Jappa da Quitanda - Ipanema — Restaurant in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

Visited in July 2024. Brazil. Rio de Janeiro.

We happened to be passing by and were in the mood for some Asian cuisine, so we decided to give this place a go. The restaurant is small and has a pleasant outdoor terrace, which is a bonus. Inside, however, the lighting is rather dim and the tables feel cramped, lacking any sense of privacy.

Food:

As an Asian-inspired restaurant, the menu features a variety of small plates and sushi rolls, which is what we focused on. We opted for several starters to sample a range of flavours. The scallop with melon ponzu was well-executed in terms of the protein, but the truffle lemon mousse was a let-down, tasting overly mayonnaise-like and weighing the dish down. We couldn't detect any truffle or lemon notes. The "by the Hands of chef" appetizer was visually interesting but lacked flavour balance. The prawn inside was bland, the breadcrumb coating was overly thick, and the soft salmon didn't complement the other elements. However, the tuna with foie gras was a highlight of the evening, featuring fresh, delicious tuna with the smooth, buttery flavour of the foie gras. Unfortunately, our final starter, a rice-less roll with a mix of salmon, prawn, and fresh tuna, was marred by the addition of asparagus. The textures didn't work together, and removing the asparagus would have improved the dish significantly.

Service:

The service was adequate, although the restaurant was quite full, so we didn't receive much attention, and some dishes took longer than expected. Dirty plates were cleared when new dishes arrived.

Overall:

The food at this restaurant felt rather underwhelming. Out of everything we sampled, only a couple of starters stood out. This restaurant is a one-time experience for us, as there are stronger Japanese...

After a day of training I didn't want to think too much about where to eat. I chose Jappa because I had eaten there a week before. When I got a table and looked at the screen for the all you can eat, the waitress said firmly: "no, you can only choose from the menu". I thought, "okay, maybe in the evening they only have a menu, but you could have said it a bit nicer". I saw guests having sushi that I didn't see on the menu. I also saw people taking orders via the screen. When I asked another waitress via Google Translate if I could also order something outside the menu because the menu was small, she said that there was the option of all you can eat. I said that her colleague said that that was not possible and that I didn't want to eat there anymore (I had already ordered and eaten something from the menu), because I felt badly treated. I felt really mistreated and...

The food is delicious, but the service is slow at some point we thought they were doing it on purpose. Between rounds, you can wait almost 30 minutes, which can be frustrating and may lead you to give up on ordering altogether, so you end up paying a lot and eating little. For a coffee at the end, we had to wait almost 20 minutes. We waited too long for our change after paying in cash, so we decided to leave it as we could wait no longer or we would miss our flight and when we complained they didn't seem bothered at all. Most of the waitresses are nice, but the majority display poor attitudes. When they come to take your order, they seem impatient, leaving little time for questions or advice about the menu. It's a nice place overall but needs...