りょんこ
When I had to set up a small entertainment, my boss recommended this place. Initially, I was thinking of going to an Italian restaurant because I knew one of the guests liked wine, but then the other party specifically requested to have yakitori in Shinbashi or Ginza. So, we ended up visiting this place.
1. Atmosphere: The restaurant is located in a small building right behind Hakuho-Kan. It may look a bit intimidating from the outside. When you open the sliding door, you will see around 10 counter seats, small tables, and a raised seating area. The overall lighting is dim, and the restaurant is not very spacious. The interior design is based on Japanese aesthetics, creating a calm atmosphere like a "mature yakitori restaurant."
2. Food: Since it was my first time there, I decided to start with the cheapest "Chicken Course" (3,800 yen) and add more if needed. While waiting with grated daikon radish, skewers kept coming one after another. Each skewer was made with fresh raw chicken (different parts), and you could tell that they put effort into grilling them. The characteristic of the sauce was that it was not very sweet, more on the refreshing side. Personally, I found the liver skewer, which had a rich flavor of the liver, to be the most delicious. The chicken porridge served towards the end was a well-balanced dish with flavorful chicken broth and rice. However, it was too much for a woman like me, and I couldn't finish it all.
3. Service: Honestly, I had many points of dissatisfaction with the attitude of the head chef. Firstly, the speed of serving skewers was clearly too fast, giving off a very rushed impression. It felt like they were pressuring us to eat quickly. It is essential to gauge the speed at which the customer is eating and serve accordingly. Also, I wish the head chef would stop scolding his apprentice in front of the customers repeatedly. Doesn't he realize that it makes customers uncomfortable and uneasy? Even though I had mentioned during the reservation that it was an entertainment, the chef kept lecturing us endlessly, which was truly frustrating. The head chef seems to have various principles and a wealth of experience from training abroad. There seem to be regular customers as well, so maybe as long as the taste is good, that's all that matters to him. Personally, I couldn't quite understand it.
4. Cost Performance: Since we had some beer, wine, and sake, the total cost for the 3,800 yen meal course was quite high. However, considering that it's in the heart of Ginza, it didn't give off an overly expensive impression.
5. Overall: Choosing a restaurant is really difficult. I personally value the friendliness of the staff as much as the taste, so my preference may lean more towards that. By the way, the impression my boss had given me was "a cool yakitori restaurant with jazz music." However, on the day I visited, they were playing songs by a famous enka singer instead of jazz (laughs).