Wolfgang Puck Cafe (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★☆☆☆☆

We stayed at the Intercontinental ANA hotel in Minato during a recent trip to Tokyo and stumbled upon this bistro in our search for a late lunch. The lunch crowd seemed to have thinned out considerably as it was already 3:30pm.

The Wolfgang Puck cafe is one of the many bistros run by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and you see them everywhere in Tokyo. There's always one around the corner like a convenience store. Okay, I am exaggerating a bit but you get my point!

This is our first experience with the celebrity chef and his restaurant here mainly serves spaghetti, pizza and burgers. We ordered the spaghetti carbonara and were surprised how badly overcooked it was. Not so much 'al dente' as we would expect. Our second dish was a beef burger and it was again a very sub-standard effort. Most noticeable was the lack of juice with the steak. It was an overall lackluster first impression by the celebrity chef.

Service was also a bit disappointing which was surprising to find in anywhere Japan. Maybe it's too close to closing time. Although the staff was not unfriendly or impolite, everything was far too mechanical. It desperately lacked the passion that keeps customers welcome.  I don't think we will be keen to come back.

Food Rating: 3/10
Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 1-12-32 Ark Mori building 1F Akasaka Minato-ku Tokyo, Japan 

Closest Metro Station: Roppongi Itchome
Tel: +81 3-5575-2100
Website: www.wp-japan.jp/shop/cafe_ark.html

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