Restaurant in Hakodate, Japan
Four seats. Omakase only. Book now.
Enoteca La Ricolma is Hakodate's most credentialled Italian — a four-seat, reservation-only omakase house restaurant that has won the Tabelog Bronze Award three consecutive years (2024–2026) with a 4.22 score. Budget JPY 15,000–19,999 per head before wine. Book well ahead: this is dinner-only, omakase-only, and fills quickly.
Enoteca La Ricolma is the kind of restaurant that fills its four seats weeks before most visitors even start planning their Hakodate trip. If an intimate Italian omakase in a house restaurant setting appeals to you, this is the booking to prioritise. The Tabelog Award Bronze three years running (2024, 2025, 2026), a 4.22 Tabelog score, and selection for Tabelog Italian EAST "Tabelog 100" in both 2023 and 2025 confirm this is not a local secret — it is a nationally recognised address that happens to be in Hokkaido rather than Tokyo. Plan your reservation well in advance; evening is the only option, and the format is omakase only.
La Ricolma operates as a house restaurant — a private residential-scale setting with four seats total, no private rooms, and the possibility of full private buyout for up to four people. The atmosphere is deliberately quiet and unhurried. With only four diners at a time, the noise level stays low and conversation stays central, which makes this a strong choice for a date, a celebration, or a small group wanting to eat without the ambient energy of a conventional dining room. A sommelier is on-site, and the wine focus is a stated priority , credit cards (JCB, AMEX, Diners) are accepted, though electronic money and QR code payments are not. The space is described as stylish and relaxing with spacious seating, a useful counterpoint to the compressed format you might expect from a four-seat room.
The omakase course format is fixed , there is no à la carte option. Budget JPY 15,000 to JPY 19,999 per person based on the listed price range, though actual spend based on Tabelog reviews trends higher, toward JPY 20,000 to JPY 29,999. The restaurant does not publish a fixed menu, so course composition is not known in advance. A sommelier is available for wine pairing, and given the stated emphasis on wine, a pairing is likely worth factoring into your budget. For a special occasion dinner in Hakodate at this price level, the combination of award credentials, intimate scale, and sommelier service positions this as the city's most serious Italian option.
La Ricolma is built for focused, occasion-driven dining. The four-seat format means the room is effectively yours if you book as a group of four , private use is listed as available, which removes the usual awkwardness of sharing a small counter with strangers. Families with preschool-age children should check with the restaurant directly before booking. The venue specifically flags friends as the recommended occasion, but the setting is equally suited to a couple's dinner or a small business meal where conversation matters more than spectacle. Dress code is not specified, but the stylish, intimate setting suggests smart casual at minimum.
Reservations: By appointment only , online or via the restaurant's website (enoteca-la-ricolma.com). Walk-ins are not realistic given the four-seat capacity. Book several weeks out, particularly on weekends or during Hakodate's peak travel periods. Hours: Dinner from 18:00 onwards; closed days are not fixed, so confirm before visiting. Budget: JPY 15,000–19,999 listed; actual spend frequently reaches JPY 20,000–29,999 with drinks. Capacity: 4 seats maximum; private use of the full space is available. Payment: Credit cards accepted (JCB, AMEX, Diners); no electronic money or QR payments. Parking: Available on-site. Getting there: Located in Tomiokacho, approximately 1.5km from Goryokaku.
For Italian dining specifically in Hakodate, La Ricolma has no direct local competition at this award level , it is the city's reference point for the format. If you are visiting Hakodate and also considering maison FUJIYA Hakodate or Uni Murakami, those offer very different formats (French-influenced and seafood-focused respectively) and are better for groups wanting a broader menu or lunchtime options. La Ricolma is the dinner-only, omakase-only, four-seat choice , the most demanding format to book, and the highest credentialled Italian in the city.
In the context of Japan's wider Italian omakase category, La Ricolma holds its own against comparable houses. Venues like akordu in Nara or affetto akita in Akita occupy a similar regional-anchor-Italian niche with strong Tabelog credentials. At JPY 15,000–19,999 per head before drinks, it is priced below Tokyo's leading Italian omakase rooms, which frequently run to JPY 25,000–35,000 or more. The trade-off is location , you are committing to a Hakodate trip , but if Hokkaido ingredients are in season, that trade-off resolves itself quickly.
For those building a multi-city Japan dining itinerary, note that other Pearl-tracked Italian and European omakase options with comparable Tabelog standing include 1000 in Yokohama and Goh in Fukuoka. See our full Hakodate restaurants guide, Hakodate hotels guide, and Hakodate bars guide if you are planning a full trip around the city.
The format is omakase only , there is no menu selection. You arrive at 18:00 or later, trust the course, and let the sommelier guide wine. Budget at least JPY 20,000–25,000 all-in with drinks. The room seats four people maximum, so the experience is intimate by design. Confirm your booking and the closing schedule directly with the restaurant before travelling, as closed days are not fixed. This is not a drop-in dinner , it requires planning, but the Tabelog Bronze credentials (three consecutive years) and a 4.22 score indicate the kitchen delivers consistently at this level.
The maximum party size is four people. Private use of the full space is available, so a group of four can effectively have the restaurant to themselves. Groups larger than four cannot be accommodated. For larger group dinners in Hakodate, you would need to look at other venues , see our Hakodate restaurants guide for alternatives with higher capacity. Contact the restaurant directly at +81-138-42-8303 to confirm private use arrangements when booking.
Dinner is your only option. La Ricolma does not offer lunch service , the kitchen opens from 18:00 onwards exclusively. If you are looking for a daytime Italian or European-influenced meal in Hakodate, maison FUJIYA Hakodate is worth checking for lunch availability. Reserve La Ricolma for your most important evening of the trip.
There is no bar seating as such , the restaurant has four seats total in what is described as a house restaurant format. The entire space is the dining room. Walk-in bar dining is not a realistic option given the seat count and reservation-only policy. If you want a standalone wine or cocktail experience in Hakodate, check our Hakodate bars guide for dedicated bar options.
For Italian at this price level in Hakodate, La Ricolma has no direct peer , it is the only venue in the city with Tabelog Bronze standing in the Italian category. If the omakase format or price point does not suit, Uni Murakami offers a seafood-focused experience that showcases Hokkaido ingredients at a different format. For French-influenced fine dining, maison FUJIYA Hakodate is the closest stylistic alternative. Outside Hakodate, comparable Italian omakase credentials can be found at akordu in Nara or affetto akita in Akita.
Yes, and the four-seat format is a genuine advantage here. A couple or small group of close friends gets a room that is effectively private without paying a private dining surcharge , private use of the full space is listed as available. The sommelier, the unhurried pace, and the award-backed kitchen (Tabelog Bronze 2024, 2025, 2026) make this the most credentialled special-occasion Italian in Hakodate. At JPY 15,000–19,999 per head (often higher with wine), it sits well below comparable occasion restaurants in Tokyo , Le Bernardin in New York or Atomix give a sense of the international tier this format aspires to, at two to three times the price.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enoteca La Ricolma | Easy | — | |
| HAJIME | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
| Harutaka | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
| L'Effervescence | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
| RyuGin | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
| HOMMAGE | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Hakodate for this tier.
Book before you arrive in Hakodate — this is reservation-only, four-seat house restaurant, and walk-ins are not an option. The format is omakase only, so there is no menu to browse or a la carte flexibility. Dinner runs JPY 15,000–19,999 per person (with some reviewer estimates reaching JPY 20,000–29,999 with drinks). A Tabelog score of 4.22 and three consecutive Bronze Awards (2024–2026) confirm the reputation is earned, not marketing.
Maximum party size is four — and that is the entire restaurant. Book as a group of four and you effectively have the room to yourselves, which makes it a strong choice for a private dinner with no strangers at adjacent tables. Groups larger than four cannot be accommodated. Private rooms are not available, but private use of the full space is.
Dinner only — La Ricolma does not serve lunch. Service starts from 18:00, and hours can change, so confirm via the restaurant's website (enoteca-la-ricolma.com) before your visit. Closed days are not fixed, which makes checking ahead essential.
There is no bar seating in the conventional sense — the restaurant has just four seats total in a house restaurant format. The space is described as relaxing and spacious for its scale, but it is not a drop-in bar experience. A sommelier is on hand, and the wine program is a deliberate focus, so the drink side of the meal is taken seriously.
For award-level Italian dining specifically in Hakodate, La Ricolma has no direct local competitor at the same Tabelog recognition tier — it is the city's reference point for the format. If you want a comparable omakase experience at a higher price point or with Michelin credentials, you would need to travel to Sapporo or Tokyo. La Ricolma's value case is that it delivers this level of cooking in a city where nothing else competes for it.
Yes, particularly for a group of two to four where the occasion warrants a focused, no-choice dinner. Tabelog lists friends as the recommended occasion, and the private-use option means a group of four gets the whole space. The JPY 15,000–19,999 dinner price is meaningful but not extreme for a Tabelog Bronze omakase restaurant. It is not family-friendly with young children — check with the restaurant if preschool-age children are in the group.
■Business hoursFrom 18:00 onwards (please check our website for updates)■Closed onNot fixed
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
