Greater City Providence

URBAN DINING: Ebisu

ebisu3My wife and I had a great meal at the newly opened Ebisu Japanese restaurant recently. Located in the space where the late (and missed) Lemi’s BBQ used-to-be, this restaurant does not focus on sushi but instead has a menu consisting of noodles, yakitori, and shabu shabu.

This alone would make it one of the most unique restaurants in the metro, but thankfully Ebisu has other virtues to back it up. The redone interior is restrained and tasteful, and the staff could not be friendlier. Overall, our food tasted fresh and light and was packed with flavors both subtle and overt. Only the dipping sauce for our vegetable tempura came across as somewhat bland and one-note. Particularly strong dishes were the Yasai Wonton Soup and the Yasai Yakisoba (which are pan fried yellow noodles with vegetables to which my wife requested they add tofu, which they did and which I thought made a great tasting dish even more interesting with the different textures involved).

They’re at 38 Pontiac Avenue in Providence, which is right off Route 10 and is where Pontiac Avenue takes off of Reservoir Avenue. Only a smattering of dishes break the $10 barrier and, by 4-cuisine Asian RI standards, the honest, down-home Japanese menu is a refreshing revelation.

My perfect dining trip to that area has now become a breakfast at the nearby Liberty Elm followed by lunch at Ebisu…

Bret Ancowitz

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