Itō Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

When this restaurant was freshly opened back then I dined here before with my partner and had a 10/10 memorable dining experience. I kept recommending this place to my friends as well from how much I liked it. However last night sadly I didn’t experience that so good service anymore. We dined here for the second time and were seated upstairs. I was really looking foward to come back here and have a great catch up with my friend whom I haven’t seen for a while and had a lot of things to catch up with as we both had major life progress to tell each other. After we were seated we ordered our drinks straight away while thinking of what to order.we also dived straight into our talks and when you have a typical girls night you know they’re deep! The staff that served us that night came back just 5 min later cutting our conversation asking me why we haven’t order our food and wanted us to order quickly straight away. The way she asked us felt too upfront and pushy but we followed anyway. Luckily the food I remember were good remained good from my last visit, also the other staff that brought our food was lovely. But I don’t know why only that one lady was so pushy with us. She made sure we order and ate quickly but didn’t have a sense of attention to bring us another round of drinks or ask us how we liked the food. I even kept looking at the watch as the vibe was so tense that I couldn’t even focus on the conversation with my friend anymore. When I booked I know that it’s said we only have 2 hours to eat there and I never want to be that annoying costumer that holds the table but I also don’t want to feel being at a speed eating contest as I come here for the experience /food and drinks! Once we finished our desert it felt that the bill was almost thrown at us, we payed and again sadly no attention how we liked it, or even a thank you wasn’t present. The cherry on top that made me going home angry and upset was that upon paying I went to the toilet and my friend just ordered her uber so approx. after paying we stayed 5 min longer. Just that another male staff came to us and said we have to leave NOW as there’s another booking in 15 min.?! We just stayed 5 min longer after the 2 hours maybe? After all the tense rushed order and eating we felt like we were kicked out of this place and I went home disappointed, annoyed and upset. The girls night dinner I was so looking foward to ended up being so disappointed. Therefore I sadly have to give the service this low of a review. I know you guys have to follow a time sheet but there other ways of implementing it...

(3.5 stars) There’s a buzz about Ito but it’s partly architectural. Most tables in the 85-seater two-storey space face windows that open onto a plaza that looks out to Surry Hills Library. It adds up to quite a lot of chatter. We’re tucked around the corner in a quiet nook on the second storey: it’s a mixed blessing, up here sake takes a very long time to arrive. The look of the space is the work of architect Matt Darwon, the bloke behind Toko (a restaurant which dominated contemporary Japanese food on this strip for fifteen years). No doubt that’s the mantle ESCA hospitality group co-founder, Ibby Moubadder was hoping Ito would assume when he headhunted Erik Ortolani (ex Nobu and Cho Cho San) for this Japanese-Italian izakaya.

With the strong focus on drinking, I’d have liked to enjoy the cocktails more. The sake smash ($22) drank like floral cough syrup with an unnamed junmai sake clashing with Wyborowa bison grass vodka, apple and shiso leaf. While I liked the togarashi rim, I don’t think Campari did the karai (spicy) margarita ($24) any favours. The sake list holds more interest: the Eigashima Shuzō yamato damashi mizumoto ($149/bottle) drinks very nicely with a hint of acidity tamed by steamed rice and a lick of sweetness.

Ortolani’s signature banquet ($129) kicks off with yellowfin tuna on bonito bread dusted with shaved bottarga and super-smoky bowls of edamame spiked with nori and chilli. Hiramasa kingfish is nicely sliced and firm-fleshed against a forgettable combination of white soy and cucumber. Charcoal king prawns were over-cooked and hard to extract from their shells. Agebitashi eggplant employs tomato kaeshi but doesn’t eat better than the traditional miso-soy in nasu dengaku. Hibachi wagyu with shoyu jus and black garlic is the menu star, though I’d have liked the accompanying Roman beans to have been strung, and the cabbage rocket and ginger salad I could take or leave.

This isn’t to say Japanese and Italian flavours can’t mesh: Lumi consistently kicks goals, and mentaiko spaghetti is a favourite dish (try it at Jicca or Kanade). I’m just not sure braised duck dumplings in brown butter and ponzu are really what people come to contemporary Japanese restaurants hoping to eat. And if you were hoping Ito would redeem themselves with dessert, chocolate purin (custard pudding), pear and mirin jangled on my palate. The accompanying mochi sorbetto meant I left the restaurant with a...

There are some things that should not go together either because they are diametrically opposed or there is something you see as non-compatible.

I thought exactly that about ITO how can you combine two radically different foods together and get some sort of harmony the food groups are so radically different they surely can’t work.

Well, I am completely wrong.

ITO has a refined, delicate offering and it is amazing. There is just such intelligence in each of the dishes, Japanese food is delicate, sophisticated, and balanced whilst Italian food is wholesome, big, sauce plays a large part in a lot of its dishes, yes, it is food of taste but lacks the delicacy of Japanese food, but ITO combines the two in such a unique way to enhance the dishes and brings to the table an exceptional concept.

The kingfish is delicious melts in your mouth, the wagyu again is a delight, spanner crab and chargrilled King prawns were just delightful.

The duck ravioli was just amazing and even the cabbage salad, completely different and delicious, my mouth is starting to relive some of the flavours as I write this.

Food is exceptional, but the experience of going to a restaurant is not only about the food, it is an experience, a combination of great service, great food and a vibe or an underlying culture made up of pride, personality, intelligence, and training.

These all must be part of the mix to have an exceptional experience and leave you wanting to go back.

The service was faultless, it’s a small restaurant, serving unique dishes by people who understand what is being offered. There is an obvious pride and enthusiasm in the service staff that is just not trainable. We left Recognising this is a unique restaurant serving unique and delicious food by unique people. It takes a lot to impress me in restaurants, we go out a lot and to have an experience like this one is few and far between. We will...