Address - Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Yoyogi 3-1-3 Axis Bldg 1 Fl Opening hours - Closed on Sunday. Open from 19:00 pm to 23:00 pm Map - Yes Telephone - 3320-5699 Menu - In Italian and Japanese CC - No

The word "pentito" is an odd choice for the name of a pizza bar. Il originally was just the pas participle of the verb "to repent", and therefore meant nothing by itself, but then, just as some nouns get verbed ("Remember when 'access' was a noun?" asks Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes) it got nouned by the Sicilians and now it indicates a turncoat that squeals to police. Why it was chosen is anybody's guess.
Like few other blessed restaurants in Tokyo, Il Pentito is a labor of love. Its owner, who is the guy busy at the oven, is one of those legendary, super-rare birds that have the nuts to leave a steady job at a company in the hope of a new life. His daring decision has been handsomely rewarded in more than one way: now not only he is independent and successful, but in talking to me he could be visibly and understandably proud of his nearly flawless Roman dialect.
His restaurant is a small corner of Italy, and in fact all the furniture was chosen and bought there. It looks just like any other low-class restaurant in our capital.
Mr. Ikuta is also a fine connoisseur of our contemporary music: Robbie Swinnerton, in his review for Tokyo Q, misteriously does not agree, but music here is good and unobtrusive, the best contemporary Italy has to offer, and reveals a good knowledge of our recent musical past. On top of that, he is a nice, friendly guy, and I am happy to have a chance to give him a good review.
Although I still consider La Befana to be the best in this field, it's only fair to say that pizzas here are simple and good, the way they should be and far above Tokyo standards. I like them all equally and wouldn't know which to suggest.
Since they have of course a lion's share of the menu, but are not all there is, I'd rather introduce some of the less known morsels on offer, and first of all the "olive ascolane". This restaurant is likely to be your only chance to enjoy them in this country, so take note.They are big Southern Italian olives stuffed with spiced meat, breaded like a Wiener Schnitzel and fried. Absolutely awesome.
You will also have a chance to taste mortadella (the real thing, and not that awful baloney the sell in the US. No wonder the word came to mean what it does), rucola and other specialties hard to find around here.
Drinks are of course also Italian, from the mineral water (San Pellegrino), through the beer (Peroni, I think) to the wines.
Prices are very reasonable, and a fair meal shouldn't cost more than 3000 yen per head.

Project Gutenberg is an organization of volunteers dedicated to the electronic publication of great works of literature of the past now in public domain. Visit their site.