Is Seirinkan in Naka-Meguro the best pizza in Tokyo? We decided to give the pizza a try!

NOTE: The following was featured originally on dennisamith.com

In Tokyo, Seirinkan located in Naka-Meguro is considered the #1 pizza restaurant.

That’s a pretty major statement that would be sure to shock and maybe even anger certain people who feel that the best pizza must be from an Italian living in Japan, specifically Tokyo, not by a Japanese person right?

American restaurateur, author and TV host David Chang, host/creator/producer of the Netflix original series, “Ugly Delicious” went as far as to say the “Best Pizza in the World is in Tokyo” and vouched for his love for Seirinkan.

Even CNN featured Seirinkan owner Kakinumu Susumu about his popular pizza restaurant and how is he is considered the “Godfather” or “Prime Minister” of pizza in Tokyo.

I personally have tried pizza many times in Japan and so I had decided to try and find out for myself if Seirinkan is no doubt the best pizza in Tokyo.

Originally created in April 1995 with the name “Nakameguro Savoy” in Nakameguro and another restaurant in Chiba in 2001, the restaurant would change its name to “Seirinkan”, which is a Japanese word play on the name Hollywood but it translates to “House of Holy Wood”

He has since opened Pizzaman in Oimachi in 2010. and Pizzaman Rocket in 2011, Seirinkan is an Italian restaurant that specializes in pizza, antipasto, pasta and dolce.

It’s important to note that I have went to many types of pizzeria and also tried pizza by Japanese trained in Naples, but what is interesting about Kakinumu is that he didn’t train in Naples, but he spent his time there eating a lot of pizza, learning on making pizza and for the most part, focusing on the deliciousness on the crust, looking at the toppings more of a secondary to blend well with the crust. Kakinuma feels that pizza is uniquely Japanese and you don’t mess with the base ingredients and the goal is to pull the richest flavor from the ingredients and in his mind, which compliments the crust.

So, I went to Seirinkan with a fellow Italian American who loves pizza and we both wanted to see for ourselves of how great this place truly is.

The first thing I want to mention first is that if you are going to Seirinkan, it’s not far from Naka-Meguro Station. In fact, it’s in the rear of it, but part of the problem is that with the buildings around, Google Maps may send you on a goose chase. So, the first recommendation is not “Start Route” but by setting Seirinkan as the destination from Naka-Meguro, follow your GPS and the blue pointer while you are walking and it will take you to the right destination.

If the marker moves or keeps spinning around, more than likely you will find it to the rear of other restaurants. I found Google Maps to be more problematic in finding this situation, but know it’s not far from the station, maybe a few blocks, but one should not walk more than five minutes out to find it.

Unfortunately, due to Google Maps having issues while I was looking for Seirinkan, it was giving me coordinates to walk in opposite directions and it literally took me 40-45 minutes to find, when it should have taken five minutes.

But once you get there, the first thing you may ask yourself, is this is a pizza restaurant? As the exterior looks like a building from a Steampunk film. But once you see the line, you realize that you are in the right place. Just know that the wait is around 15-30 minutes. I went around lunch time not long after it opened and it didn’t take long at all to wait.

Once you do wait in line, you realize there are several floors. The main one as the waiting room and where a wood burning oven is located and the 2nd and 3rd floor to eat at. I saw the video that there is a basement level for owner Kakinuma to chill and listen to music.

Once you are seated, if you are there for pizza, there are only two choices, with cheese (Margherita – Tomato, basil mozzarella) or Marinara (Tomato, garlic, oregano) and both are Y1500.

But as mentioned, there are also pasta dishes and more.

There is about a 10-minute or so wait, so you can check out the surroundings. There is no doubt an appreciation by Kakinumu to music and cinema and the fact that he had “Metropolis” (the classic silent film) collectibles in this floor, actually surprised me. Actually, I believe there was a soundtrack to the Moroder truncated version of the film, which leads me to believe Kakinumu was a big fan of the 1984 release of the film featuring music by Freddie Mercury, Loverboy and Adam Ant.

One thing that I noticed is how delicious the crust was. Cheese or no cheese, the crust is great! But I do feel the toppings help enhance the overall taste.

The pizza is very good, not too big nor is there a lot of olive oil on top. One thing I noticed with a few Japanese pizzeria’s is they add extra virgin olive oil to the top of the pizza. There is no need for that, just eat this pizza when it’s hot and it’s all good.

Now before anyone asks me if it’s the best pizza, I must say that pizza is my kryptonite, so I try to stay away from it as much as possible. If I eat one, I will want to eat more kryptonite that week or month and in order for me to get back to being healthy, I try to limit myself each year. Otherwise, I’ll be going crazy at Costco or some pizza restaurant nearby. I feel that I’ve eaten so many types of pizza that instead of comparing to pizza I had outside of Japan, I will say it’s the best pizza I have tasted in Japan.

While I felt it was delicious, crust is flavorful and no doubt the best I tasted in Japan, that’s me. So, I asked Tyler how he felt the pizza was and he felt it was the best he had in Japan, even beats the one he had in Yokohama which he felt was his #1.

So, we are both in agreement that Seirinkan was great.

As for the size, it’s probably comparable to two slices of pizza that people would have in the US. Granted, it’s Y1500, so a little over $14US. But in Japan, pizza is never cheap (even a burger with fries is the same price in Japan). I’ve discussed how Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Pizza La are expensive and one can expect to pay up to Y4000 or more for a large (which is the size of an American medium).

So, one shouldn’t ding a restaurant for its price because that’s the pricing norm in Tokyo and one shouldn’t expect similar pricing that they would get for a pizza in their country, especially those from the U.S.

Overall, if you are wanting to give what is considered the #1 pizza in Tokyo, I recommend going there right before opening and waiting in line (if there is one) and block out an hour or two of your day for the pizza experience at Seirinkan.

---