Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
Serious Italian cooking, low-profile Tokyo address.
Il Pregio is a focused Italian restaurant in Uehara, Shibuya, with back-to-back Opinionated About Dining rankings in Japan (2024 and 2025). Chef Yutaka Iwatsubo runs a kitchen that rewards repeat visits. Booking is rated Easy, making it accessible — but this is a deliberate, food-first address, not a casual drop-in.
Il Pregio in Uehara, Shibuya is the right call if you want serious Italian cooking in a Tokyo neighbourhood that rewards slow exploration rather than trophy-dining. Chef Yutaka Iwatsubo's second-floor address is not the place for a quick business dinner or a first-date splurge on name recognition alone. It is, however, a strong option for food-focused visitors who want to understand what Japanese chefs do with Italian cuisine when they commit to it fully — and for locals who return more than once to see how that commitment plays out across seasons.
Right now, heading into the warmer months, the kitchen's access to Japanese summer produce makes this a particularly good window to visit. Il Pregio operates Tuesday through Sunday with lunch service on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday (noon to 11 pm), and dinner-only on Thursday and Friday (6 to 11 pm). Wednesday is closed. The extended evening hours give you room to linger, which matters here.
Uehara is one of those Shibuya sub-neighbourhoods that Tokyo residents know but visitors rarely prioritise. Il Pregio sits on the second floor of a building on a residential stretch, the kind of address that functions as a filter , the people who find it are the people who looked for it. That self-selection tends to produce a dining room with a certain tone: quieter, more focused, less performative than the Italian restaurants clustered around Minami-Aoyama or Ebisu.
Opinionated About Dining, one of the more data-driven and credible restaurant ranking systems for serious diners, has placed Il Pregio in its Leading Restaurants in Japan list in both 2024 (ranked #421) and 2025 (ranked #494). The ranking movement year-on-year is worth noting , a slide from #421 to #494 is not alarming in a list of this scale, but it does suggest the kitchen faces real competition from newer openings. For context, OAD rankings are driven by votes from experienced diners and industry professionals, which means the recognition reflects repeat engagement rather than a single press cycle. A Google rating of 4.2 across 142 reviews adds a useful second data point: solid, not spectacular, which aligns with a restaurant that is genuinely good rather than a social media event.
For Italian cooking in Tokyo at this level of intent, the comparison set includes Aroma Fresca, Principio, and PRISMA, all of which operate within the same general tier. AlCeppo and Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura Tokyo occupy different positions , one more classic trattoria, one firmly in the celebrity-kitchen lane. Il Pregio sits between these poles: more technically ambitious than a neighbourhood trattoria, less scenographic than a branded destination. That positioning is its actual value proposition.
If you have the opportunity to eat here more than once, the clearest logic is to separate a lunch visit from a dinner visit. Lunch at Il Pregio, available on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday, tends to draw a different crowd and a different pace than dinner. A first visit at lunch lets you read the room and the kitchen's approach without the fuller commitment of a dinner booking. Return for dinner on a Thursday or Friday when the kitchen is running evening-only service and the room likely shifts register.
A third visit, if you are a regular or a long-stay visitor in Tokyo, would be worth timing around a seasonal transition , early autumn, when Japanese produce moves from summer intensity toward earthier profiles, is often when Italian-Japanese kitchens find their most interesting material. For Italian cooking with comparable depth elsewhere in Japan, cenci in Kyoto runs a similar philosophy in a different register and is worth the comparison trip.
Il Pregio is at 1 Chome-17-7, Uehara, Shibuya, Tokyo (second floor). Hours vary by day , lunch is available Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday from noon; dinner runs Thursday and Friday from 6 pm. The kitchen is closed Wednesday. Price range data is not currently available in Pearl's database, so check directly with the restaurant. Booking difficulty is rated Easy, meaning walk-ins or same-week reservations are likely viable, though an OAD-ranked kitchen in Tokyo can fill on weekends. No phone or website data is held in our records , reservations are leading attempted via a search for current booking channels or through your hotel concierge.
For broader Tokyo planning, see our full Tokyo restaurants guide, our full Tokyo hotels guide, our full Tokyo bars guide, our full Tokyo wineries guide, and our full Tokyo experiences guide. If you are travelling across Japan, the Italian-leaning programme at cenci in Kyoto and the broader fine-dining context at Gion Sasaki in Kyoto, HAJIME in Osaka, akordu in Nara, Goh in Fukuoka, 1000 in Yokohama, and 6 in Okinawa give useful regional anchors. For Italian in the wider Asia context, 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong is the clearest regional peer.
Quick reference: Uehara, Shibuya, 2F. Lunch available Mon/Tue/Sat/Sun from noon; dinner Thu/Fri from 6 pm. Closed Wednesday. Booking rated Easy. OAD Leading Restaurants in Japan 2024 (#421) and 2025 (#494).
Bar seating availability is not confirmed in available venue data. Given the second-floor address in a residential Uehara building, the room is likely compact. Contact directly to ask about counter or bar options before assuming walk-in seating is viable.
Il Pregio is an OAD-ranked Italian restaurant in Uehara, Shibuya — a low-traffic neighbourhood that takes deliberate effort to reach. Chef Yutaka Iwatsubo runs the kitchen, and the venue has climbed OAD Japan rankings from #421 in 2024 to #494 in 2025. Come knowing what you want: this is a destination-specific trip, not a drop-in on a wider Shibuya itinerary.
No dress code is documented for Il Pregio, but OAD-ranked Italian restaurants in Tokyo generally skew toward neat, understated dress rather than formal attire. Avoid overly casual clothing; treat it similarly to how you'd dress for a serious European-style restaurant rather than a hotel dining room.
Lunch is available Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday from 12pm, giving it broader access across the week than dinner, which runs Thursday and Friday from 6pm. If your schedule allows, lunch on a Saturday or Sunday lets you combine the meal with Uehara neighbourhood exploration. Dinner is the better pick if you want a more focused, evening-only format on a weekday.
No specific booking window is published, but OAD-ranked restaurants in Tokyo at this level typically require at least two to four weeks' advance notice. Wednesday closures and the limited dinner schedule (Thursday and Friday only) mean competition for seats is real. Book as early as your schedule allows, especially for weekend lunch.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
