Located around the corner, near the beginning of the one-way street "Hiroo shotengai," a small area with stores ranging from a Pop & Mom to a garrish neon-lit Pachinko parlor, is an Italian restaurant called Acquavino. The restaurant, located on the ground floor of a building called East West, where its sister restaurant Acquapazza occupies the second floor.
Bloompy & Co. went to have a try at dinner. Food was delicious, but the service was way below par, at least for that evening. We ordered Caesar Salad, Bagna Cauda for the appetizers, and then fish for my companion, and pasta for me. I specifically said that the pasta would be for me, and the fish would be for my companion.
The food, although good, was not extraordinary. We started with the Caesar
Salad, which the server said was too big for one person, but it actually was not. Perhaps for a petite lady it would be too big, but certainly not for us. After the salad was done, the pasta came out. It was odd because the pasta was my entrée. After a short wait and the bagna cauda did not show up, I started eating the pasta, and out of good manners, offered some to my companion, which he politely declined. Then the bagna cauda came out; we started nibbling on that one. I held off my pasta so that my companion would not eat his entrée alone.
During this time, we saw two delivery trucks stopped in front of the restaurant, and drivers taking out supplies and running toward the restaurant. I teased my dinner companion, saying that probably his fish was one of the things being delivered. Well, it very well might have been. We waited for quite a long time, past 30 minutes for the fish. The sommelier, a young girl, came out and apologized for the delay. Meanwhile, I apolized to my companion and started to finish off my pasta that had gone cold. After about 50 minutes since we ordered, my companion stood up to approach the staff, but then the fish came. It looked dry but it was actually moist inside. The dish certainly did not look like it took 50+ minutes to cook, so what was the problem? Did they forget, or was that truck really delivering an ingredient important to the dish, like the fish itself? We never inquired, so we never found out . . .
When we approached the counter to pay, funny thing happened: the two waiters started to panic, but why? We just stood there and watched as they stumbled at whatever they were doing, one of which was when the one waiter was handing out a mini tray with bill and change, the other dropped it on the floor. He was going to pick it up, then changed his mind and faced us, but then he got bothered with the money on the floor, so he picked it up. Meanwhile, the other guy was starting to pick it up, too, and both of their heads bumped into each other. Well, the food may be good, the service was bad for the night, but at least we got free entertainment. I hope to return and to do a better review of the place.
Acquavino
East West, 1 F
5-17-10 Hiroo
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0012
Tel: (03) 5447-5503
Google Map: Acquavino
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