Tonkatsu, fried pork cutlet, is a staple of common Japanese foods to rival the likes of ramen, sukiyaki, and curry.
While it tends to be grouped in with other affordable everyday foods, it actually is also a spectacular example of "simple but profound" Japanese cooking.
This article will introduce our top 13 recommended tonkatsu restaurants in Tokyo that are sure to leave you just as satisfied as any 3-star Michelin restaurant.
Be sure to give this a read before visiting Tokyo!

This super-popular tonkatsu restaurant is located in Akihabara, which has few outstanding restaurants, and customers line up waiting to be let in as soon as it opens at 11:30.
It is an older restaurant, soon to be celebrating its 50th anniversary, but the carefully maintained interior doesn't give off any sort of "old-fashioned" vibes at all.
The tonkatsu made by the owner, who trained at the famous Suidobashi restaurant "Katsukichi," is characterized by its light exterior achieved by frying for a long time at a low temperature.
When you bite into their most popular dish, the "Special Pork Loin Katsu (1850 yen - rice and miso soup sold separately), the delicious umami from the juices of the thick slice of pork overcomes you.
It makes for the perfect match for the thick, sweet sauce.
The customer service is also top notch; if you finish off all of the cabbage served with the tonkatsu, you will be politely asked "How was it?" and given seconds.
Marugo hits all three key points of flavor, atmosphere, and service, making it one of Tokyo's world-famous restaurants.

This tonkatsu restaurant is next door to the popular yakitori restaurant Yakitori Imai. Incidentally, the owner-chef at each place is the same person. It seems that since the chef was little, tonkatsu was one of his favorite dishes, and his dream was to run a tonkatsu restaurant of his own design someday. The pork used is rice-fed Maimaiton. A characteristic of the meat is that it is so smooth that it will stick to your tongue. The secret to the immense popularity of the restaurant is that everything is flawless and perfectly tasty, including the delicious tonkatsu, of course, the rice served from the "ohitsu" (the round, wooden container), the flavorful miso soup, the cabbage, and the tsukemono. Even the chicken katsu, which uses Amagi game fowl from Izu and is procured through Yakitori Imai's route, has a must-eat flavor.

This popular tonkatsu restaurant uses pork from "Hayashi SPF" brand pigs, which are fed grains and raised without antibiotics.
Their tonkatsu is characterized by its brown crispy exterior from frying in hot oil for a short period of time.
We recommend the "Special Pork Loin Katsu Set (2000 yen)," which is sure to be bursting with sweet fat, and the "Special Pork Fillet Katsu (2000 yen)," with the umami of the pork deliciously condensed into the meat.
Tonkatsu Aoki is a great place to enjoy the full potential of "Hayashi SPF" pork in a popular restaurant!
In 2018, the restaurant opened a third location in popular tourist destination Ginza.
This new location makes it easy to enjoy some delicious tonkatsu while you're out sightseeing.

This popular tonkatsu restaurant is located in Kagurazaka, Tokyo's leading gourmet town that is home to Michelin 3-star restaurants such as Japanese restaurants "Ishikawa" and "Kohaku," and established unagi restaurant "Ishibashi."
Their signature dish, "Special Pork Loin Katsu (2322 yen)," is made with "Shima-Buta" brand pork from Miyazaki Prefecture. The restaurant's owner, who has spent 30 years focused exclusively on tonkatsu, says that it is the most delicious pork out of all the varieties he has tried.
Enjoy both the deliciously aromatic fat of the pork and the umami-rich lean meat together.
As Agezuki is one of Tokyo's most popular restaurants, there is always a line for both lunch and dinner. Expect to wait for around 30 minutes when visiting.

This highly skilled tonkatsu restaurant located in a back alley of a shopping district is always packed with local customers.
It has been featured in Michelin's Bib Gourmand for 3 consecutive years, starting in 2015.
Their signature dish, "Premium Pork Loin Katsu Set (1800 yen)," is carefully crafted by the quiet owner using "Mochi-Buta" brand pork. It may look standard at a glance, but once you take a bite you're sure to be impressed by its subtle flavors.
After the texture of the meat and the delicious umami of the fats are gone, a surprisingly light lingering flavor for tonaktsu remains.
Be sure to try this quality tonkatsu with salt for seasoning rather than sauce.
Unusual for a tonkatsu restaurant, you can make reservations for lunch on weekdays.
If you want to visit but avoid the wait, be sure to make a reservation in advance.

This long-standing tonkatsu restaurant has a passionate following of fans even today.
Most customers order their specialty, the "Katsu Curry (2700 yen)."
The moist, quality pork is packed with delicious fatty juices, and when fried in a secret lard blend that includes beef tallow, the resulting tonkatsu is delightfully fragrant.
Once you bite into the crispy exterior, the sweet aroma of the pork spreads through your mouth with the juices - it's enough to make you want to laugh with joy!
While the relatively higher price may be off-putting to some, tonkatsu lovers should absolutely try this unmatched restaurant at least once.

This formidable tonkatsu restaurant is talented enough to split the popularity of "Narikura," located in tonkatsu hotspot area Takadanobaba.
While it's tucked away in a lonely area without any other restaurants nearby, when lunchtime rolls around, a line can form as early as 11:30.
Their tonkatsu is fried in low-temperature oil over a longer period of time, resulting in a characteristic light brown exterior and a pleasantly light but crispy texture.
The most popular dish is their "Special Pork Loin Katsu Set (2160 yen)," fried to a beautiful medium with a still rose-pink center.
If you try the tonkatsu plain without any other seasonings, you'll be able to enjoy the slight sweetness of the high-quality pork.
For additions to the miso soup included with the set meal, you can choose from pork and vegetables, freshwater clams, and wakame.
This is a habit-forming quality tonkatsu that you'll end up wanting to eat every day if you're in the area.

This famous tonkatsu restaurant is located in Asakusa, a popular tourist destination in Tokyo.
The second-generation owner, the son of the restaurant's founder, works hard to continue his family's legacy.
Their signature "Pork Loin Katsu (2100 yen)" features a meticulously made but appetizing light-brown crust, made using a clever two-pot hot-oil cool-oil technique from the original owner.
The lean and fatty parts of the meat mingle beautifully in your mouth, and the thinly-cut tonkatsu is light and decidedly quality. It's definitely a dish that anyone can enjoy.
The set meal is luxurious, served with glossy rice and salted miso pork soup that serve to accent the star of the dish, the umami-packed tonkatsu.
Sugita truly is the embodiment of what a tonkatsu restaurant should be.

The kaiseki restaurant Chawanbu, which reluctantly closed down in 2017, has restarted itself as a restaurant specializing in tonkatsu. Its tonkatsu "teishoku" (set meals) clearly differentiate this restaurant from others which make free use of the techniques of Japanese cuisine. Thus, this restaurant has captivated Tokyo foodies. The tonkatsu boasts a single 320-gram serving. Through a daringly thin coating of panko (breadcrumbs), the tonkatsu is completed so well that you are instantly aware of the flavors of the ingredients. The flavor of the tonkatsu, in which you will taste homemade shoyu that will remind you of mustards, is unique. When you are about halfway done with your tonkatsu, you will be offered some organic curry. Place the leftover slices of tonkatsu on some rice and savor them with curry, egg yolk, and sauce. This is called "katsu curry," no doubt the best flavor in Japan.

The tonkatsu restaurant receiving the most enthusiastic attention right now from Tokyo foodies is this place, which opened at the end of 2019. The chef's parents run a pig farm, and he is familiar with the charms of pork. He handles tonkatsu that is exquisitely heated so that the middle is done to a slightly pink color, resulting in a soft and plump masterpiece with a juicy flavor. 1. For your first bite, eat it as is, without adding anything. 2. Next, add rock salt. 3. Then, add wasabi shoyu. 4. Finally, add the original sauce. These various ways of eating the tonkatsu are laid out for you to enjoy to your heart's content. Please be advised that because of the recent super-popularity of the restaurant, advance reservations for your visit are now necessary.

Located in the vicinity of Tokyo Tower, Nomotoya is a popular up-and-coming tonkatsu restaurant.
While its location on the 2nd floor of a shared building is rather inconvenient even for a tonkatsu restaurant, it still sometimes builds up a long line of businessmen who work in the neighborhood looking for delicious katsu around lunchtime.
If you do stop by, be sure to visit their specialty dish, the "Special Pork Loin Katsu Set 160g (2100 yen)."
It's typically eaten with the invigorating combination of sweet soy sauce and wasabi.
Nomotoya's owner honed his skills in an established Japanese restaurant, and the tonkatsu he makes using the best "Kurobuta" pork absolutely melts in your mouth.
The crispy exterior makes for the perfect pairing with the high-quality pork loin.
If you're stopping by with a healthy appetite, we recommend adding on their perfectly-cooked fried shrimp (450 yen each) as an additional topping.
If you're hoping to avoid the line, try visiting at dinnertime rather than at lunchtime.

Narikura is an iconic tonkatsu restaurant whose name is known across the globe.
It has even maintained a steady rating as "Japan's #1 tonkatsu restaurant" on Tabelog for the past few years.
The high appeal of Narikura's tonkatsu lies in its lightness.
One of their most popular dishes, the "Special Pork Loin Katsu Set 250g (2900 yen)," is cooked in low-heat oil, which results in juicy tonkatsu with only excess liquid cooked out of the meat.
The delicious, high-quality fat of the pork melts in your mouth, and when you bite down it's almost as if the meat is about to fall apart.
Be sure to enjoy the light, subtle flavors of this tonkatsu without any extra seasonings.
While it is a high-price set meal, costing almost 3000 yen, you're sure to be satisfied with the delicious and refined flavors of the tonkatsu.

The #1 tonkatsu restaurant that we here at TokyoTableTrip would like to recommend to you is the incredibly talented "Maruyama Kippei."
The unique concept utilized by the chef, who is said to have had an epiphany at the famous restaurant "Aoki," is that "fat is life for pork."
We recommend their signature "Rib Roast 250g (no rice - 2400 yen)," which fully displays the delights of pork fat, for first-time customers.
Other restaurants can't even come close to the flavors achieved at Maruyama Kippei thanks to its use of "Hayashi SPF" brand pork, aged to draw out even more of the pork's potential.
The true highlight is the half-cooked fatty portion, which becomes one with the the fragrant exterior when you take a mouthful; it is indescribably good.
While the tonkatsu here is thick, you can happily clean your plate without feeling stuffed, perhaps thanks to the high quality of all ingredients used.
The owner-chef is a bit rough around the edges, but despite that, this is a must-visit famous restaurant in Tokyo with plenty of merit.