The Earl — Restaurant in Tokyo

Delicious Food! Disappointing Service...

My friend and I stumbled upon this place randomly while looking for somewhere to get some lunch. We were greeted at the counter originally by a foreign female employee, but it quickly changed to one of the cooks (owner....?). He had scruffy face with tattoo arms. My friend and I asked what for a recommendation/what the popular item is since we had never been here, but the guy ignored our question, handed us some menus and told us we can come back to the counter when we knew what we wanted to order. Didn't even smile when talking to us. Very rude.

Whatever, we shrugged it off, figured out what we wanted to order and placed our orders. It was lunch time but asides from my friend and I, there were two other pairs seated and a lone girl. the lone girl and one of the pairs already had food on their tables. The pair next to us were the only ones waiting for their food which came soon after we ordered. Oh yeah, there was also one person waiting for an order to go. From the looks of things, we figured we would have our food quickly.

While we were waiting, the shop got the order wrong for the person who got the take out. Then soon after, the foreign female employee came out with a take out order, asking all of the female customers around if they were the one who had ordered the 'set A' meal? Nobody responded. I heard her say to herself, "did the girl leave without her food?" while she went back to the kitchen. A moment later she went back to the lone female customer and ask if she had ordered "something something sandwich" which was actually not the 'set A'. The customer confirmed it was her order. I realized that not only did the staff member not know what the take out order in her hand was, she even forgot the face of the girl who had ordered it because she had literally approached her a minute ago and didn't realize it was her. Very disorganized staff.... I had a bad feeling.

Anyway, after watching how disorganized the staff was we waited for our food. 5 minutes past. Then 10 minutes past. 15 minutes past....still no sign of our food. Around this time I noticed one of the staff members from the kitchen looking in our direction. Then I see a second staff member looking our way. They looked like they were trying to see if we had food on our table but, my friend's body was blocking their view. Then one of the 'cooks' came out to get a cup of water....which so happened to be right by our table. I noticed that he nonchalantly peeked at our table to confirm if we had food. He confirmed we didn't. Then went back to the kitchen. I am pretty sure that they completely forgot about our orders.... Again, VERY disorganized. Finally after almost 25 minutes we got our food. 20 minutes after the last people in the establishment to get their sandwiches. All we had ordered was one sandwich and one wrap.

My friend and I decided to try this place, hoping to grab a QUICK BITE thinking that a sandwich shop would be fairly quick, but we ended up using half of our lunch time just waiting for our food.

This was by far the most disorganized and longest service in a restaurant I had ever experienced in Japan.

That being said..... the food WAS actually really good. The sandwiches were well made, of great quality ingredients and well seasoned. One of the best sandwiches I had in a long time. I had a chicken sandwich with bacon called Southwestern...something... I recommend trying it that is if you are willing to risk a long wait and not the best service.

If you are hankering for a sandwich, then I would recommend giving it a try ONLY if you pre-order takeout, so you don't have to wait. But then again....they might get your order wrong.

Food I give a solid 9/10. Service I give a 4/10. The only reason it is not a zero is because they did get the order correct and the girl with the bad memory was friendly, which somewhat ofdset...

Oh my, where have you been my whole life in Japan?? Absolutely delicious and original sandwiches with many ways to customize with additional toppings. The menu is quite large, if you're overwhelmed just choose. You'll definitely come back and have a chance to try a different sandwich. The more you look at the menu the more you'll want to order. Shame there is no indoor seating, it is primarily take out but there is one table and two chairs outside at the moment. They do close the half door, but if the sign is out, don't be shy, ring the bell. They accept a lot of payment methods, but not Edy. No biggie, I have multiple payment apps and...

Full disclosure: I've never actually been to this restaurant. But our craft services on film sets routinely orders catering from this restaurant and they are some of the best melts I have EVER had. I'm usually not a melt person in the first place but a Tuna, Bbq or Chicken and Jalapeno melt from here is soothing for the soul. Perfect balance of flavor, delicious tortilla wrap. Just an incredible mix of flavors.

I will definitely come in person one day and tell my friends. Thank you to the staff of The Earl for always making my days on...