Ginza

Japanese restaurant Ginza, 48 Unley Rd, Unley - the main course tempura vegetables. Source: AdelaideNow

It might be fun for a crowd, in the large, barren back area, with spot heating overhead. But, on a quiet night, it feels like sitting in a picnic shed.

Timber-slat tables have backless bench seats or sunken footwells and flat tatami cushions.

We understand Ginza has only been open a few months, so the ambience that comes with numbers is thin. We're here to casually barbecue our own food after all.

A waitress makes a valiant effort to explain the menu, challenged by its different applications picnic style, or the more formal front-of-house and limited English.

We pick a mix of entrees, and use the yakiniku (a list of meats to grill) for the main.

We're sharing, so we look for guidance and alert the waitress to one guest's crustacean allergy. It's not unusual she doesn't know what this means, so we explain prawns etc are out.

He with the allergy samples the first dish, listed only as "chawanmushi, a cup of steamed egg custard". The first creamy flavour gets the nod, then his fork hits a large prawn! Luckily, there's not enough juice in the first bite to create a reaction. The staff is apologetic. I take a bite of the delicious prawn, only for my tongue to be stabbed by a piece of wire, possibly from a brush used to clean a grill. Again, apologies and later, a 15 per cent discount.

These things happen.

The rest of the entree is uneventful: A nice enough tuna and avocado sushi, teriyaki squid, and some gyoza which is deep fried, as are many things at Ginza, but it's tasty and crisp. A plate of unadorned edamame is only faintly salty, when it really needs a kick.

From the yakiniku, bizarrely listing cheese kransky amid many meats, a $78.80 platter is a fair combo of beef cuts, tongue, pork and lamb.

From here, things get clunky. There's much fiddling with our fuel cylinder and mid-meal our food-laden grill is precariously lifted and replaced.

The raw meat renders its beds of lettuce and parsley inedible so we need extra greens. It's $19.80 for a mound of raw veg which are slow to cook while thin strips of flesh grill in seconds. Asparagus, enoki and king mushies are OK; sweet potato and pumpkin never soften and the cabbage squares don't work some even catch fire.

Getting it right is exhausting.

With only a light soy and a mild, chilli paste dip, it soon gets tiresome eating all that plain meat and veg.

The service is sparse. Our one wine is long gone, and no seconds offered. Our waitress obviously finishes her shift never mind our empty plates and races around us, playing noisy games with children from a nearby table. The picnic-shed mood is a bit rich at these prices.

We move up front for dessert, but the staff here ignore us as well.

Just a bad night? Possibly, but even though it's early days for Ginza, customers paying full prices deserve more.

On a second visit we know better and take a cloth-covered table up front.

The food is better, but not the service. Waitresses busy checking their mobiles need reminding to finish clearing the table and to bring drinks. And a better knowledge of the food they are serving would help.

Now wary, we ask about the "special sauce" but the only known ingredient is soy.

The waitress insists my $29 Wafu steak is wagyu. It's not, and is not listed with $42-$75 mb6 or mb9 wagyu. It's chewy, a bit greasy and swims in gluggy brown sauce.

We enjoy a good onigiri (stuffed rice balls), which, finally, the chef steps in to explain, is a lunchbox treat. Two balls sandwiched in soft nori, encase delicious braises, one mushroom, one meat.

Ginza also does a cracker plate of tempura vegetables. And, little shredded cabbage salads siding small orders, such as crispy gyoza, are tossed in a nice piquant dressing.

In Japan, there's much deep frying, even steak, a trend also beloved at Ginza, with a number of "frys" just like schnitzels, but with streaks of that mysterious special sauce. In the seafood edition the prawns are fine, but there's an unpleasantly strong fishiness to the fillets.

By now we don't ask but decide the maccha ice cream tastes of green tea, and, informed by MasterChef's Adam Liaw, we know agar cubes dish will be jellies, here with sweet bean paste refreshing finales.

The Ginza buzz means others must be having better experiences. To keep them happy, can I suggest some serious staff training. Oh, and don't turn off the heating while people are dining.

GINZA

The food..........11/20

The staff............4/10

The drink.............2/5

The X-factor........4/5

The value...........5/10

The total

out of 50

26

Address

48 Unley Rd, Unley; ph 8357 3888

Food

Japanese

Drink

Fully licensed and BYO, corkage $11

Hours

Lunch Noon-2.30pm, Mon-Fri

Dinner 5pm-late, seven nights

Head chef

Owa Aki

Owners

Leo Xue and Johnny Yung

Wheelchair access

Yes

Prices

Sushi/sashimi starters $12-$20

Entree $13-$26

Main $21-$28 ($75 wagyu MB9)

Desserts $11-$16

Snapshot

Westernised restaurant trying to keep with some tradition and blend super informal family dining and finer style, but the service is poor.