BOICHISanrutoasakusa

We had planned to go to a different Italian restaurant, but it seems that Covid may have closed it. Instead we chose Niku Kitchen Boichi, based on the menus that they had set outside. It looked good and affordable. The restaurant was not that crowded (for a Sunday night) and we were seated quickly.... Our order was not complicated: a salad, a pizza, a pasta, all shared, plus I ordered a light alcoholic drink. The food was brought fairly quickly. It was standard "Italian-esque" food that is probably unique to Japan. In other words: the Japanese are great at copying and making something seem like the original, and many times they go to extremes and their versions of something are much better than the original. In this case, I would call the food edible. It was "okay" at best. The problem is: I ordered an alcoholic drink. Usually the wait staff asks if you want the drink served before/during/after the meal (at least with soft drinks, they do). In this case the waiter said nothing and I assumed they would bring the drink at the appropriate time. The drink never came. We reminded the first waiter about the drink and it seemed to dawn on him that, "Oh, right; you ordered a drink." He ran off, I thought, to get my drink. He never returned. Finally we had to flag down another waiter, who ran off and returned, only to say, "Oh, we don't have any more of that alcohol. Sorry." And then he left. It never occurred to him for a nanosecond to say, "Is there anything else I can get you?" At this point we had basically finished our food. I felt like my order was forgotten about and/or dismissed and/or just not considered important enough to care about. This was with two waiters "taking care of us." It's important to remember in Japan that there is no tipping. The idea is: the waitstaff takes your order, brings the food and only returns when you flag them down for extra water or the check. They have nothing invested in being nice to you or caring whether you are having a good experience. Although I am an American and although I really dislike tipping and the whole concept behind it (restaurants pay waitstaff minimum wage, and then waitstaff work like dogs to get tips to compensate), in this case, I would have much preferred to have been in an American restaurant where, if the waitstaff was concerned about a tip, they would make the effort to "check in" on us. They certainly would not have waited 30 minutes and then, only after prompting, return to say "That alcohol is sold out. Sorry." We went here because it was convenient, it was open and the food was edible. Otherwise, I would never, ever return. The only plus is that this restaurant is connected to a hotel. In order to use the restroom you must enter the hotel (the restaurant and hotel are connected) and then use the hotel's lobby floor restroom, which, I must say, was nice. But that is the only plus and it had nothing to do with the restaurant.

Visited September 2023

I wanted to try beef in Japan and searched for restaurants nearby to our hotel. Found one with great reviews but when we got there found it was very expensive so looked for somewhere else and car across this steakhouse. It's not particularly traditional looked kind of like a steakhouse restaurant an...ywhere in the world. However the beef was fabulous. Thinly sliced and beautifully cooked and presented really enjoyed the experience. Worth a visit.

Visited March 2019