Al Solito
This joint is run by chef Mr Oi, and his wife Mrs Hiromi. The couple is straight out of those Japanese manzai shows, with Hiromi playing the 'boke' and chef playing the 'tsukkomi'. Chef usually has a serious face on, but buy him a drink and you will understand my Manzai analogy.
The energy here is freewheeling and atmosphere is casual. This is one reason why I enjoy coming back. I mean, Hiromi, who runs front of house, once praised me for drinking water and eating my vegetables. Another running gag, Hiromi always asks chef to make "the delicious one" when I order anything. And yes, her Singlish is native level.
Personally, I don't like the idea of rating a place based on service, food, atmosphere, etc. that you see often on Google Maps or similar. When dining out or out drinking, I'm out looking for new flavours, new experiences. You gotta take the good with the bad.
This, like many places I frequent, is what I'm talking about. On the one hand, the food prices could be eye-watering, especially for an izakaya bar (as opposed to restaurant) setting. On the other, there is a lot of give and take, chef giving freebies and receiving drinks from customers.
I believe a lot of the customers who come back do so because it is a third place for them. Somewhere they can stop by, be themselves outside of work or family, just having a drink or two, something delicious to eat, have a casual chat or two.
Drinks
This is the first place in Singapore (and I haven't seen another place yet, but I'm not that "well-drunk") I encountered the Rokkannon shochu, which is a shochu made from 6 types of sweet potato. In terms of flavour, this one is up there with Sekitoba having that strong sweet potato aroma.
Being an Italian izakaya bar (they serve Japanese-style italian dishes), their house wines are also decent.
Food
The menu changes seasonally, so that's something to look forward to every visit. One of the highlights here is the yama-imo somen. ("noodles" made from yam strips, in a punchy cold broth)
One of the seasonal items I had, an aji sashimi, that went well with shochu.