Craftsman Yokohama One Paragraph
Craftsman Yokohama is a welcome addition to the craft beer scene in Yokohama, but the only thing it offers over other bars is cheapish draft beers in an almost central location to Yokohama. None of the prices include tax but thankfully there is no table charge at the end of the evening. However, the bottled beers are obscenely expensive and be bought for much cheaper at World Gourmet in Sogo department store. The whole bar is non-smoking as of June 2017 – both inside and outside. The menus have English and Japanese and there is WiFi in the bar but the music was just too darned loud to really have a decent conversation.
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Craftsman Yokohama Full Review
Craftsman Yokohama is the latest addition to the Craftsman range of craft beer bars and restaurants following the Gotanda, Sendai, and Kichijoji branches. It opened in March 2016 though we decided not to go on the opening night and the reviews that followed soon after meant we were right to skip out on it.
The bar is located at the north exit of JR Yokohama station, less than a couple of minutes away and lies between the station and our current favourite bar in Yokohama, Thrash Zone. It’s quite easy to miss Craftsman Yokohama as it’s located on the second floor of the building at the far end so make sure you turn right after you cross the bridge and look up.
Inside Craftsman Yokohama, there is circular bar section with about twenty counter seats located around it. These seats are pretty close to one another so you might be more familiar with your neighbour than you might like. There are also some booths around the windows but these are restricted to large groups of four or more people and would need booking it seems. The whole bar, inside and outside, became non-smoking as of June 2017 – great news! Moreover, the nice ambience was destroyed by the loud jazz music that was being played and drowned out most of the conversations going on in the bar – no need for it to be so loud!
There are 31 taps at Craftsman Yokohama – something about a missing partnership with Baskin Robbins comes to mind – and there are about 120 bottled beers as well. The draft beers are predominantly domestic craft beers but there are some imported beers on tap as well. The beers come in two sizes and two prices for each size; small which is a US half pint at ¥530 for domestic beers and ¥630 for imports while regular beers are US pints ¥830 for domestic and ¥880 for imports. There is also a three beer tasting set for ¥1,050 that gets you three 150ml glasses. None of the prices include tax and the beer serving is iffy at best. Some of the beers came up with the right amount of head, i.e a minimal amount, while some of them came up with beer missing or a large head. The staff did top up the beer when requested too.
The food menu at is supposed to be based around Italian and Mexican dishes though it was far more than that with a wide variety of dishes on the menu though the prices were expensive and didn’t include tax either. While the food was tasty, the main problem was that as the seating area at the counter was quite small, it meant one dish at a time rather than all of them together. A slight pain as it meant the chips – what else would I order? – came last rather than first. For those with kids, Craftsman Yokohama does offer up some kids’ sized portions and dishes too.
Craftsman Yokohama Details
Open: Monday to Thursday 17:00 ~ 02:00 Friday 17:00 ~ 03:00 Saturday 11:30 ~ 03:00 Sunday 11:30 ~ 0:00
Happy hour: None.
Phone: 045-624-8288
Homepage (in Japanese): http://productoftime.co.jp/about/index.html
SNS: Facebook
How to Get to Craftsman Yokohama
The closest station to Craftsman Yokohama is Yokohama station via the north exit. Come out of the barriers, turn left and walk up the stairs then cross the temporary bridge. Take the first right and the bar is on the left on the second floor.
