GRALIC — Restaurant in Tokyo

I've been in Japan for almost 2 weeks eating mostly sushi, Ramen, and various pick up meals from the grocery/conbini as I walked by this restaurant going to my hotel, I savoured the smells as I walked by trying to hold off until I was having the day of highest notes(just finished a tour to fuji-san), and tonight was the night, I walked in, to a greeting from the chef and gesture to take a seat front row to this gloriously seared taste show. The menu while succinct I could immediately tell the concept had much thought and a refinement of effort, of gratuitous portions. While they also had an incredible list of adult imbibables I don't partake but was instantly relieved once I saw glass bottle coca-cola(the best way). I had the garlic rice&soup combo, 250g tenderloin(very well priced for the quality that was incipient) accompanied by the garlic butter, and seared onions. Before I even begin to eat I was beyond stoked at what was coming, and then a healthy cabbage salad came out first I didn't even order with this outstanding garlic dressing with lemon that brought the exacting amount of acid needed. Then my rice and soup arrive, the soup; light but bold broth with scallions atop and the rice; inside garlic, scallion, egg, rice, seared perfectly to bring in a layer of umami and top with yet more garlic, the crispy kind, mhwa. As I begin start my journey of flavortude, criss grossing bites, maximizing the gifts each dish brought to each other; I watched the chef(Yon/Yot? I may have misheard in my post meal flavor euphoria) add generous splash of dark liquid(either some sort or sweetend soy sauce or worcestershire) atop what i saw was a just breaking out of rare tenderloin and a touch a flame, I immediately knew this man, no, meat diety, knew what he was doing. As I waited(briefly) like a child during the last minutes before summer break, the server(a very sweet woman, whose name I should have asked for), came bearing my scale modeled meaty version of fuji-san topped not with snow l, but the glorious half golden onions. Now. Now I was ready for the denouement. The side of zucchini, and the cold subletly sweet garlic(which caught me off gaurd as first, but immediately regretted my doubt as I consumed) brought everything else i had hoped for to this experience. The way the steak was cooked brought me back to my days of working at "the cannibal" of LA, excellently seasoned with deep umami, and robustly rounded sweetness from aforementioned brown sauce reduce, but I was not done there, I immediately restarted my criss-cross of plates, bits and bites of each; together, separate, all savoured, all internalized into a deeply embedded flavour memory. Akin to recalling in awe, after someone captures a core memory of a meal cooked by a loved one from your youth. I type this post meal raconteur, as I smoke a cigarette wondering when or I dare I say, if, I'll be able to eat anything even half this good again. Gralic, chef, I whole heartedly say,...

Took a family of four via taxi specifically to dine here, hours before closing. There was plenty of seating to accommodate us but they proceeded to tell us they were closed. We were disappointed we couldn’t dine there but we needed to eat so we spent time outside searching for our next destination. Surprisingly another party goes in (10 minutes after us) and gets seated. I go back in and ask if they are closed/open. The owner says again they are closed. I asked why he would say it’s closed for my family and not this other party. He tells me he’s the owner and he gets to decide who it’s closed for. Wow. This has been my one and only experience during our trip to Japan where the locals were not super friendly, courteous, and kind. I can’t comment on the food since we weren’t allowed to dine there but the service was unexpected. Hope other’s experience is better than ours, fitting the description of their...

Food was good but I'm pretty certain that the waitress took advantage of my group being foreigners. She brought side dish that we did not order. Since it was brought to the table, we thought it's included in the steak meal like the salad. In the end, when we pointed it out, she actually asked us if we ate it, meaning we should pay as long as we ate it, while it was her mistake at the first place. Moreover she added a "late night charge" and cited it's for any order post 7pm. How's 7pm late night in Tokyo? After bringing up at a chat with several Japanese people, they all said this charge was very unusual. The waitress also didn't bring us itemized receipt until we asked for it. If you are a foreigner, just be a little cautious with bill here. Other than that, again, food...