Our standard

How we verify

“Wagyu,” “A5,” and “Kobe” often appear without enough context to evaluate the claim. WagyuSpot shows what the available evidence does and does not establish. Every one of our 909 listings is checked against current first-party sourcing evidence, then labeled according to the strength of that evidence.

What earns verification

A restaurant is verified when at least one current, non-novelty offering clears the provenance standard for its origin:

Provenance
The venue publicly names what the Wagyu is: a Japanese brand and prefecture with its JMGA grade; or a U.S. breed status (fullblood / purebred / F1) and the named producer; or an Australian producer with its AUS-MEAT marbling score.
Offering scope
Program depth is recorded separately as dedicated, multiple, single, or novelty. A single A5 steak can qualify for verification when its provenance is documented. A bare, unbranded “Wagyu burger” can still appear as a menu claim only, but it does not receive an authenticity badge.

Three evidence levels

Registry or producer documented

Supported by the source appropriate to the claim: for example, the official Kobe registry, Japanese individual-animal traceability, or a named producer’s breed documentation. These are different kinds of evidence, not interchangeable certifications.

First-party provenance

A current venue or supplier source names a specific Japanese brand and grade, or a named U.S. or Australian producer with the relevant breed or marbling information.

Menu claim only

A current first-party menu advertises Wagyu, but the available evidence does not meet the full provenance standard. These listings never receive an authenticity badge.

A menu claim is an honest endpoint

A “menu claim only” listing is a real restaurant whose current, first-party menu clearly advertises Wagyu, but that has not published enough detail (the prefecture, brand, breed status, or producer) for us to verify where the beef actually comes from. It is published because the advertised claim was current when checked, and it carries no authenticity badge. A menu verifies what the venue represents to customers; it does not independently authenticate the meat or its provenance.

In practice this is most common at omakase counters and tasting menus, where the beef rotates and the grade is often only told to you at the table, and at steakhouses that list “A5 wagyu” without naming the prefecture. Treating that as an honest “here is what the menu says, and here is what it does not” is more useful than either hiding the venue or overstating it. If you are deciding where to eat, treat a menu-claim-only listing as an advertised Wagyu option that needs a follow-up question. Ask the venue which prefecture, grade, breed status, and producer apply; documented answers may allow the listing to qualify for a badge. 516 listings are in that state right now.

What we do not certify

A menu claim does not become verified because it sounds specific. An $18 “Kobe burger” at a venue outside the Kobe registry is not verified Kobe; the beef could still contain Wagyu genetics, but the menu alone cannot establish that. We never apply “A5” to beef graded outside Japan, and never call anything “Certified Kobe” on a menu word alone: that badge requires the official registry andKobe on the current menu.

Browse restaurants The Kobe list