Rodeo
๐ฎ๐น Italian / ๐ Nakameguro
๐ Visits: 1
Rodeo (you know you've been in Japan too long when you incorrectly pronounce it roe-day-yo) is a popular restaurant specializing in meat and wood-fired Italian cooking. The restaurant is the 4th-most highly ranked Italian in Tokyo, achieved a rating of 4.21 at one point, has won Bronze Tabelog awards for the last 3 years and, such is its success, spawned branches in Shibuya and Ebisu in 2019.
Originally, the restaurant was open for dinner a-la-carte only but since April 2021 they've started opening for lunch and at weekday lunch offer two courses priced at JPY 2,600 and JPY 6,000 (prices include tax but exclude 10% service). The cheaper 'course' is just salad, bread and meat spaghetti but the more expensive course is like a highlights package of the a-la-carte menu and this is what I chose when I went.
The restaurant sits up to, perhaps, 16, mainly at a counter in front of the kitchen and grill and there are no soft furnishings. I expected to be walking away with my clothes smelling like they'd been grilled as well but, surprisingly, there was no smell when I left. On my visit, on a hot day in May, there were only 4 other people dining and the A/C was on quite high so it was actually a little chilly. All menus are in Japanese only. Staff can speak a little bit of English but you really need to be able to read Japanese if you're dining a-la-carte. While bookings are taken for one, dishes on the a-la-carte menu are really portioned for sharing. With the course, Japanese isn't absolutely required but the staff will ask you a couple of questions about the course, like if you want to upgrade the grilled pork to beef for +JPY 1,500, if you would like to change the soup to an oyster (I did), if you'd like dessert. Staff were friendly and chatted a little.
All the dishes I ate (minus the oyster) are pictured below. The course includes the most popular dish on the menu of meat spaghetti which is presented initially as a 100% beef patty, grilled, demi-glace sauce and pasta and then broken up and mixed into the pasta before a liberal grating of Parmesan cheese is applied. All the food was fine but nothing was outstanding. The smokey effect was most pronounced on the pork but was otherwise very subtle. Dishes are very highly seasoned and this was a very high-calorie meal (so much so, you might not need to eat dinner). Five out of the 7 dishes were high in fat and 3 high in carbs. Most of the dishes on the a-la-carte menu seem that way too. I thought JPY 6,000 was good value and price-per-calorie outstanding. There was a choice of dessert priced separately at JPY 700 but I'd eaten enough and given that none of the savoury dishes were special I skipped and went home and just ate a piece of fruit instead. No after-meal drink is included in the course.
I was pleased to have ticked Rodeo off the list but there wasn't anything I'd want to go back for. I can understand the popularity of the restaurant. They've found a niche with inexpensive, quality, very rustic Italian cooking in a modern and casual atmosphere in a convenient location, but I think the Tabelog rating is rather inflated. For a less calorific Italian meal in Nakameguro I'd recommend Icaro. For an outstanding Italian meal a couple more stops away I'd recommend Kasai.
๐ https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1317/A131701/13213575/
❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.75
๐ฑ Booking: ๐ฉ Weekday lunch bookings are easy - same day is possible. Weekend or dinner reservations usually require a bit more advance planning. You can book via Tabelog but weekday lunch bookings for one are not accepted online so you'll need to book via phone. Some English spoken.
๐ Location:
Map data ©2021 Google
๐
Visit May 2021
Crisps, truffle salt
Oyster
Grilled vegetable salad
Warm wagyu carpaccio
Percorino cheese bruschetta
Grilled pork
Meat spaghetti
๐ด Damage: 7,440 (6000 + 1 drink at 770 + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h10m
Comments
Post a Comment