc management. And more branches isn't a bad thing in itself.

  ちょっと待って。もと村は買収されたんだよ。サンマルクやってる会社に。だから昔といまでは経営者が違う。今のやり方は完全にサンマルク経営陣の路線。 それに店が増えることは悪いことじゃない

  — @SN-wv8pj353 likes

• When I went ten years ago, right after they opened, it was affordable, gyukatsu was still a novelty, and it was genuinely good — that's how I remember it…

  10年前の開業当初に行った時は、お手頃で当時は珍しい牛カツを美味しく食べれて良いお店だった記憶…

  — @k-5351,226 likes

• Seriously…? So this is what it's like now… I used to love this place.

  まじか…今こんな感じなんだ…好きだったな昔

  — @ままま-s7v2,412 likes

• I feel this! I queued forever, and the meat had no taste… I'd been wondering if something was wrong with me, so honestly this is a relief. 😂

  分かる！かなり並んで食べたのにお肉の味しなくて、、私がおかしいのかと思ってたけどすっきりしました😂

  — @アルプス南-x5n429 likes

• It's the owner's call, and they're actually making money — I'm not sure it's a third party's place to lecture them about “history.” If the old way had been sustainable, they'd still be doing it.

  別に決めているのは店主だし、それで実際に儲かってもいるんだから第三者が歴史どうのこうの言うのはどうかと思うな… 昔のままで続けられてるなら今もやってるよ。

  — @あられ1203128 likes

• Watching all these small shops pander to foreign tourists lately, I'm beyond grateful for the Skylark-family chains and conveyor-belt sushi — the same consistent standard as ever, at nearly the same old prices, thanks to tablet ordering and honest cost discipline.

  最近の外国人に媚びた個人店や小規模グループ見るとすかいらーく系や回転寿司の変わらず一定の水準をタブレット注文とかで人件費カットの企業努力で昔と大きく変わらない値段で提供してくれるのありがたすぎる

  — @バーチャルボーイ2,644 likes

• SaveGyukatsu Motomura↗牛かつもと村

  The gyukatsu chain this verdict is about. Former regulars in the thread say it isn't what it was at opening ten years ago — and warn the queues are now tourist-heavy (as of the comments).

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.

Is Gyukatsu Motomura worth it?

The Japanese comment section says the version tourists queue for isn't the restaurant it used to be: the top comment (28,150 likes) mourns a “proper restaurant” that pivoted to inbound tourism, and former regulars describe recent meals as unrecognizable. One dissenter argues it's the owner's call and the business is thriving, but nobody in the thread defends the food.

What happened to Gyukatsu Motomura?

Per a 353-like comment, the chain was acquired by the company that operates Saint Marc, so today's management is different from the shop early fans remember. Commenters date the golden era to around its opening a decade ago, when gyukatsu was still a novelty and the price was modest.

Do Japanese locals blame the tourists?

No, the anger is at the business decision, not the customers. The thread's sharpest coinage is “symbolic Japanese-ness”: a stage-set version of Japan aimed at people who can't compare it to the real thing. The practical fallback the thread upvoted most (2,644 likes) is one commenter's: the big, untrendy chains that kept quality and prices stable.