Osteria Coccinella — Restaurant in Kyoto

I'm surprised this restaurant gets as many marks as it does. The service was marginal, at best. When we stepped in, we were immediately told that the restaurant were full with reservations for the night. But we were one of those reservations! I wonder if it was because my half-Japanese daughter and I (fully gaijin) went in first, followed by my Japanese son-in-law. That kind of set the tone for polite, but cool service for the rest of the night. The menu and wine list set-up was somewhat strange compared to restaurants we are used to and the explanation was lacking and with the atmosphere already established we felt uncomfortable asking too many questions. For example, the wine list was hard to read with an emphasis on the types of grapes and vintage, and then denoted red or white. There were no regions or wineries listed so it was difficult to choose. And to be frank, they weren't very high quality wines. It was difficult to choose in that way so we left it up to the chef to decide. We ordered three different reds and of the three, only one was relatively tasty.

The food was mediocre at best, especially when considering the price. The pastas were nice but nothing extraordinary. The last dish we ordered was rather shocking...a cereal bowl that contained a chicken thigh atop a bowl of green peas. But it wasn't even remotely plated tastefully. It was if the green peas were swallowing up the chicken and there was nothing else to accompany it. We had to leave more than half of the peas because they were overwhelming. Previous to this our dishes had all been split in three servings and 'somewhat' plated. This was just brought out and set in front of my son-in-law without explanation. It looked terrible and didn't taste much better.

We expected unique Italian and got strange fusion cuisine where the only thing that was slightly Italian was the pasta. There was nampla in the fresh tomato sauce and curry in another dish. The wines were from France (we found out after ordering). It was all just strange, mediocre, and too expensive for the quality of the food. Best to pass this place if you are a tourist looking for good...

Cosy restaurant with amazing Italian. Some dishes are served with beautiful Japanese ceramics. Great selections of wine matches well. If you feel adventurous, ask the chef for recommendations. The restaurant offers wide variety of pasta dishes, along with salad and main dishes. Highly recommended to try a few different kinds of pasta. You'd definitely enjoy the...

この店はサーブの技術の点からすると☆1つだね。まず店員がイケメンの若いお兄さんだったんだけど、料理やワインの知識、serveのオーダーについてのストラテジーなどが圧倒的に不足してた。

以下不満点を箇条書きで。

①メニューの基本知識が不足してる。たとえばパスタの量を把握していないなど。アントレとメインの組み合わせで四人で食事をしようとしたら、多めですから取り分けてくださいという居酒屋システムの提案が。従ってみたけど、明らかに一人分の分量しかないもので、取り分けはこちらの仕事なので煩雑になった。何グラムかと聞いたのは、一人分かどうかってことなんだよね。

②ワインリストが貧弱、それはラインアップでなく情報の点で。たとえば、飲みやすい甘口を指定したのに、結構辛口のイタリアンのBrutがいきなり出てきてしまった。銘柄を聞いても、若い大学生ぽいバイトは説明能力ないし、スタッフに伺いをたてようともしなかった。銘柄は基本的な重要情報です。値段だけで選ばせるってちょっとこれはテキトーすぎなんで、イタリアンのレストランとしては明確に失格レヴェルか。居酒屋じゃないから。あと、泡ものだから開栓したものはクーリングしてほしかった。カッコだけの樹脂ケースにいれてたけどあんま意味ないですよ。

③サラダやメインやパスタの出てくるオーダーがぐちゃぐちゃ。最後の方に青ものでてもしょうがないでしょう。これもサーブスタッフ、調理スタッフ双方がもしコース風に出したいんだったらちゃんと考えないと。もうちょっと客のDemandをきちんと聞きましょう。無茶は言わないのでガンバって下さい。

料理のクオリティは高い。八角をミートソースに混ぜてあったり、中華のような創意工夫があって、そこは非常に良いものだと評...