Tabelog ratingca'enne is a lodge restaurant in the forest above Chino, at about 1,200m. It serves a single Italian tasting course cooked over wood, and almost everything on it comes from the Yatsugatake mountains. Reviewers point to three signatures: prosciutto cured in-house for 12–18 months with koji from the local Masumi sake brewery, fermentation running through every dish, and pasta rolled by hand in front of guests. The wine pairing is made up entirely of Nagano wines. It has won a Tabelog Award Bronze every year from 2023 to 2026.
Nearly every review praises the prosciutto, and several call it the best they have eaten. Other dishes guests mention often are Okaya 'silk' eel glazed with fermented blueberry instead of a sweet tare, wood-grilled ayu (sweetfish) and very large iwana (char), and a closing buckwheat pasta with goat-milk foam. In autumn, some dishes use up to eight kinds of wild mushroom. In winter, the course turns to bear and boar. Repeat guests say each season feels like a new menu.
Criticism is minor and scattered. One diner found a server curt, and another found the mushroom-thickened sauces heavy. A few felt the grilled dishes tasted alike or noticed rough edges in the fire cooking. One guest disliked the artificial plants, and one could not find the building.
There is one course, and it is the same at lunch and dinner. Reviewers in 2025–2026 paid around ¥16,000–17,600 for it, and one in 2026 quoted ¥19,800 before tax and service. The Nagano wine pairing cost about ¥9,800 and a local pale ale ¥900. With the pairing, expect roughly ¥27,000–33,500 per person. The listing gives a typical spend of ¥20,000–29,999 for both lunch and dinner. Reviewers consistently call this outstanding value for eleven courses over about three hours, and several say Tokyo would charge much more.
- Getting there: about 2 hours from Shinjuku on the Azusa express to Chino Station (Chuo Main Line), then a 25-minute drive; reviewers paid around ¥5,000 each way by taxi. By bus, take the Meruhen Kaido line to Hiromi and walk 5 minutes towards Karasawa Kosen. By car, it is 20 minutes from Suwa-Minami IC. Check the map pin carefully, because the building is hard to find.
- Booking: reservation only, so you cannot walk in. The listing requires phone booking by the previous day; call between 10:00–12:00 or 15:00–17:00 on 050-3159-5561. Reviewers also booked through TableCheck and Pocket Concierge. Weekdays open a few months out, while holidays and summer fill fast.
- Payment: VISA, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX and Diners are accepted. Electronic money and QR payments are not. A 10% service charge applies.
- Children: welcome at lunch. For dinner, contact the restaurant by email first.
- Seats: 8 in total, with 4 at the counter and 2 tables. There are no private rooms, but the whole restaurant can be booked for up to 20 people. Lunch is one group per day, with the chef cooking alone.
- Dress code: smart casual. Expect your clothes to smell of woodsmoke.
- Other: non-smoking and wheelchair accessible, with free Wi-Fi. The meal takes about three hours.
- Parking: 10 free spaces, with no paid parking nearby. There is a non-alcoholic pairing for drivers, and staff can call a designated-driver service.