Osaka Dotonbori Daytime Food Tour

It was a great experience! Our tour guide was Kurt and he knew a lot about the history of the Dotonbori Square. We ate famous typical Osaka Food at frat spots. Especially we went to an Isakaya, which is something we really wanted to do, but were afraid to do something wrong as tourists. So it was great to have an experienced guide!

We had such a great time with Tomo eating our way through Osaka. We had such a phenomenal day trying different foods while having history lessons interspersed throughout the day. Thank you for an unforgettable experience!

This ended up being one of our favourite experiences in Osaka.Request Tomo if you can :) he was just the best!! I originally booked it for myself, thinking my two younger kids would just tag along and tolerate it. Instead, Tomo really made an effort to include them in the conversations, stories, and food, catering to our level of food comfort. Kids were engaged the whole time, which honestly surprised me. The food was fantastic. I usually try to book a food tour at the beginning of a trip so I can figure out what local dishes I like and spend the rest of the vacation ordering them. Unfortunately, I had this one booked for the end of our two weeks in Japan, I honestly wish we had done this on day one. It was so tasty, and átomo found dishes for both my lucky kids and my adventurous self. What really stood out were all the stories and little bits of history he shared as we walked around. It was like exploring Osaka with a knowledgeable local who genuinely loves the city. My kids enjoyed the stories so much that they wanted to write some of them down in their travel journals afterward. Since it ended up being just the three of us on the tour, it felt very personal and relaxed, almost like being shown around by a friend. We laughed a lot, ate incredibly well, and learned so much about Dotonbori. Highly recommend

Yvette was a lovely guide, very friendly and full of information about the food and also about local knowledge. We had a lovely evening and would thoroughly recommend this as a way to see the sights and learn about local food

We had a great time with Tak! He was friendly and knowledgeable about the area. We got to taste the local specialties that we may not have found on our own. Most of all, Tak even stayed with us after the tour was over to ensure we did not have any problems buying a souvenir.

Minori was our very personable and knowledgeable guide for our Soul Food Tour of Osaka. She easily navigated us through the busy and bustling area of Dontonbori. We tasted 2 snacks, a meal and dessert. We were extremely full by the end. Wonderful to try the favorites of the area and the history behind them. Thank you for a great tour!

We had a wonderful experience in a small group tasing several savory dishes with EK, a kind and knowledgeable guide. Food and drink choices were exactly what we were looking for to experience authentic local cuisine. Highly recommended!

This was a very enjoyable tour with excellent insights from Tomo our guide. The only regret was that we did not sample a wider variety of food!

Great tour! Made multiple stops and tried amazing street food. Our guide, Natsumi, was wonderful and very knowledgeable. She introduced us to food at multiple stops and explained the origins of them. We loved it all and having Natsumi leading us made it all so simple. Thanks!!

Excellent experience, 3 hours of food and culture with Ron gave us a real insight into the food and culture of Japan. Ron was a great host and took us to a number is spots a tourist is unlikely to find . I would highly recommend!

We had absolutely wonderful time on our tour! Russ was a fantastic guide, giving us an ongoing history and culture lesson as we ate at some of the best places of our entire trip. From little shops in the open market to cool izakayas tucked away where you'd never find them on your own, we felt like we were getting an insider's view. The time went quickly, and we were STUFFED by the end. Go light on food before the tour, and don't make any solid dinner plans -- you'll be satisfied for a while.

It was Natsumi's first solo tour and she did amazing! We loved the side stories about Japanese culture and history (like the baseball fans throwing a KFC statue into the river). She showed us a couple of shrines too. The food was excellent and she did a great job helping find things with our dietary needs. Personally I loved the part when she took us a couple of streets off of the main, busy street the best. But that's a preference. Natsumi even found a different dessert for us since we had the planned one a couple of times by then. She even helped us get back to the correct subway to get back to the hotel. Would definitely recommend this, especially if you don't mind crowds. That area of Osaka is as busy as Times Square.

We had a great tour, thanks to our personal guide Chiyoe. She brought us to special places, we had a wonderful lunch and very special Takoyaki, finishing with delightful Japanese cakes. We passed through narrow alleys and saw a special Buddha statue. Her pleasant conversation made it personal. All in all a nice experience.

Great host who imparted lots of information - history, local info. Enjoyed the informality and the opportunity to taste local speciality food.

Our Traveledge travel advisor booked this tour for our party of eight friends and world travelers. Highly recommended! We met our guide, Mickey, by the Glico Man in the busiest intersection of the lively neighborhood of Dotonbori. She led us off the main thoroughfares and promenades with the zany and colorful neon lights and advertising to smaller alleys and side streets. We sampled skewers at one stop, sushi at another, and a complete lunch with tempura and yakitori in a small restaurant up narrow stairs, with excellent service. Mickey packed a lot of information into our tour and was a cheerful, highly skilled, and friendly guide.

Excellent, informative tour from guide Chiyoe who even offered to take my wife who was unable to attend, on the following day. A great introduction to the wide variety of typical Japanese foods in the vibrant Dotonbori area, favourite was the Tokoyaki - 'Oishi desu'

Kevin was a first class guide for our food tour. With just the three of us it was a very personal experience. We learnt about both the food but also more about the Japanese culture. We not only visited a variety of food experiences but also a few other cultural places of interest. I'll not say we enjoyed everything we ate but that was about our taste - we tried a number of foods we would not have ordered in a restaurant and some we enjoyed! One of the restaurant/bars he took us to became a 'favourite' and we revisited it on a couple of occasions to eat: we would never have found it without Kevin!

Great location for a tour. Our guide Kevin was very knowledgeable and fun to be with. The food was awesome, fun trying different things.

My husband and I loved this tour! Micky was a fantastic guide - knowledgeable, friendly, and caring. We did this tour on our first day in Osaka, and it was a great way to get oriented to the neighborhood. We learned so much about the history and culture of the area, in addition to enjoying lots of fantastic food!

Our guide, Ken took us to 4 different establishments and regaled us with stories about Japan along the way. He was entertaining, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The tour made it easy to try different places without worrying about reservations for a larger party and the language barrier that comes with ordering.

We had a wonderful evening tour through the back streets of Dotonbori. It didn't matter that it was wet and windy, it added to the fun. Our tour guide was wonderful, she gave us plenty of local information and conversation about such an amazing city and country. Loved it!

We ate like kings and learned a lot about Osaka. Our guide Marie was friendly and knowledgeable. She spoke perfect English. The tour was fun.

Here's the TLDR; you should absolutely do a food tour with Arigato. Quality and customer service are the two words that come to mind when describing Arigato food tours. My girlfriend and I were lucky enough to be led by the vivacious and amicable Sae during our daytime Dontonbori food tour. Sae was an absolute pleasure to talk to and learn from. She shared lots of interesting facts about Osaka, its food culture, and even shared some of her own experiences and perspectives. I also work in the tourism industry, in mainland China, and I fully appreciate the art of balancing professionalism and playfulness, which came so naturally to Sae. This is an industry that takes a lot of energy, time management, careful planning, and, above all, a passion for fun and meeting new people. Arigato has done a superb job in hiring such qualified staff and ensuring consistent quality of their product while saving space for nuance and fun. Thank you so much for your hard work! *I didn't post many photos of food in this review because Sae took all those photos for us and sent them to my email so that we could focus on enjoying ourselves!

We had a great time on the food tour with Miki our guide. We learned so much about Osaka and an overview of the history of the culture, food and so much more. Our 12 year old had a great time, and it was a highlight of our trip.

Food tour in Osaka was really fun! We walked through a lot of cool streets and learned a few things along the way. Ike was such a friendly guide and of course the food was great as well :)

Miki, our tour guide told us not to take pictures, she would take them all and send them to us after the tour. She did take plenty of pictures but she never sent them to us. I emailed Arigato Travel to inquire about the photos but they never responded. The tour itself was ok, but the missing photos spoiled it for us. We did do another Arigato food tour in Tokyo with Alex and had a great time.

We absolutely loved our Food Tour with Sae!! We went to 4 different food stops. We tried lots of different local street food and had an amazing traditional lunch, in a beautiful restaurant that we never would have found unless we did this tour. We also learned so much more about Osaka then just the food. Sae taught us all about the culture, history, and fun facts about the city! It was so much fun and made the day extra special! For anyone looking to learn more about the culture of Japan while on your trip and try amazing local food, add this to your agenda!

Did the nighttime tour with Mikki - she was great - Had a great variety of foods and locations!!! Very fun!

During our trip to Japan we ended up taking 2 food tours with Arigato. Both of them were great but a special shout-out to our food tour in Osaka. The guide Mickey was AMAZING and the food was fantastic. My husband and I can't stop talking about it. The other thing that I really like about the tours is that they took photos so you didn't have to worry about it. It was an extra special surprise to get some great photos after the tour has ended :)

Our family of 4 had a great afternoon in Dotonbori with Hiro of Arigato Food Tours. It ended up being just our family which was nice for us. We were definitely full after the tour and enjoyed everywhere Hiro took us.

We had a great street food tour through Dotonbori with Lee. His wonderful personality showed us new sides of Japanese cuisine. Lee, thank you once again for that. Also for the many background information. The tour is highly recommended.

We were on guided dining tour with EK which was a totally fantastic guide tour can really be recommended, and everyone in our company agreed that EL was a sublime guide extremely friendly and knowledgeable and cosy

We did a gastronomic tour in the afternoon with Sebastian and it was quite a success. He taught us afternoon/night life around this side of town, told us a lot of curiosities and took us to try typical cuisine that was amazing. The truth is that it is one of the best tours we have ever done.

From our tour in Japan we remember many unforgettable experiences , the Foodtour in Osaka is undoubtedly one of them. Guide Kentaro guided us in a particularly pleasant and professional way through the bustling district of Dotonbori. It was a top culinary experience, street food and more... In contrast to the colourful crowds, the tour also led us through some quiet hidden places and religious shrines. We visited eateries that you would not find as a tourist alone, including a particularly atmospheric and high-quality izakaya. The structure of the (many!) dishes tasted confirmed the Osaka motto: "Eat until you drop"... We enjoyed excellent Takoyaki, Kushikatsu, Soft Beef, Tofu Salad, Fried Oyster, Grilled Scallop, Egg with Bacon, Potato with Mentai Sauce, Rice mochi with Bacon, Grilled Yam, Grilled Onigiri and for dessert a heavenly Taiyaki with a filling of sweet red bean paste. Thank you again Ken, for sharing your passion and rightful pride for the versatile and delicious Japanese cuisine!