orizzonte — Restaurant in Sapporo

If I could, I would give Orizzonte 6 out of 5 stars for its impeccable service and wondrous food.

My husband and I chanced upon this charming Italian restaurant in Sapporo while on the way to our hotel on a cold Tuesday evening.

When we visited Orizzonte, an English-speaking staff (whose name is Hiroshi, I believe) cheerily put away our coats, took our orders and served every dish with pride. We were blown away by the experience — contributed by the quality and taste of the food, and the camaraderie that the team had.

The first lovely experience affirmed our decision to return the next evening to try out other offerings that Orizzonte has to offer. These are the scrumptious dishes that we tried. Mushroom and bean soup: With the base consisting of mashed beans, this soup was filling, nutritious and light. This appetizer doesn’t steal the show from the main dishes that came after. Mushroom pizza: Thin-crust pizza topped with a medley of mushrooms and stringy mozzarella cheese. The mushrooms, as a versatile ingredient, remained moist and flavourful, despite being baked in the charcoal oven. Spaghetti with beef ragu: Fresh tomato-based pasta accompanied with chunks of tender beef ragu and mozzarella cheese. Tiramisu: A dollop of soft mascarpone cheese with a thin coffee-dipped cake layer. Dusted with cocoa powder as a finishing touch. Wished that the tiramisu has a more substantial form and a stronger coffee flavour. Baked eggplant in bolognese sauce: Slices of eggplant, that have been fried to lock in its natural rich flavour, sit in chunky beef bolognese sauce and generously topped with Parmesan cheese. Though this is a decadent dish, it didn’t prevent us from enjoying our subsequent orders. Seafood pizza: Thin-crust pizza with fresh local seafood Sapporo has to offer, e.g. squid, clams, prawns. Tomato-based pasta with pecorino cheese: Simple, al dente pasta contrasted with the sharp taste from the pecorino. Catalana dessert: The French (?) cousin of creme brûlée that has a firm texture, with a crunchy, bitter and caramelised...

As we arrived at dinner time, we decided to just head to this place just opposite our hotel.

Atmosphere was nice and welcoming.

The food was alright. Ordered lobster pasta, da cencia pasta and funghi pizza.

The pizza was good with a crusty crispy crust. Da cencia was not too bad as well.

The disappointment was the lobster pasta. I think it’s one of the most expensive pasta on the menu but I was only served one claw with all its shell. I was expecting at least half a lobster. The chef was a little too generous with salt.

The waiter was kinda funny. We came as a family of 3 but only served one glass of ice water. 😳

Good place if you need something close to home. Otherwise I...

Had a very nice dinner at Orizzonte in January 2018. The restaurant was a little more than half full at 8:30 on a Thursday night. Atmosphere was fairly casual. There is a large menu (English available) of Italian food, mostly concentrated on pizzas from the wood-burning oven. Some of the staff speak English, most don't. The pizza chef, Norifumi Fujii (he gave me his card at the end) hand stretches very thin pizza dough and turns out delicious pizzas. We had one Margarita pizza and one Melanzana (eggplant), plus some grilled vegetables; the right amount of food for the three of us. Most pizzas cost in the range of 1,200...