IBISCO — Restaurant in Naha

Chose this restaurant because of good rating, however the experience was surprisingly underwhelming. Firstly, the atmosphere in the restaurant is pressing and needlessly pompous, nothing like in a real Italian place where you are made to feel warm and welcome. We almost felt like we were burdening the place with our undeserving lowly presence. I ordered a truffle risotto, ¥2,400 nonetheless, which came out absolutely tasteless, gooey and resembled okayu. I’m not sure if the chef ever had risotto in his life, but in Europe restaurants would get shut down over better risottos than this. I can confidently say that this is the worst risotto I had in my life, and even the frozen foods section could offer a more palatable version of this fairly easy to cook dish. Despite asking for additional condiments to try and salvage this disaster, and not finishing half of my dish, no one came over to inquire about the food and whether everything is ok. Ended up paying ¥5,000 for bland rice sludge, some salad leaves and an orange juice....

We walked out almost immediately.

The waitress (likely the owner) was aggressive, rude, and a little hostile from the moment we stepped into the completely empty restaurant…

Before we could even glance at the menu, we were barked at and told we must each order at least one drink. Then we noticed a small print of an automatic 1200yen surcharge per person just for sitting down. That’s before service charges and before you even order anything.

The menu itself is as bland as water, wildly overpriced and completely uninspiring. A £55 steak, for example, comes with…. nothing. No sides, no garnish, just a slab of overpriced meat.

The atmosphere was so toxic, silent, and uncomfortable that we decided to leave and on the way out, we got one last venomous scowl from the waitress/owner, which summed up the whole experience.

This place is clearly a tourist trap at its worst. Unwelcoming, overpriced, and hostile. There are far better places to spend your time and money that’s for sure!

Worse restaurants visit in Japan...

Doesn’t live up to the 4.4 stars rating. The bread came chilled and the green salad had ratatouille like topping on it. The appetizer of slow cooked Ie Island beef was tender and flavorful but it didn’t make me think, “wow this dish is mouthwatering.” The gorgonzola pasta reminded me of boxed macaroni and cheese and even my dining partner who isn’t used to “American” style macaroni cheese said the same thing. We ordered the main dish of lamb-chops. The lamb chops were quite small and came rare (not a problem). They were plated with a few leaves of rugula, semi charcoal burnt yams and a green sauce that couldn’t tell if it was pesto or mustard. The lamb-chops were decent but I feel overpriced at 2,800¥. The atmosphere was nice and all of the staff were great but there are definitely other Italia restaurants in the city that are a way...