Eating & drinking
How to order at a ticket-machine restaurant
At a lot of ramen and set-meal shops you buy a ticket from a machine first, then sit. You don't order at the table.
- 1Find the machine by the entrance — a panel of buttons with dish names, often photos, sometimes only Japanese.
- 2Put your money in first. Many machines keep the buttons locked until they see cash or a card.
- 3Press the button for your dish (and any extras — egg, extra noodles). The machine prints a little ticket and gives change.
- 4Take a seat and hand the ticket to the staff, or set it on the counter. The food comes out; nothing more to pay.
Heads up. Pay at the machine, not at the table. Sitting down to wait for a server is the usual slip; many places have no table service at all.
Good to know
- Top-left buttons are usually the shop's main dishes — a safe pick if the menu's a wall of kanji.