The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo GINZA — Restaurant in Tokyo

Had dinner here last night: salami and prosciutto appetizer, quattro formaggio cheese, linguine pascatore, and panna cotta (I was hoping the meal could be redeemed with a simple dessert, it wasn’t).

The salami board was not cohesive and had these breadstick knot things on them. The pizza had a soggy crust because 1). the pizza oven was not hot enough or 2). the cook handling the pizza oven was pulling it out too early. The linguine hands down was the worse part of the meal. The pasta was overly al dente (read: undercooked) so you could not twist the pasta onto your fork because the pasta was too stiff to twirl. The seafood used was the frozen kind and reeked of the seafood smell (not fresh). In a city of accessible seafood, it was disappointing to see that the restaurant did not use fresh seafood for a 2100 ¥ dish. It was also VERY OILY. There was no seasoning to the pasta. No sauce. No garlic. Nothing but just undercooked pasta, borderline rotten seafood, and oil. As for dessert, the panna cotta——it was firmer than jello. Panna cotta is supposed to be delicate, yet they somehow were able to upend it from a ramekin and it retained its shape perfectly. This meant they added way too much gelatin to the mixture. The sugar glaze accompaniment was BURNT so it completely ruined the taste of the strawberries and blueberries of the dish.

We went here out of convenience because we are staying at the hotel and based on decent reviews. We came with low expectations as the breakfast buffet has been lackluster during our stay. Spent 79¥ on the worse meal we’ve ever had.

The kitchen staff seems inexperienced. I saw the pasta cook plate then remove our pasta to cook, again. This could explain why the scallop pieces in the dish were tough like rubber. Proteins cook at different temps, you can’t cook everything together the entire process.

Save your money and...

I will start by saying I came for the pizza and found everything else so much better.

Appetizer: 5+ stars Fresh fish capaccio - A beautiful and perfect blend of flavor. Light tasty fish ( Suzuki) with a wonderful full blend of radish, red onion, edible flowers, black peas, and Japanese orange. May be the most beautifully executed dish I’ve had this trip.

Good Bread and olive oil. - 4 star

Main: D.O.C. Pizza - 4 star Bazil, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella on a light cream sauce base. Thin light soft crust, edges toasted perfectly. Slightly wet pizza due to the fresh cherry tomatoes. Overall a balanced tasty pizza. Texture slightly soft. Did not beat my favorite a simple margarita pizza. Recommended to add chili oil it went well and elevated the pizza as a good replacement to your traditional chili flakes.

Dessert: 5 star Brown sugar pudding & shaken espresso The pudding was light and firm good consistency. The sauce was delicious with the slight bitter sweet of the caramelization. The cream on top was very light and slightly sweet. In perfect balance with the pudding and the sauce.

More on the pizza: Pizza is hard to rate everyone has their own idea on a good pizza. This pizza is worth a try. This may be based on personal idea of a good pizza. The pizza like all the food tasted great but it was soft and a little soggy. The tomatoes may be the reason the pizza was so wet. The crust has a great crisp, toppings were delicious. I do however still prefer a good margarita pizza ( which they offer) over this one.

This place deserves the 5 star rating the carpaccio was...

i dont know why this place is popular, the pizza and pasta were fast food quality — soggy and oily. perhaps the all-you-can-eat buffet style is the draw. but for those who appreciate quality over volume, this isnt the place for you. the resto itself is clean and well decorated, but there was a stench of fish as soon as we entered. they didnt refill the food trays quick enough, as a result there was always a queue at the food counter, people lining up to fill/refill their plates. bad thing, especially during the pandemic. patrons were also made to share table, instead of operating at reduced capacity in accordance with government recommedation due to the pandemic. thankfully we didnt have to share a table with other people, but we were seated at the bar next to the door to the terrace and our napkins/masks flew away, blown by the wind everytime a staff opened the door. the only thing i enjoyed at the resto was the...