EATALY Ginza Store — Restaurant in Tokyo

For two years in a row, my family has patronized this establishment, eating there a number of times during a vacation. For two years in a row, there has been a very rude, untrained female receptionist. When we planned to dine there today once again, the same girl was once again rude. My husband, who was disrespected by that same server, finally asked to talk to her manager. He said to her: “I don’t want to talk to you. I want to talk to your manager. To which she replied, “I DONT WANT TO TALK TO YOU TOO.” Unfortunately, when we talked to the manager and some of the staff, they failed to see our side. Seeing the other reviews here have validated our experience. Steer clear of a place that does not value their customers, and disrespects them anyway. Sorry Eataly, but the way you treat your customers means there’s only one way for you to go. DOWN. DOWN. DOWN.

Edited: The year prior we had tried to make a reservation in the restaurant’s receptionist area - with exact SAME receptionist (because we knew we were a big group of 21) and we were told that they did not take reservations. We have also tried making reservations through concierge, but they said they did not accept reservations. So this again, year we decided to walk in.

We started with 21 at around 7pm, dwindled down to 12 as others decided to eat in nearby restaurants and even said that we didn’t mind seating in separate tables. Our children were cranky and hungry, their grandmother was hungry, and upon landing in Tokyo, this was the restaurant that we were excited to eat in. Even though we said we were okay to stay in separate tables, receptionist sat around 3 walk in groups of 2 before us (which was easily HALF of our group.) We told them again— please seat us separately.

Now, management has replied that we should’ve made a reservation. Huh? It is very apparent from this reply that there was staff bias towards our group. We were mistreated by the female receptionist for two years in a row, and we were even told that we couldn’t reserve. Not once. Twice. Kindly investigate also as photographs was not just from our end.

Given that we were a big group, all our other dine in spots during the duration of our trip had reservations, because we understood that we were a big group. By telling us to make a reservation, this confirms that either- there is a different protocol for tourists and locals or the receptionist was purposefully biased to not serve our group.

How unfortunate it is to realize that we could have reserved and it would have spared us both the troubles, yet the receptionist blatantly told us that...

I live in Hawaii and when I found out there was an Eatily Ginza I just knew I wanted to dine there on my visit to Japan. Most Italian restaurants in Hawaii are Italian/Japanese fusion, not that there's anything wrong with that, just that I was craving true Italian food that I didn't have to prepare myself. Being 1st generation Italian/American I learned how to cook from my two nonna's and my mother.

When I approached the hostess she started to tell me about the three dining options at Eataly Ginza. I told her I'd like to dine at La Pasta e La Pizza, but she insisted on finishing her spiel about all the options. I finally insisted that she just seat me at La Pasta e La Pizza. The waiter saved this review from only getting one star. He saw the interaction and came over and gave me a table. He was the highlight of the meal. He was delightful and was just attentive enough to not be hovering.

I ordered the ravioli with ricotta and spinach in a pomodoro sauce, and 2 scoops of vanilla gelato for dessert. First off the ravioli seemed to not have been stored properly. It either was left out uncovered to dry out or had been frozen improperly. The pasta didn't have that delicate silkiness to it. The edges and corners were under cooked and tough, while the dough around the filling was perfectly cooked. The filling seemed to be just pureed spinach as I didn't detect any flavor or texture from ricotta. The pomodoro sauce tasted as though the cook just warmed a can of tomato sauce. It had a tinny and uncooked flavor to it. Hoping for a decent dessert I was taken aback with my first spoonful of gelato. There were ice crystals throughout. A good gelato is smooth and creamy and leaves a coating of milk fat in your mouth. This was just plain bad ice cream.

While I was dining the couple across from me ordered pizzas. Now, they have 2 Italian wood burning ovens, but when the pizzas arrived I noticed that there was a serious lack of charring around the edges, meaning that it wasn't cooked long enough. Another 20 seconds would have given the pizzas that crisp smokey goodness that comes from a brick oven. I though, well maybe they ordered them that way. I was facing the kitchen and those two lovely brick ovens. The cooks pulled more pizzas from the ovens with the same lack of char. So sad that they weren't taught how to properly cook a pizza.

So, if you're looking for good Italian food, don't eat at Eataly Ginza. Just buy some of the products that they source from Italy in their market and...

This Ginza Six restaurant puts a good effort in offering the Italian experience. We ordered some antipasti, sparkling wine and pasta. I picked this restaurant as I was curious to see how Italian food is made in Japan in a middle of the range restaurant. This place ticks a few boxes, but there are some shortcomings - read on.

The antipasti were ok, though I was expecting some more Italian character in the servings. Good overall, but not memorble tastes such as a good finocchiona or something unmistakably Italian.

Seafood linguine and lasagne were ordered as main courses - I can't vouch for the lasagne as I did not taste them, but they looked good. The linguine were properly cooked, not overcooked and adequately starchy, to give them that gourmet creamy effect. A tad too oily for my personal taste, probably a consequence of them being saltate in padella with more oil than needed. But here I am scrapping the bottom of the barrel as the taste and texture were good overall and others may appreciate the smoothness provided by the oil. Anyone interested in pasta being cooked the right way won't be disappointed here.

The service is where this place loses stars. The reception desk looks inefficient. Waiting time for the area at the back could not be estimated and advised by the staff. In 21st century commerce and hospitality this is not acceptable. Still pushed by the curiosity of trying Italian in Japan, but reluctant to go and explore elsewhere, we accepted the pizza and pasta availability. Once seated, we ordered food, wine and water. The antipasti, two separate discesa, were bought at different times and the wine battle was wrong - I believe this was a miatake made by the staff who took the order. The wine issue was rectified. However, when the new bottle arrived, the wine was poured straight into the glass instead of being offered to one of the guests for tasting and acceptance. I was not impressed by this deviation from customary practice. The pasta courses were rushed in before we had a chance of finishing the antipasti, leaving us feeling uncomfortable and unable to enjoy them in our own time.

The atmosphere is...