Grotta Azzurra

Neighborhood: Azabu-juban 麻布十番
Style: Italian
Kanji Name: n/a
Website: none

Finally! A decent Italian place in Tokyo.

I've started exploring Azabu-Juban, inspired both by having to walk home late at night a few weeks ago and by the Shot department party there. Grotta Azzurra looks similar to a host of other Italian restaurants in Japan, and shares a lot of characteristics with them, but of the ones I've sampled so far it's above average.

As is true with almost everywhere I've been here, it's best to avoid the pasta and stick to the pizza unless you're desparate. Japanese pizza in an Italian place is OK -- it's the thin-crust, Margherita-style, not the U.S.-style, but it's not bad. I had the sausage-et-al version at Azzurra and they do a good job.

They also have a decent Caeser salad (getting a good salad here is a continuing challenge) and fair Italian wine by the glass (not the usual dreck of Japanese house wines).

They don't list a website, but they're just north of Azabu-Juban, on the east side of the main north-south street. Here's the Google maps entry.