Occasion: Saturday Night Dinner
Initial Impressions: We moved to a new zone! I was really excited and researched restaurants over the summer that we could go to so I could write new reviews and also populate my blog with more restaurants on this side of Rome. Actually we decided spontaneously to go to Hiromi, as we ate Italian all week. The reservations are all done online. You can call in, but they will tell you the same thing the online portal says. They were full until 9:45pm (21:45) so we went with that. I was thinking if they were full on a Saturday night until then, the restaurant surly must be good. Hahaha how wrong I was. The reservation was honored but I found it weird that you have to walk deep into the restaurant to tell a waiter you have a reservation. The restaurant is NOT handicap accessible by the way. To get to the restaurant you have to walk down about 15 steps at the entrance.
Once Seated: We were seated in terrible seats with no backing. There were no menus given to us until 22:19, which is insane. Also the menus were only in italian with the romanized Japanese names of things. Luckily I know what everything is, but if you aren’t used to seeing “Karaage/Katsu/Nigiri” etc, you will have a difficult time. There is no data signal down there either and wifi is blocked by a password, which you will have to be luckily to get it. Off to a great start don’t you think?
The front of the dining room is nice but I didn’t like the fact that people were constantly walking back and forth to get in and out of the restaurant and to get to the restroom right off the front door. The lighting is pretty dark. I would have been fine with this had the table not been too low for the backless seats and if they provided a table lamp instead of a tiny candle. Paolo had to use his phone flashlight to read the menu. It is also very very loud. Children were screaming and the bartender and kitchen were breaking glasses etc (I counted at least two occasions throughout the night). Later on in the night they decided to blast music that gave me a headache. They have a wine menu that I didn’t bother reading because I was over simulated.
The Food: The food was whatever. I would say it sits around 3 stars the food, but with the ambiance and the service this overall restaurant is leaning at a 2 stars, and that is me being nice because it’s pushing 1 star. Sadly, I am saving my one star reviews for food that makes us sick or is completely uneatable/unacceptable behavior etc. We got the basics: Gyoza, Karaage, Tonkatsu Ramen, Sushi Misto Grande, Dorayaki Azuki, and Dorayaki Azuki. If we were in America I would say this menu is too broad and they need to decide what type of Japanese restaurant they want to be. However, we are in Rome so this kind of gets a pass.
3/5 Gyoza: Four pieces. I don’t mind four pieces at six euro actually. We pay like double for the same at Shiroya. However, this was the most mid gyoza. The sauce was not great. There was too much sesame oil. Also I expected more of a gyoza/ponzu sauce, not just plain soy sauce. They could have put more effort and added green spring onions instead of the insane amount of sauce given for four small pieces.
3/5 Karaage: This wasn’t bad, but I subtracted a star off the bat because there was no sauce given. Even if they gave us kewpie with shichimi togarashi sprinkled on top. Come on, for 12 euros this is just lazy. Also the batter flaking off and almost uneven fry around the chicken makes this karaage also mid.
3/5 Sushi Misto Grande: I didn’t want sushi here. You know who wanted sushi here? Paolo. The fish wasn’t bad thankfully and didn’t make us sick, but giving the regular shrimp instead of red rock shrimp for a 42 euro dish with majority salmon in the rolls because its cheap frozen thawed is annoying. Also the rice was too vinegary. The fish was also cut unevenly in the rolls.
2/5 Tonkatsu Ramen: Pretty annoyed at this point. Tonkatsu Ramen came out and portion was tiny. Also You don’t need the server to bring out a square of nori and put it in the bowl for me. No depth to the broth. It was very watery, but there was more miso thank pork flavor. Also VERY BASIC toppings. No corn. Note that corn here is canned and cheap. The egg was not marinated well and I thought it was just a boiled egg for a second. The chashu was alright, but everything else sucked and this was a very disgraceful lazy interpretation.
2/5 Dorayaki Matcha Azuki, and Dorayaki Azuki: Paolo loves dorayaki. Hahahaha don’t worry I was surprised the first time too because it’s more on the traditional side and I don’t like it as much. He got the classic Azuki and I cut the Matcha Cream one with a bit of red bean. It would’ve been fine, but the bottom half of the dorayaki was all wet and soggy. The matcha cream was also not a good consistency, it was more solidified like butter than cream.
Service: I’m sorry but it seems only one person knows what she is doing and the rest of them are just wondering around. Also, even as a lover of mini skirts and dresses myself, it hard to justify wearing skirts that are way shorter than mini at this specific restaurant given the occasion and ambience. While I thought the hostess was wearing a cute outfit and I wouldn’t have had a second thought about it if I were in Spgana or Trevi etc, the restaurant had a mix of families and children that it would be uncomfortable for all parties involved. On the next font, we were offered to change out our chairs to the ones that had backings on them after we ordered all of our food, but still the chair height does not match the table height. Those backless stools at a restaurant is diabolical especially because it was slightly too tall for the table. The service was very slow. I would have preferred our appetizers coming out at once, but they all came out one by one, this was minor. I didn’t like the cups they used for water. It looked like dog water bowls and were too short. The food runner also poured the water weird and almost spilled it on my phone. Also the restaurant is carpet, and I saw customers with their dogs inside the restaurant. Dinner lasted about three hours. I was not impressed at the pacing or the management. People who came way later than us had been given a menu and their orders taken first. They took forever to come around and ask about dessert. By that point, I wanted to just pay and leave but I needed to try the dessert just to confirm that this was 2 stars and not 3. Also, like I mentioned earlier the glasses kept breaking because they are careless or the lights are not bright enough, food was lukewarm on the getting cold side, dessert was soggy and I know for a fact it was frozen thawed, because it tastes like the frozen thawed dorayaki I had as a child in the US. It doesn’t matter if it was made in house and frozen and then thawed or sourced elsewhere, it was a shame that it was not prepared properly and then served. Overall, there is a lack of restaurant management as a restaurant food manager and handler myself, it was a sad sight to see. I drew the line and decided I would mention this when our server almost spilled the ramen at the table. Mistakes happen, but they should pay more attention when serving hot soups or risk burning the customer.
Payment:The total was 89 euros. I wasn’t so upset at the price. However, it was really mid food so we aren’t coming back. I’ll write my Hamasei review soon, but if that is not up by the time you are reading this and crave Japanese food, then go to Hamasei! If not then the Shiroya review is posted on my blog and is also good but they kind of overcharge.
Nicole in Rome 