Trattoria Vivace Ebisu

I wanted what the woman next to me ordered. I asked the server and he told me it was a half portion. I decided to give it a try. And the amount of meat shocked me!

Really good food. The home made bread with olive oil was delicious. The salad a perfect amount. The decanter of house wine was very good and not at all expensive. My dining partner ordered the lasagna and is so stuffed she can barely move. Way more than we expected. Coffee was also quite nice. I like this place.

Lots of staff and you can ask for more bread, although if you ask for more butter they will charge you ¥50. The meat is generous and the pasta is also quite big. However, the taste of everything overall is meh. The pasta tasted like the frozen pasta you can buy at supa and they just added some veggies. The salad itself was not good at all. I would have preferred if it they just give me fresh leaves and then some dressing. They should ask the person who is in charge of the food to improve the menu. The place has a lot of potential and you can tell that it’s generous, but the food is even lower than Saizeriya level. Wouldn’t come back.

Great lunch deal! Pancetta carbonara is not the traditional Italian way but still very tasty. The bread is made in house and good too.

Authentic Italian taste, up to the espresso.
Price is very reasonable and top quality.
Satisfaction!

The whole experience in this place felt like I was not in Japan anymore. Not because of the rustic European decor, but the shockingly lackluster food quality and service.

The daily special grilled beef costs 2100 yen and I have never had a worse piece of beef in my life. For the first time ever, I struggled finishing a grilled beef plate. I regularly buy the cheapest beef from Gyomu and cook it in the cheapest pan, and it tastes 10 times better than this. It was so tough and chewy that my jaw still hurts hours after. And they have the galls to charge 2100 yen for this abomination!

It gets worse, they also charge 550 yen each for cover charge. Normally, when restaurants charge this in Japan, they bring you a small welcome plate. They didn't even bother here! Just a 1100 yen surplus in our check for nothing.

I am adding a second star because the food arrived fast and the roast duck plate that followed our beef was actually not bad. Or maybe it felt like the softest piece of meat on earth after that beef. Honestly, it takes effort to serve a beef that tough. Did you go hunt a buffalo in the mountains of Tibet or something?

All in all, I never thought I would have said this but do yourself and your wallet a favor and go to Saizeriya instead. 1 small appetizer+2 main (including an inedible 1)+ 3 glasses of wine = 8800 yen...