Thursday, March 1, 2007

23. Restaurant Review: La Verde

Shimokita is full of Italian restaurants, and now one more has been added to the mix, 'La Verde'. I don't believe they are a national chain, but there are 9 locations in Tokyo.

Peach walls are accented with a dark ceiling, floors, and chairs; tables are covered with red tablecloths. Upbeat, jazzy music plays in the background.

'La Verde' has a number of lunch sets to choose from.

1) Pasta Lunch (salad, your choice of pasta - 170 grams, and a drink). Prices range from 850 yen to 1350 yen, depending on the pasta you choose. There are about 20 pastas to choose from, and they are separated into these categories: tomato sauce/white wine taste/cream sauce/other. Customers can also choose from a selection of Gnocchi.

2) Pizza Lunch (salad, your choice of pizza - 30 cm, and a drink). Prices range from 900 to 1780 yen. There are about 20 pizzas to choose from, with a tomato sauce or cheese base.

3) Ladies Pasta Lunch (salad, bread, pasta of the day - 120 grams, mini-dessert, and drink) 1050 yen.

4) La Verde Lunch (Appetizer, pasta of the day - 120 grams, salad, bread, mini-dessert, and drink) 1480 yen.

My friend and I both had the pasta lunch. The salad was iceberg lettuce and shredded cabbage with too much of a mayonnaise based salad dressing. My pasta was spinach and bacon in a white wine sauce (900 yen). I was surprised, but not disappointed, that the spinach was raw. It soaked up less of the white wine/olive oil/garlic sauce the pasta was cooked in. The dish was very tasty, but don't order it if smelling like garlic for the rest of the day is a problem. My friend had 'peperocino' (850 yen), which was spaghetti noodles and some large chunks of garlic in a chili flavored olive oil sauce. Tasty, but again heavy on the garlic.

The servings were very big, if you are having bread with your meal, or dessert, I would recommend getting the smaller portion (-50 grams for -50 yen). Hungry men can order an even larger portion for 100 yen (+50 grams).

The pasta was good, but overall I don't think lunch was that special. Again, I recommend one of the privately owned Italian restaurants instead (Ms. Claudia, Over Take,...).

Lunch is from 11:30 to 17:00. The sets are not explained in English, but are mostly katakana. The ladies set and 'La Verde' set are only advertised outside. I didn't see them on the menu itself. The pasta and pizza list, however, was in English.

'La Verde' is open until 23:30. with last orders at 22:30. I don't know if the menu changes for dinner, or not.

They do have 3 party courses for 2,900/3,700/4,500. And the offer 'all you can drink' for two hours for 1,600 yen.

Address: Kitazawa 2-13-4, 2F. One minute walk from the south exit of Shimokita Station. Straight down the main shopping street and off to the left, just above 'Com Pho'.

Phone: 03-3419-6615