Expect a generous portion of noodles with the eggplant and meat sauce pasta from Tomato & Garlic in Yokosuka, Japan. (Jonathan Baez/Stars and Stripes)
Shorten the time you waste googling “food near me” this week and visit Tomato & Garlic, an Italian restaurant on the ninth floor of the More’s City shopping mall, a one-minute walk from Yokosuka Chuo Station.
As a Mexican-American who grew up in Texas, I cannot imagine family meals any other way than rice, beans and some type of meat, with salsa on the side. But as I grew older and tried different foods, I came to wish for Italian food more frequently.
Images I vividly recall from dining at Italian restaurants are shared salads and unlimited breadsticks, having large quantities of pasta and laughing with my family.
Tomato & Garlic nurtures that exact environment without breaking the budget.
The restaurant sits above the bustle of Yokosuka’s Blue Street. Inside, the aroma of fresh garlic bread and tomato sauce greets you as you enter.
The four-cheese pizza with honey from Tomato & Garlic, an Italian restaurant at More’s City mall in Yokosuka, Japan. (Jonathan Baez/Stars and Stripes)
The current dinner special gets you a salad, pasta, pizza and two drinks from a select menu for 4,730 yen, or about $30. Garlic bread is an additional 350 yen.
I ordered the Caesar salad, fried eggplant and spinach country-style meat sauce pasta, with the quattro formaggi pizza with honey to share with my wife.
The pasta-and-pizza combo came with a healthy portion of pasta. The dinner special is perfect for those who can’t decide if they want pasta or pizza. The garlic toast was about one quarter of a whole loaf of bread.
Friends first invited me to dinner at Tomato & Garlic, which brought me back to the family-style dinners my family and I would share back home. We all ordered the dinner special while sharing stories and laughs over the garlic bread, which seemed to arrive within seconds of ordering.
Look for Tomato & Garlic on the ninth floor of the More’s City shopping mall in Yokosuka, Japan. (Jonathan Baez/Stars and Stripes)
If you would rather not order from a limited menu, Tomato & Garlic offers a wide variety of items, including, but not limited to, soup, salad, pasta, pizza, steak, lamb, risotto and dessert.
If you are looking for a family-friendly environment or a restaurant that feels like an experience but won’t hurt your wallet, visit Tomato & Garlic the next time you’re in Yokosuka.
Tomato & Garlic
Location: 2-30 Wakamatsucho, Yokosuka, Japan
Hours: Open daily, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Prices: Most entrees cost between 1,200 yen and 5,000 yen.
Dress: Casual
Directions: Google plus code: 8Q7M+M4 Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
Information: Online: capricciosa.com
