Toshima City, Tokyo, Japan｜Onigiri Bongo

It was worth the wait. The onigiri is delicious and the portions are large. The onigiri pairs nicely with the green tea and miso soup. You get to sit at the counter and see the onigiri be made which makes it worthwhile to eat inside the restaurant. There is an English menu as well. Be prepared to wait in a long line. We waited 2 hrs. We tried to come at an unpopular time to eat- we arrived at 3 pm on Tuesday but we still had to wait for a while. Bring a portable phone charger and watch a downloaded Netflix show/movie to pass the time. It isn’t a restaurant where you can eat and talk since there is a long queue. We tried to be considerate of others waiting in line so my husband and I ate the food and did not talk. As soon as we finished we left. We did have leftover onigiri because the portions are large (2-3 onigiri is very filling and you will be full). They packaged our leftover onigiri to go for take out which was nice! The staff do provide water and tea to the queue which was nice especially in the hot weather!

The staff are very friendly and the food is good but if you're a tourist short on time, be prepared to wait about 2-5 hours to get in for lunch; especially if you're in the line across the street it's at least 3 hours. We got in after 3.5 hours and there's a lot of interesting fillings that I haven't seen before. The soy egg yolk is amazing. The miso soup and the taikuan pickles are also quite good. There's a shop attendant who will hand out water on a hot day and we saw him take luggage from some guests behind us. It's a good meal but again, be prepared to wait a long, long time.

After I watched a video on TikTok about this place I decided to come. I waited in line for 2 hours. They served tea to everyone who’s waiting in line. After we walked in they welcomed us and gave us a wet towel with extra tea. The tea is free and you can have as much miso soup as you want. I got tofu miso soup, grilled code roe, grilled salmon, and cream cheese with salted code roe onigiris. The cream cheese with salted cod roe was the best out of the three, get it! And you will never regret it.