Rōmyō has opened in Larimer Square in the corner spot formerly occupied by Ted’s Montana Grill. It’s the latest, and maybe most unique concept to come from Bonanno Concepts, owned and operated by husband-and-wife duo Frank and Jacqueline Bonanno. With a long history of popular restaurants in their portfolio, Rōmyō came to be through a lot of travel and a series of participatory tastings and dinners with the public to get their feedback about the unique concept. The end result, based on our primarily-hosted experience was, overall, a success but not completely.

First, the name. Rōmyō represents Rome and Tokyo (thus the pronunciation) in both name and concept, fusing Italian and Japanese cuisine. It is the culminating evolution of influences from Bonnano Concepts’ 25 years of current and previous restaurants including Bones’ broths and Asian cuisine; Mizuna’s Japanese-inspired dishes; Luca’s Italian pastas and pizzas; Dumplin’ for Asian comfort food; and Osteria Marco, the Italian restaurant with the legacy of “Little Italy on Larimer.”

The restaurant itself, located in the historic Miller Building, seats 80 in its dining room with a large kaiseki-inspired bar. “Kaiseki,” by the way, refers to a traditional, multi-course Japanese dinner (I looked it up in case you were wondering, like me). In the dining room, along two walls, are high-backed booths (you can’t see the folks in line with you at all) topped with an arbor-like arch. This is to suggest a train. One side is the Tokyo “train car” and the other is the Rome car. Use your imagination a little and it’s pretty easy to immerse in dining in a real train. Helping that along is a curtain and a “window” with a moving screen showing scenery of Italy or Japan going by, depending on your car. Thankfully, the stylized scenes go by very slowly, not whizzing by as they would on a train, allowing diners to truly imagine they are traveling. I’d say it’s more “pulling into the station” speed.

Beautiful wallpaper (or maybe it’s a mural? I wasn’t close enough to see) adorns sections of the walls. Water glasses are nice and large in width, the better to grab them. Wine and cocktail glassware, by contrast, is fine and elegant, deserving a gentle touch. Wait ‘til you see the cocktail I got in a picture below! Plates and bowls, especially tiny bowls for adding sauce and vinegar are colorful and patterned. Also on the table, you’ll find a cute little deck of cards held together by a ring, full of fun facts about the restaurant and the people behind it. This is great if A) the date’s going badly and you need something to perk things up, B) you want to be amused and C) you want to learn more about the place including where they get the shirts and aprons and why there’s a giant giraffe and fancy chandelier at the hostess desk. I’m betting these cards are the brainchild of Jacqueline Bonnano whose e-blast newsletters I subscribe to and love reading. It just seems like something clever she’d do.

Now, the food. The menu is large, divided up into sections such as Antipasta-Zensai-Introductions; Spedini-Kushiyaki-Skewers; and Secondi-Shusai-Main. Wanting to sample a good variety, my husband and I chose one item from each category (except “Bowls” because our server said portions are plentiful and that we’d probably be too full getting a Bowl AND a Main). Options from each category are sometimes obvious about being an Italian/Japanese fusion. In other cases, it’s more subtle with maybe just a sauce falling under one country’s influence. Because portions are good, and because we wanted to try something from almost every category, sharing an example from each worked out well for two people.

Here’s what we had at Rōmyō:

To sip, I ordered the Window Seat Sour ($16) while my husband ordered a Garnacha Blanc ($13). My cocktail, made of Cherry Blossom Skyy, Italicus, lemon, nigori sake and ube bitters, was a pretty pink in a beautiful, fine coupe glass with a very tall stem that makes it rather top-heavy (our server confided) so be mindful of that as you handle it. It was delicious and, as I nursed it along over the course of our entire meal, managed to go well with everything. Watch for Kakigori – Snow Cocktails coming soon. They are various ingredients served in soft, shaved ice just like a “shave ice” cone.

From the Antipasta-Zensai-Introductions section of the menu, we considered the Whipped Tofu, Baby Gem Caesar, Blistered Shishito Peppers and other temptations but landed on the Cucumber Salad ($10) with spicy mirin dressing and a chiffonade of garden mint. The spears were cool and delicious, and the mint was the perfect augmentation. Although chopsticks are available on the table (love the chopstick rest!), unless you’re really adept at using them, a cucumber spear might just land down your cleavage as one nearly did for me. Fork it, baby!

From the Spedini-Kushiyaki-Skewers section we chose the Colorado Lamb ($18) but could have had Red Bird Farms Chicken Thigh, Lake Hamana Unagi or Snake River Farms Filet Mignon ($18-$22). Served as three small skewers, the meat was flavorful and tender. All of the skewers are glazed, but not overly so, with housemade Johnny’s Teriyaki Sauce.

Three items comprise the Fritto-Ageru-Crispies menu with Brussels Sprouts, Calamari and Gulf Coast Rock Shrimp ($15-$21). After the veggies and meat, we wanted to try something seafood-y and opted for the Shrimp. Served with pepperoncini and a lovely lemon garlic aioli, the flavor of the bite-size shrimp was good and the coating was light. But it was a little too salty for our taste.

The Crudo-Sashimi-Rolls section is ample with an almost overwhelming number of options including Hawaiian Tuna, Kong Ora Salmon, Haddaido Scallop Crudo and Caprese Roll (one of the more obvious Italian nods with mozzarella, tomato, basil and…soy). We chose the Lump Crab Roll ($19) with avocado, cucumber and tarragon aioli. It was the tarragon that was my motivation because I wanted to see how it played with the crab (nicely!). This was my favorite item from our multi-course dinner but it didn’t bowl over my husband that much. I loved the buttery fattiness of the crab and avocado against the crispier cucumber. I dipped pieces into both the soy sauce and the Leopold Bros. vinegar in those colorful dishes. These options range from $12-$23.

Next came the most disappointing aspect to the evening and one that really surprised us given Bonanno Concepts’ lineage with Asian food and dumplings, in particular. Made in house, the Ripiena-Gyoza-Dumplings come five to an order and can be prepared steamed or, for $1 more, pan-fried. Ranging from $12-$24, there’s Burrata & Kale, ‘Nduja, Shrimp Scampi, Lobster & Mascarpone “ravioli” and others. Still trying to mix up our proteins, we went for the Chicken with ginger and coriander ($15). I don’t know what happened here but the dumplings arrived looking more scorched than fried (and tasted that way) with slightly-too-thick dough and overcooked chicken inside. And they were insanely salty – without having touched the soy sauce. Having them steamed would have alleviated the overdone chicken and char but wouldn’t have made a difference with the saltiness.

As I mentioned, we skipped ordering from the Pasta-Gahan-Bowls section on the advice of our server but options there include Cacio e Pepe Ramen, Porchetta Ramen and others, ranging from $31-$38 whose names and descriptions made me wildly curious about how the Italian and Japanese fusions were going to go (next time).

Instead, we went for the Secondi-Shusai-Main section mostly because all of them come with Creamy Miso Slaw and Cacio e Pepe Rice and we HAD to see what those tasted like and how they went together. Iberico Park Saltimbocca (Parma Prosciutto, aged Provolone and Plum-Sage Sauce) sounded good, as did Chicken Katsu alla Piccata. We chose the Roasted Hokkaido Scallops ($39) with garlic and ginger olive oil. The texture of the scallops was spot-on despite not having the sear on them we usually crave. The sauce was yummy though and we couldn’t help swiping each bite of scallop through it. And that slaw and rice? OMG good, both of them. The slaw had napa and purple cabbage and the miso dressing was great. And the Cacio e Pepe Rice? WHY haven’t we ever thought to make this at home?! Since we were sharing everything, my husband and I took turns holding the palm-size bowl up to our mouths, shoveling in (not in a gross way) rice with our chopsticks (no cleavage rice for me!) because it just seemed like the thing to do with this wonderful comfort food. I could curl up with a bowl of this rice, in a comfy chair, with a soft blanket around my shoulders and ignore the rest of the world and its problems. *sigh* I implore you to order something from this section of the menu just to get those two sides.

Dessert options included different soft serves, a tiramisu (I can’t remember what the variation was – maybe matcha?) and fermented plum cannolis ($12) that come two to an order. And not little finger-size ones either. They were full-size. With a lightly mauve cheesy filling (thanks to the plum) and dotted with chocolate, they were good, not great. We couldn’t really taste the plum but there were unique and a nice twist on usual cannolis. The texture of the cannoli shells was just right and, yes, did crumble so keep the plate underneath as you eat them.

A couple of things to note: It gets loud in Rōmyō, despite the many booths. This isn’t the place for an intense conversation or a marriage proposal (you’d be yelling it). But it’s fine for being sociable and keeping things light. Second, there is a mandatory 22% CHP Fee included in the total bill (pre-tax). The menu (and bill) state that it’s “a service charge, not a gratuity, that helps support equitable wages and benefits for our entire team, including Front-of-House, Back-of-House and Management. Tipping servers is appreciated but not required. Tips are pooled and shared among all front of house service staff.”

Rōmyō is located at 1401 Larimer Street in Larimer Square. For more information and to book a table, visit their website, here.

-By Courtney Drake-McDonough, publisher and managing editor, InGoodTasteDenver.com