Unagiya Ichinoji is said to be a 125-year old restaurant started in Tokyo, with a specialty in grilled eel. Singaporeans are so lucky that this century-old restaurant started two branches here in Singapore, one in Robertson Quay, while the other at Suntec.
We arrived at the Suntec branch on a Sunday at 11.50am, with our reservation at 12.00pm. We were repeatedly asked whether we had a reservation and what name the reservation was under, and we were asked thrice for the same question. Anyway, let's go straight to the food first.
This restaurant is famous for Hitsumabushi, or eat grilled eel in three ways. Of course, we ordered the medium Hitsumabushi each. They let you choose what kind of rice you would like, white rice or mixed-grain rice. And for the month of October, they have the 2nd Hitsumabushi set at 50% discount promotion. Somehow, I found out from the internet that this discount seems to be always there.
Their eel was quite meaty, and tender. As you can see here, it was only slightly charred at the outside. As this restaurant originated from Tokyo, their eel is more on the tender side, while the Nagoya style of grilled eel is more on the crispy side, with a coated layer of caramel. Personally I like the Tokyo style more, so the eel here suited me. However, I found an unpleasant fish taste lingering in my mouth hours after my meal, but I didn't have that experience with the eels from Man Man Unagi or Uya Unagi. Anyway, the food was quite ok.
Service-wise, I think it definitely is not up to the Japanese standard. After we arrived, first we were greeted by a female staff, then she asked a skin-head male staff to lead us to our table. As it was pretty early and many tables were empty, I asked whether we could sit by the window. The answer was firm no, reason being those tables were reserved for 4-person parties. I am fine with this if it is true. As it turned out, it was not. Many of those tables were later on occupied by 2 persons, not even 3,let alone 4!
After we sat down at our table, we were given an iPad to place our orders, and so I did without any suspicion. When I wanted to view my bill, an error message popped up. Surprised, I asked a female staff for help. What she told me really pissed me off. She told me that there was a mix-up of table numbers. Our table and another table shared the same table number, and the other table already placed an order, and our order were added to theirs! And they knew this mix-up all the time, but they didn't fix it before we placed our order!
When our food was served, the skin-head male staff didn't even bother to ask which order belongs to who, just left the tray and the food on our table, lucky my friend and I were not picky about food, and fine with either white rice or mixed-grain rice. Then throughout the whole dining experience, only one staff came to refill the tea once. Nothing else.
Overall, I think the food is ok, but compare with Man Man Unagi and Uya, this restaurant ranks the lowest.
You can see my reviews of Man Man and Uya at the links below:
1. Man Man Unagi
2. Uya Unagi
We arrived at the Suntec branch on a Sunday at 11.50am, with our reservation at 12.00pm. We were repeatedly asked whether we had a reservation and what name the reservation was under, and we were asked thrice for the same question. Anyway, let's go straight to the food first.
Hitsumabushi (Medium), $32.80++
This restaurant is famous for Hitsumabushi, or eat grilled eel in three ways. Of course, we ordered the medium Hitsumabushi each. They let you choose what kind of rice you would like, white rice or mixed-grain rice. And for the month of October, they have the 2nd Hitsumabushi set at 50% discount promotion. Somehow, I found out from the internet that this discount seems to be always there.
Their eel was quite meaty, and tender. As you can see here, it was only slightly charred at the outside. As this restaurant originated from Tokyo, their eel is more on the tender side, while the Nagoya style of grilled eel is more on the crispy side, with a coated layer of caramel. Personally I like the Tokyo style more, so the eel here suited me. However, I found an unpleasant fish taste lingering in my mouth hours after my meal, but I didn't have that experience with the eels from Man Man Unagi or Uya Unagi. Anyway, the food was quite ok.
Service-wise, I think it definitely is not up to the Japanese standard. After we arrived, first we were greeted by a female staff, then she asked a skin-head male staff to lead us to our table. As it was pretty early and many tables were empty, I asked whether we could sit by the window. The answer was firm no, reason being those tables were reserved for 4-person parties. I am fine with this if it is true. As it turned out, it was not. Many of those tables were later on occupied by 2 persons, not even 3,let alone 4!
After we sat down at our table, we were given an iPad to place our orders, and so I did without any suspicion. When I wanted to view my bill, an error message popped up. Surprised, I asked a female staff for help. What she told me really pissed me off. She told me that there was a mix-up of table numbers. Our table and another table shared the same table number, and the other table already placed an order, and our order were added to theirs! And they knew this mix-up all the time, but they didn't fix it before we placed our order!
When our food was served, the skin-head male staff didn't even bother to ask which order belongs to who, just left the tray and the food on our table, lucky my friend and I were not picky about food, and fine with either white rice or mixed-grain rice. Then throughout the whole dining experience, only one staff came to refill the tea once. Nothing else.
Overall, I think the food is ok, but compare with Man Man Unagi and Uya, this restaurant ranks the lowest.
You can see my reviews of Man Man and Uya at the links below:
1. Man Man Unagi
2. Uya Unagi
