Tabelog ratingIrori Yaki Ooyanagi (いろり焼 大柳) is a farmhouse restaurant beside a mountain river in Hiraya, where guests sit around long sunken charcoal hearths (irori) and grill their own lunch. The yamame (mountain trout) arrive skewered so fresh they are still moving. Next to them go gohei-mochi, pounded-rice skewers that you brush with walnut, sansho, egoma (perilla) or yuzu miso. The owner walks the room enforcing one rule: turn the fish once, the mochi a thousand times.
Almost every review praises the salt-grilled yamame. It is clean-tasting and lightly salted, and it cooks crisp enough to eat head, bones and all. The yamame karaage (deep-fried trout) is named as a surprise standout nearly as often, and many recommend the mixed set to try both. Reviewers also single out the country pickles, the frozen-dried tofu, the riverside room and the simple fun of cooking your own meal.
The owner's constant, brusque instruction divides people. Several one-star reviews call it nagging and rude. A few took offence at remarks that grilling is "the man's job", and some found his directions contradictory. Two reviewers said their miso soup was forgotten or came very late, and one found the mochi slightly dry.
This is a lunch-only place: there is no dinner service, and typical spend is about ¥1,000–1,999. Reviewers paid ¥1,870 for the Ōyanagi set (two trout, two mochi, pickles and soup) in 2019–2022, rising to ¥1,950 by 2023–2025. The mixed set was also ¥1,950 in 2025, and an extra karaage cost ¥600 in 2023. Reviewers consistently call it good value: two whole fresh fish, filling mochi and sides for under ¥2,000. The owner sometimes adds an extra fish at no charge.
- Booking: not required, but recommended. Phone 0265-48-2808 about 30 minutes before you arrive so the charcoal is lit. Walk-ins have waited up to 1.5 hours.
- Getting there: by car, take National Route 153 south from Sonohara Interchange. It is roughly 1.5 hours' drive from Nagoya. By public transport, take the Shinnan Kotsu bus from Iida Station towards Soyama Iriguchi (Komaba Line) to "Achi High School". Change to the community bus towards Neba (Achi–Hiraya–Neba Line) and get off at "Hiramatsu", 3 minutes' walk away. The listing notes only three services a day, so a car is the realistic option.
- Parking: available.
- Payment: cash only. Credit cards, electronic money and QR payments are not accepted.
- Seating: 40 seats at four hearths of 10, shared with other guests. Floor seating is on cushions, with low stools on request. No private rooms and no private hire.
- Smoking: non-smoking.
- Ordering: you order at the entrance, and add-on orders are refused once you are seated, so decide beforehand. Some seasons have a daily limit of 40–50 sets.
- Language: the owner gives grilling instructions verbally, quickly and in Japanese only. The rules are posted on the wall in Japanese.
- Drinks: sake and bottled beer; there is no draught beer.