First look: Evaluate of Waldorf Astoria Osaka

Typically taking part in second fiddle to Tokyo, Osaka, Japan, is at the moment having its personal second — no marvel the town, and the encircling area of Kansai, earned a spot on our 2025 checklist of high locations.

Not solely is World Expo 2025 happening in Osaka, however the metropolis has been a hotbed of resort exercise these days. Final 12 months noticed the opening of the elegant 4 Seasons Resort Osaka, and never one, however two fabulous new motels have opened within the metropolis prior to now two months.

Considered one of them is the brand new Waldorf Astoria Osaka, which formally debuted in April 2025 within the occurring Umekita district, simply north of the historic heart.

We have been among the first visitors to verify in to this thrilling new outpost for the Waldorf Astoria model, and here is every little thing that you must know forward of your personal keep (together with how one can guide it utilizing Hilton factors).

First impressions

Though the murals and huge ceramic items within the ground-floor entrance are spectacular, your breath would possibly simply be taken away whenever you arrive on the twenty ninth ground and step out onto a dais overlooking the resort’s focus, Peacock Alley, named after the unique Waldorf Astoria’s central promenade, the place turn-of-the-century dandies would attempt to flip well-to-do women’ heads.

Famend resort designer André Fu oversaw the challenge (you may need admired his work at Hong Kong’s Higher Home and Capella Singapore), and the triple-height house has large home windows trying north towards the unmistakable silhouette of the Umeda Sky Constructing and over the Yodo River to the Kongo mountains past.

Equally eye-catching are the artwork deco touches, together with large cascading chandeliers; a dramatic, crescent-shaped green-marble cocktail bar; and swish metalwork accents. The showstopper, nonetheless, is the antique-style Seiko clock — a riff on the one on the authentic Waldorf Astoria New York, which was commissioned by Queen Victoria for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Tear your gaze away from the lunching women genteelly sipping tea from pastel-hued Ginori china and traverse considered one of two corridors to the again tower. You’ll move two glass-enclosed rock gardens earlier than discovering your strategy to the equally gorgeous however virtually diametrically totally different reception space.

Impressed by conventional Japanese home lanterns, the towering, round house is ribbed with blond wooden panels surrounding a black stone tranquility pool whose edge is pierced by Setouchi granite boulders — equal elements Japanese pure supplies and big-city Hong Kong feng shui.

Passing by way of right here on the best way to the visitor elevators, you’re compelled to take your time, stepping across the pool, previous artwork book-filled cabinets and receiving a heat salutation from one of many workers members ready to name an elevator for you.

It offers you time to soak up less-evident parts, just like the hanging chandeliers that one resort government instructed me reminded her of the standard wind chimes tinkling outdoors her grandmother’s home.

The rooms

Located on flooring 31 by way of 38 of the constructing, Waldorf Astoria Osaka has 252 visitor rooms however, extra precisely, 248 “keys” since a few of these rooms are adjoining. They vary from 517-square-foot Deluxe rooms to the two,077-square-foot Presidential Suite.

Strolling down the lengthy entry hallway to my nook junior suite on the thirty seventh ground led me previous a powder room and into the lounge, which had a breakfast desk with two chairs that doubled as a piece desk, and a minibar stocked with native spirits (Ki No Bi gin and Okuhida vodka) and snacks (Umeda de Cow chips). A sitting room featured a taupe divan that confronted an enormous wall-mounted tv, and there was a rough-hewn wood desk the place I discovered house-made macarons and slices of recent melon as my welcome amenity.

The pale wood partitions and flooring paired with the inexperienced, gold and blue palette of the carpet, throw pillows and chairs created an indoor panorama of types, with echoes of the Japanese countryside (assume: mysterious forests, craggy volcanoes and dramatic shorelines pounded by swirling surf).

These motifs repeated within the bed room, which was by way of a big sliding wood door. Surrounded on two sides by floor-to-ceiling home windows, the king-size mattress was dressed with Waldorf Astoria’s signature sheets with crisp stitching and had among the greatest sundown views on the town.

Behind it, a home made wood kumiko display screen framed a washi-paper wall set up, the patterns on each resembling peacock tails and Asian hand followers — playful allusions to the Waldorf Astoria model’s arrival in Japan.

Behind the mattress space was an ample closet and the light-filled toilet, its surfaces clad in good-looking white-gray limestone slabs. Twin sinks stocked with Aesop merchandise (plus loads of spare toiletries in case you forgot yours at house, in addition to a Dyson hair dryer) and the walk-in bathe offered welcome areas to primp earlier than twilight cocktails at Peacock Alley.

After a day hoofing it underneath the solar across the Expo, although, it was into the luxurious tub that I sank for a restorative soak.

Eating

There are a number of eating places and bars on the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, starting from high-end teppanyaki to conventional French brasserie fare.

Peacock Alley

Open from 11 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. (relying on the day) and true to its identify, Peacock Alley stays the place to see and be seen each day and night time. There’s a confection-filled afternoon tea service, which is already turning into common. Nevertheless, most people have a tendency to come back for compact however crowd-pleasing dishes from the all-day menu, like dainty lobster rolls on fluffy brioche buns ($33) and the eponymous Waldorf salad ($19).

Even when you’re not eating right here, cease by for a pre- or post-meal drink like a spirit-forward Rob Roy ($19) from the 1935 “Waldorf Astoria Bar E-book,” or an equally intoxicating replace on it, the Osaka Rob Roy ($21.50) with Yamazaki single malt whisky, Michter’s US 1 Kentucky straight rye whiskey, persimmon-infused Mancino Secco vermouth, Pedro Ximénez sherry and citrusy yuzu-shiso bitters.

The restaurant additionally has an out of doors deck overlooking the town that is merely spectacular round sundown.

Jolie Brasserie

Sunny and convivial, Jolie Brasserie is the resort’s informal French outlet. From 6:30-10:30 a.m., yow will discover visitors perusing the cornucopic buffet making an attempt to resolve between candy and savory pastries and the number of recent fruit and chilly cuts earlier than tucking right into a la carte inclusions like toast heaped with avocado and eggs or Osaka-style udon noodles in an umami broth with a lower of grilled Nanatani duck from Kyoto.

For lunch (11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. day by day) and dinner (5:30-9 p.m. day by day), the menu walks the road between French faves like quiche lorraine ($17) and Asian flavors like tuna tartare with avocado puree, radish, shallot and a tangy ponzu sauce ($20). You may additionally discover consolation dishes like a croque madame ($20) and French onion soup ($20), plus a number of mouthwatering cuts of wagyu steak (costs fluctuate by lower and dimension) ready to order along with your selection of sauces and a aspect of fries.

Tsukimi

Open just for dinner from 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday by way of Monday, Tsukimi is the resort’s fine-dining den for teppanyaki dishes ready earlier than your eyes.

Your meal would possibly embrace delicacies like handmade soba noodles with tender squid tartare and earthy mushroom sauce, succulent sea bream recent from the market with shrimp sauce and plum foam over springy maitake mushrooms and seasonal white asparagus with onion-garlic miso cream sauce in a concentrated hen consomme.

The piece de resistance, nonetheless, will probably be a slender lower of juicy, intricately marbled Tajima Kuroge wagyu beef – you’ll be able to even examine its certificates of authenticity, full with the animal’s family tree and distinctive noseprint – slow-cooked to unctuous perfection then barely seared over charcoal for a smoky end.

Should you nonetheless have room, strive a number of scoops of seafood fried rice with tiny pink sakura shrimp and pickled greens earlier than sake ice cream with puckery lemongrass granita for dessert. Menus begin at $292 per particular person.

Canes & Tales

A clandestine speakeasy tucked behind a jade-green door adjoining to Peacock Alley, Canes & Tales is open 5 p.m. till midnight (Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday) or 1 a.m. (Friday and Saturday).

There, cosseted within the artwork deco-inspired inside, full with lapis lazuli-blue velvet sofas and topaz-yellow leather-based chairs (plus some natty wallpaper!), visitors can sip colourful cocktails just like the Camel’s Again with Roku gin, Chartreuse, pear distillate, gobo and gari cordial, and fizzy ginger beer ($19).

Facilities and repair

• Service all through the resort was heat, real and attentive with out turning into overbearing. It appeared like, upon arrival, everybody working on the resort knew my identify.
• Open from 10 a.m. till 9 p.m., the resort’s spa is intimate, with simply 4 remedy rooms the place visitors can get pleasure from experiences using fancy skincare merchandise from manufacturers like La Prairie and Tiaraleen.
• The resort’s health heart is stocked with the newest Technogym cardio and weight gear.
• Simply across the nook from the gymnasium, the pool has fabulous skyline views and is family-friendly, although we did not see any youngsters splashing round.
• Even when you’re not internet hosting an occasion, ask to take a look at the resort’s chapel house; it is a stunner.

Location and logistics

The Waldorf Astoria Osaka is within the metropolis’s energetic Umekita district, which is north of the historic heart, and a couple of 20-minute metro experience to Osaka Fortress. The resort sits adjoining to Umekita Park, the place you will see people out for strolls or having fun with lunch in the course of the workday. Additionally it is a part of the Grand Inexperienced Osaka improvement, which incorporates high-end boutiques and eating places, together with an installment of Time Out Market, an upscale meals corridor of types with stalls purveying typical street-food delicacies like karaage fried hen and okonomiyaki egg and scallion pancakes.

From Kansai Worldwide Airport (KIX), the resort is a couple of 45-minute drive, which prices round $70 in an Uber. Should you’re touring gentle, nonetheless, you’ll be able to catch a prepare to Osaka Station for round $20 and simply stroll to the resort. You too can catch trains from Osaka Station to Kobe, Kyoto and Nara.

In case you are touring to Osaka on the Shinkansen bullet prepare, you’ll be able to take the metro from Shin-Osaka station to the Umeda station for just below $2 and stroll from there.

The resort has a Mercedes Maybach to ferry visitors round on a first-come, first-served foundation to close by places.

What it prices

Nightly charges on the Waldorf Astoria Osaka begin at $536 or 120,000 Hilton Honors factors per night time for a King Deluxe or 2 Queen Deluxe room.

When reserving the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, you will wish to use one of many bank cards that earn probably the most factors for Hilton stays, or one that provides computerized Hilton Honors elite standing for value-added advantages. These embrace:

• Hilton Honors American Specific Surpass® Card: Earn 12 factors per greenback spent on eligible purchases at Hilton motels, computerized Gold elite standing and the power to improve to Diamond standing by way of the top of the subsequent calendar 12 months by spending $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar 12 months.
• Hilton Honors American Specific Enterprise Card: Earn 12 factors per greenback spent on eligible purchases at Hilton motels, computerized Gold elite standing and the power to improve to Diamond standing by way of the top of the subsequent calendar 12 months by spending $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar 12 months.
• Hilton Honors American Specific Card: Earn 7 factors per greenback spent on eligible purchases at Hilton motels and computerized Silver elite standing (with an improve to Gold by way of the top of the subsequent calendar 12 months whenever you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar 12 months).
• Hilton Honors American Specific Aspire Card: Earn 14 factors per greenback spent on eligible purchases at Hilton motels and computerized Diamond elite standing.

The data for the Hilton Aspire Card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.

Alternatively, the resort participates in American Specific Advantageous Motels + Resorts, so when you have an eligible card, reminiscent of The Platinum Card® from American Specific or The Enterprise Platinum Card® from American Specific, and guide by way of that portal, you’ll obtain perks like availability-based upgrades, as much as a $100 credit score to make use of on the property throughout your keep for extras like drinks and meals, complimentary day by day breakfast for 2, and assured 4 p.m. late checkout.

Accessibility

The Waldorf Astoria’s road entrances are all wheelchair-accessible and have a direct, no-step path to the set of elevators that take you as much as the reception ground. There are additionally elevators to the extent the place Peacock Alley and Canes & Tales are. Visitor flooring and the wellness heart are all accessible by way of elevator as properly, however observe there isn’t a chairlift on the pool.

The resort has 4 King Accessible rooms with options that embrace lowered spyholes and toilet counters in addition to supportive handrails.

Backside line

The Waldorf Astoria Osaka represents an thrilling introduction for a storied model in Japan and is a surprising new factors resort in considered one of Asia’s most dynamic cities. Whereas factors charges there went up shortly after opening, reserving award nights can nonetheless characterize nice financial savings … so you’ve more cash in your pocket to benefit from the resort’s many bars, eating places and different facilities.

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