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This Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Review is from our 2020 site inspection, which also included The Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills and The Park Hyatt Tokyo. See all our posts tagged Japan. Note that at time of writing, the hotel is temporarily closed due to the coronavirus.
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Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Location and Check-In
The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, which opened in 2005 in the Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, is located at 2-1-1 Nihonbashi in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, about a 10 minute walk from Tokyo Station and a 20-30 minute drive, depending on traffic, from Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND).
The hotel can be entered from Chuo-dori, a major shopping street. Pass the elevators and enter the ground level entrance for the hotel, which can also be accessed by car by turning left off of Kyu-Nikko-Kaido Street.
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Expect your temperature to be checked before you're permitted to take the elevator up to the lobby on the 38th Floor. We arrived around midday, so our room was still being prepared, but we refreshed with the oshibori towels provided and only had to wait about 20 minutes until our room was ready.
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Mandarin Grand Room
We'd reserved a Deluxe Room with TravelSort Client perks and enjoyed a 3 category upgrade to a Mandarin Grand Room, which is 645 sq. ft. (60 sq. m.), as opposed to the 538 sq. ft. of a Deluxe Room. We appreciated the extra space, although we didn't appreciate the extra charge (~$100) that the hotel attempted to charge us for our son's bed, when we were checking out. We weren't charged for the extra bed last time we stayed, nor was it mentioned during the reservation or on the confirmation. Four Seasons is much better in this regard–virtually all Four Seasons properties do not charge an extra bed fee for children.
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There's a round table useful for either in-room dining or as a work desk:
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Mandarin Grand Rooms have a city view, and on clear days Mount Fuji is visible in the distance.
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The bathroom is quite small, with only one sink. The louvered blinds can open for a view to the bedroom.
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There's a Toto washlet toilet in a separate chamber, as well as a rain shower and separate soaking tub.
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Bath products are by Bottega Veneta:
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As with virtually all luxury hotels and ryokan in Japan, yukata are provided for use during your stay.
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Here's our Mandarin Oriental Tokyo YouTube Video Review:
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Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Breakfast at K'shiki Restaurant
TravelSort clients enjoy complimentary breakfast for two daily at K'shiki Restaurant, on the 38th floor, just off of the lobby. Breakfast is served from 6:30-10:30am.
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This was the menu during our visit:
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Perhaps due to the primarily international guest demographic, there were few Japanese options–just grilled salmon and steamed rice.
The fruit plate and yogurts were good, if not exceptional.
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My husband ordered the pancake, which was fluffy but very small and quite tasteless, so rather disappointing.
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Our son's Egg Benedict was fine, but nothing to write home about, and the hollandaise was slightly congealed.
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Best of the breakfast entrees we ordered were the steamed dim sum, with accompanying chili condiments:
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The best items of all, however, were the excellent pain au chocolat and cherry danish. Hats off to the pastry chef. Strangely, we had to ask if there were any pastries, as they didn't even appear on the menu. We also asked for a change of our server, since initially we were served by one who was constantly sniffling behind his mask. While it may have just been seasonal allergies, we really didn't want to take a chance.
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The Verdict
On our first stay at The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo back in 2017, I thought the room was rather small and unimpressive, but we were blown away by the service and attention to detail. The Concierge Team even helped my husband recover a laptop that he had inadvertently left elsewhere, and helped me locate a charger for my camera.
This time around, the room definitely looked fresher, thanks to the 2019 renovation, although the bathroom is still on the small side, with only one sink. We certainly appreciated the multiple category upgrade to a Mandarin Grand room, as it's over 100 sq. ft. larger than the original Deluxe Room we reserved. That said, we were all very unimpressed with our initial welcome amenities: kiwi for us, and Kit Kat candy for our son, both of which seemed cheap and perfunctory, not befitting a luxury hotel. To the hotel's credit, once we expressed our disappointment (and the fact none of us like kiwi) we were provided a nicer fruit plate and some really delicious housemade pastries–much, much better than Kit Kat.
Without question, the city views are beautiful, especially from the Fitness Center and rooms and suites that face the Tokyo Skytree. The highlight for us during this stay was our light dinner at The Pizza Bar on 38th, which we'll review separately.
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