Serves meat, vegan options available. Restaurant and live music venue (with entry charge). Simple and funky, seats 30. Reported has soy cheese and vegan cake. Directions: from Hiroshima station take bus 24 and get off at Koseinenkin-kaikan stop, or from Peace Park walk south for 5 minutes. Open Mon-Sat 12:00pm-11:00pm, Sun 5:00pm-11:00pm.
Category: Lacto, American, Tex-Mex, Non-veg
Reviews (16)
First Review by MicheleFerguson
Contributions +55
nice place but food was microwaved - Edit
I was really looking forward to some vegetarian Mexican food. The restaurant interior is very charming and cozy. The vegetarian items on the menu are clearly labeled.
While waiting for our meals we heard the ding of the microwave which is the warning of doom in any Mexican restaurant. Although the enchiladas came out in a skillet, they were soggy and tasted like a TV dinner. The portion size was frozen TV dinner size also. The Mexican pizza looked sad also.
Contributions +40
Lovely little hippie cave - Edit
This is like a little secret cave. The owner looks like an old hippie who founded a little bar in his old days. Great athmosphere. Food was good, surprisingly original taste.
Contributions +39
great place, nice atmosphere - Edit
This place serves meat as well as vegan options. Mostly mexican food. We had a great night with a Cuban band playing music and having some beers and food. The owner is very friendly and lives having music in his place. Recommend! You get there by taking bus 24 from the station, the bis stop is three meters from otis
Contributions +29
Some solid vegan options - Edit
Solid option for vegans visiting the peace memorial area. Had a good vegan meal here- veggie bean chili w/ guac plus rice (costs extra) and the lentil curry. They make homemade soy cheese, some of which came on the chili, more like sour cream than cheese. Iced coffee w/ soy milk was surprisingly good! For dessert we had vegan cake which was kind of like apple pie-cake with walnuts, not bad. Mom & pop running the restaurant were very accommodating and cute.
Pros: cozy ambience, nice staff, vegan options marked in English
Contributions +48
Great place! - Edit
Went there a couple times while in Hiroshima. The first night I stumbled upon a concert of a Japanese singer songwriter and they let me skip the cover charge because I just arrived for the encore. Then they left the place open late to give me and another group of guests some food.
Great break from Japanese food and the tex-mex was really good. Soy cheese was great and vegan cake was also excellent. Highly recommend the lentil curry as well.
Portions could be bigger.
Pros: Soy cheese!, Great food, Friendly staff/Great atmosphere
Cons: Portions a bit small
Contributions +232
A good mexican break in Japan - Edit
Nice old couple running an old mexican style restaurant. The place is charming and makes you forget to be in Japan! There is an English menu and the vegan options are marked. The food was good and truly inexpensive.
Pros: Vegan choices marked, Inexpensive, Quiet
Contributions +38
very vegan friendly, super tasty - Edit
We had the enchiladas and the chilli with vegan cheese and it was super tasty. No complaints about the portion sizes, they were fine. The vegan cake they had was also great. I will definitely come back if I'm ever in Hiroshima again. Easy to find, right down the street from the peace museum and nice atmosphere.
Contributions +23
OK - Edit
The food was OK, but very small portions. There is an English menu. Restaurant is easy to find.
Cons: small portions
Contributions +225
Nice little restaurant near Peace Park - Edit
I revisited this restaurant, after enjoying the experience several years ago when I last visited Hiroshima. The restaurant itself was very quiet, there was only one other customer there in the whole time I was there.
I had the bean enchiladas with vegan cheese, and had a vegan cake for desert. The food was good, but not fantastic. The cheese looked the part, but didn't have the taste or texture I was hoping for. However the novelty of being able to order that kind of food at a restaurant in Japan and have it be vegan, made it be that much more delicious.
I would certainly recommend it to anyone travelling in Hiroshima, but it didn't live up to my overly romanticised memory of the place.
Updated from previous review on Wednesday August 13, 2014
Pros: Vegan cheese, Vegan cake, Great atmosphere
Contributions +58
Funky little place with good Mexican food - Edit
We had a great dining experience. This is a funky little restaurant and live music venue. the musicians that have played there have left notes and doodles all over the walls. They have some vegetarian dishes which can be modified as vegan by substituting their homemade soy cheese. A while after we ordered, our waiter came out and apologetically told us that they mainly serve Japanese style food during that time and that our Mexican order would take a little longer, probably to explain why other customers were getting their food more quickly. The wait was not particularly long and when the staff noticed us picking through some of the Japanese language manga that they had sitting out, they brought over English language comics for us to read, which was sweet of them.
The food was good. The portions were smaller than I would have expected, especially because I am used to Mexican restaurants in the US which serve far too much food. For example, we ordered some nachos and they were served on a small side plate over a handful of chips. We also had enchiladas and a Mexican pizza (which was largely the same thing as the nachos, served on a crisp baked tortilla instead of over chips). The food was good and the soy cheese was tasty.
They also advertised that they had vegan cake, although we did not try it during our visit.
The restaurant is a short walk up the street from the Peace Memorial Park and museum.
Pros: Good vegan cheese, friendly service, close to Peace Memorial Park
Contributions +60
A gem of a restaurant - Edit
On a day trip to Hiroshima, we wandered down through the Peace Memorial Park and then downtown to find Otis! We'd spotted it on a funky map we picked up in the tourist office, so it was easy to find. The cafe is rough and ready looking, with no airs or graces, and the staff were charming. We were given a jug of iced tap water as soon as we sat down, which was very welcome (it was over 30 degrees outside!), and then given enough time to check the menu before the waitress came back for our order. The veg chili was amazing, spicy and filling, and great value for money.
Update: we came back and it was as good as we remembered, plus they've added a few vegan items to the menu.
Updated from previous review on Sunday November 29, 2009
Pros: great value, friendly staff, no fuss
Contributions +42
Lovely Mexican! - Edit
This cafe is very convenient if staying at the J-hoppers in Hiroshima.
I could have eaten more! Both me and my boyfriend went for the veggie set lunch, which was an enchilada, veggie chilli, brown rice and a side salad for 850 yen (What a bargain!)
We were the only people in the cafe but the relaxed atmosphere and music put us at ease, there were meat options too, I bet it would be a good place to go if you were in a group of meat/no meat eaters!
Worth a visit for sure!
Pros: delicious food, unusual in Japan
Contributions +11
Little gem with a lot of character! - Edit
We went to Otis! after a day on the sightseeing trails. It was so easy to find and nearly the entire menu has vegetarian options, such a treat for Japan! They are now making their own soy cheese and offer a vegan cake for dessert too, they are very vegan friendly. It is definitely Mexican food (no Japanese options) but they've been doing it for a long time and they do it well. Atmosphere was fab, the couple that run it love their music and there were awesome tunes playing when we were there. It doubles as a live music venue so keep an eye out for it, definitely recommended!
Contributions +42
Nice Mexican Restaurant near Peace Park - Edit
A nice Mexican restuarant near Peace Park. We were the only people in the restaurant and it was nice, but if it was busy it would have a great vibe, especially when they have live music. The couple who ran the place were lovely and the food was nice. They had plenty of vegetarian food on the menu and were happy to make vegan food for me.
Contributions +89
Nice place - Edit
I really enjoyed this place but while it's OK for vegetarians, it's really not suitable for vegans.
It is a really chilled out place with wooden tables and a mix of reggae/jazz music playing. The staff are really relaxed and speak a little English.
It wasn't the best Mexican food I've ever had, but it was pretty decent.
Contributions +15
Trendy & Tasty - Edit
Really really tasty food. Nice atmosphere - really friendly owner who plays music and speaks English. Trendy decor. Wasn't very busy which amazed me - I can't understand why it isn't packed.
Pros: Friendly owner, Tasty food, Trendy decor
1 Response
peasonearth 22 Feb 2013 - Hi Michele, I found your review very interesting. I lived in Asia for many years, and often found that what I thought was wonderful, most other people didn't like. That went for food, music, and other things.
Link to this page from your site. Entry info .
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