Fact: restaurants that get introduced on TV shows, with big-time tarento gasping “Oishii!”, are guaranteed to be inundated with customers for weeks after. Another fact: the food doesn’t even have to be extraordinary. Casa Yoshida Pasta Bar is just such a place. Hidden in a narrow alley just off of fashionable Aoyama Dori, this eatery is unabashed about announcing itself. The entrance is marked by vivid red awnings and patio furniture, with framed photographs of celebrity customers lining the walls (complete with their rave reviews in big bold letters). Fans of European-style ambience will enjoy the cozy decor that replicates a Parisian café, like a handwritten blackboard menu and Eiffel Tower candleholders. We liked what we saw so far—and then we checked the prices. An appetizer of shrimp and avocado with anchovy sauce costs ¥1,000, but consists of just a few small shellfish on a bed sliced avocados with a decoration of baby tomatoes. Glasses of white wine are nice and reasonable at ¥500, but unfortunately ours arrived lukewarm. Next came the pasta, which the menu proudly trumpets as being made in-house. The spaghetti with meat sauce was served, bizarrely, with poached egg and potato chips (¥1,500). We fared better with the spaghetti with lobster and an excellent miso-cream sauce (¥1,700). But the dish of the night was crème brulée with strawberry ice cream (¥600). Since all the other sweets were around ¥1,000 or above, this was the obvious choice. Bonus points go to the friendly waiter who brought us a cup of warm tea and a large wineglass full of Hershey’s Kisses. He either heard us grumbling and acted fast, or found us very attractive.