unico-co — Restaurant in Tokyo

I wanted to love this place. Sea urchin is one of my favorite foods so the opportunity to try 12 different kinds in one setting is hard to pass up.

However, the setting, service or food quality matches the price point. I don’t understand why an Italian Japanese restaurant was painted in white and blue to recall the colours of Santorini. Not to mention, the paint job was sloppy. We were seated at the counter right next to the bathroom and the door where it was chilly.

The pacing of the dishes was incredibly awkward. while the first two appetizers came out within minutes of each other, we sat for an hour staring awkwardly at the chef across from us at the counter while some guy in the corner prepared the uni dishes.

The uni eventually arrived unceremoniously without any kind of explanation. However, when the same dish was served to another table of Japanese customers, the uni guy gave an animated explanation complete with PowerPoint. Although the uni was delicious, the poor customer service left a bad taste in my mouth.

Kudos to the bartender who tried his best to make us comfortable. However, I cannot recommend this restaurant. There are so many other examples of decent Tokyo hospitality....

Food was good but everything else wasn’t.

Booked under pocket concierge under American Express. When we arrived, we were shown the wine list and asked if we would like any. We had a newborn with us and decided against drinking in the afternoon. We asked for just tap water. The chef then came over with the drinks menu again and informed us that we HAD TO get drinks. (There was no mentioned of drink orders required when I made the reservation)

We decided to go with jasmine green tea which was the next best option for us. And were subsequently told that there was no green tea available. We were forced to choose from the more expensive selection of tea.

Tea was 6000+ jpy for 4 pax?!!!

We couldn’t walk out as well as the booking stated any cancellation we were to be charged the full meal which was 36,000 jpy for 4 pax.

Would...

A sea urchin heaven and a place where Japanese and Italian ingredients meet and perfection is attained - Japanese people excel in many aspects and this is a fine example of their amazing quality. I felt like I stepped into a sea village in Italy in Cinque Terre or Portofino with the background music and lovely decoration. The food was exceptional with the fine ingredients generously used for my enjoyment. Ito was particularly kind in explaining where in Japan the ingredients are from and why the dishes were presented the way they were - absolutely fascinating and informative. An ideal place to pamper and reward yourself. Reservation...