Lovat

⭐⭐⭐

🇮🇹 Italian / 📍 Ebisu

📓 Visits: 1

At dinner a seven course menu is JPY 7,800.  On weekends and holidays the restaurant is open for lunch and serves a five course menu for JPY 3,500.  There are various upgrades available on both course menus and you can also go a la carte.  I went for lunch.

I arrived five minutes before the restaurant opened and by the time it did, along with me, 5 groups of two were waiting.  It's a small restaurant so I seriously thought about cancelling: I knew I'd be in for a wait.  You're required to ordered a drink at lunch.  There were only two choices of non-alcoholic drink: Limonata or S.Pellegrino priced at JPY 1,080 each.  I had a glass of Champagne at JPY 1,680 which was poor.  There are two chefs and one waiter and it took 15 minutes for everyone to get a drink.  A miserable start.

Twenty-five minutes after being seated an 'amuse' of beef tartar on toast, roast beef and roast veg.  The tartar was delicious, as was the roast beef.  8/10.  If it had come out 15 mins earlier and with a splodge of horseradish cream I'd have been happier.

Next leek pottage.  A standard one-note pottage and served without bread.  7.5/10, maybe 8 if it had come out 10 mins earlier.

For pasta I went with the default option of salsiccia spaghetti.  The homemade salsiccia was delicious.  Pasta was Barilla.  7/10.

The main dish followed which was simply wagyu sumiyaki.  I upgraded it from 50g to 100g for another JPY 1,500.  The lean meat was fairly soft, rich in flavour and salty.  I wouldn't want more than 100g.  8/10.

Dessert was a rich namelaka pudding and a bitter caramel ice-cream.  This was possibly the best dish in the course: 8.5/10.  No after-meal drink is included.

Furnishings are hard and the restaurant was moderately loud.  Children are accepted (at least at lunch).  The restaurant was full by 1pm and people arriving later didn't have to wait as long to be served.  You get quite a lot of meat for your money so decent food let down by poor restaurant management.  The waiter did his best but there was no warmth in the service.  In the end the course took exactly 90 minutes but I reckon if you book for 1pm instead of 12 you could be out in an hour.  However, in the absence of any real seasonality on the menu and with so many other restaurants I'm yet to visit I wouldn't go back.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13188570/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.6 (food: 3.7, seating 11 customers at once: 2.0)

📱 Booking: 🟩 Easy.  The Tabelog reservation calendar shows availability.  You could probably walk-in for dinner or a late lunch.  If you're dining alone you can't book online.  No English menu.  No English spoken.

📍 Location: 

Ebisu 3-16-6.  Shibuya Bashi.  5 mins from Ebisu station West Exit (JR) or Exit 2 (Metro).  
Map data ©2024 Google

📅 Visit January 2024

🕛 Lunch 3,850, 12pm

12:25 Beef tartar on toast, roast beef, roast veg
12:40 Leek pottage
12:55 Salsiccia spaghetti
13:12 Wagyu sumiyaki +50g +1,500
13:25 Namelaka pudding, bitter caramel ice-cream

💴 Damage: 6,680 (3500 + 1500 + 1 drink @ 1680)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h35m