Unagi is served as part of unadon (sometimes spelled unagidon, especially in menus in Japanese restaurants in Western countries), a donburi dish with sliced eel served on a bed of rice.

Lake Hamana in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka prefecture is considered to be the home of the highest quality unagi; as a result, the lake is surrounded by many small restaurants specializing in various unagi dishes.

"[8] Seafood Watch, a sustainable seafood advisory list, recommends that consumers avoid eating unagi due to significant pressures on worldwide freshwater eel populations.

All three eel species used as unagi have seen their population sizes greatly reduced in the past half century.

The Japanese Ministry of the Environment has officially added Japanese eel to the “endangered” category of the country's Red List of animals ranging from “threatened” to “extinct”.