Italian Restaurant: Gran Piatto

Gran Piatto in Hiroshima

Japanese required: Moderate
Cost: 800-2,000 yen per person
Good for: Everyone

Gran Piatto is an Italian restaurant found all over Japan. I have eaten there several times, alone and with large and small groups. The restaurant I go to (at Nagoya University) consistently has a pleasant atmosphere, and the waiting staff is friendly and patient. The menu (which is in Japanese) changes a bit between lunch and dinner, and even more if you organize a party beforehand.

I've tried a few different meals, both pasta and pizza, and I like the pasta a lot more than the pizza. Usually, pizza and pasta are about the same to me, but the pizza crust is too weak. Whenever I go to actually eat a slice, the oil-covered breading bends and basically dumps the cheese and toppings onto the plate. Having to carefully lift every slice up by both sides and roll it into a circle to be able to eat the pizza ruins the pleasure of eating it. The pizza tastes really good, but it's not worth it to me.

The pasta dishes, on the other hand, include a variety that is equally as delicious as the pizza without any of the complications. The pasta available changes depending on the day, but there's always a lunch set available which includes bread as an appetizer.

If you schedule a party, then the food will be a set course with free drinks. The serving style for a party is different from just a normal group: at a party, it's a family-style meal. There were at least three or four different plates of food that could have been considered a main course served throughout the party, and even with a group of roughly 15 people we couldn't manage to eat all of it.

With consistently good service, good food, and a soothing atmosphere, Gran Piatto is a restaurant I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for someplace to eat while in the Nagoya University area. It is my go-to place whenever I visit that part of Nagoya.