Gastropub Near Me in Roppongi: Two Dogs Taproom's Wood-Fired Pizza and Taps

Two Dogs Taproom fires California-style pizzas in a wood oven on the second floor of the Aries Building at 3-15-24 Roppongi, a four-minute walk from Roppongi Station, and pours from 24 taps of Japanese and American craft beer. If gastropub near me brought you to Roppongi on a weeknight, a medium Pepperoni costs ¥1,800 and the kitchen runs from 5pm to 11pm, Monday through Saturday.

The taproom opened in November 2013 in a space that once housed part of Roppongi's notorious Gas Panic bar empire, and the change of identity was total. Instead of cheap shots and a sticky floor, the owners built a room of polished concrete, exposed ducts, black leather couches and wooden tables, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking down onto the street. The pub's own line is that stepping inside is a portal to Northern California.

The group behind the taproom, Two Dogs Holdings, has since gone into brewing. It runs its own brewery in Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula, and its beers now rotate through the Roppongi taps. The company has also bought 11,240 square metres of beachfront land in Shimoda for a planned beach brewery, which tells you how seriously it takes the beer half of the business. English-speaking staff are part of the pitch, and the crowd skews toward foreign residents and craft beer fans.

Pizzas come in two sizes, a medium of about 28cm and a large of about 40cm, and the wood-fired oven turns them around in a few minutes. Pepperoni is the cheapest at ¥1,800 for a medium and ¥3,200 for a large. Mushrooms, Pancetta, Béchamel and Truffle Oil costs ¥2,000 medium, and the Lamb, Tomato and Arugula is ¥2,100. Four Cheeses on a white sauce and the Pork Sausage, Salami, Pancetta and Chili also sit at ¥2,100.

The mushroom and truffle pizza is the one to order if you only get one, because the béchamel base holds up to the char of the oven better than a tomato sauce does. Two people can share a large and still have room for a starter. Vegetarians are covered by a Vegetable pizza on red sauce at ¥2,000 medium, plus a separate vegan and vegetarian page on the menu, which is rarer than it should be in Roppongi.

The mains read like an American pub menu rather than a pizzeria's. Fish and Chips with house-made tartar sauce costs ¥1,200, Pork Spareribs glazed in BBQ sauce with mashed potato are ¥2,000, and a teppan-cooked Outside Skirt Steak with garlic and onion sauce is also ¥2,000. A Beef Fajita with guacamole, fresh salsa and sour cream is the priciest main at ¥2,400, and a half wood-fired roast chicken with mash runs ¥1,500.

For the first round, Guacamole dip with corn chips is ¥900, Popcorn Shrimp and Chicken Fingers are ¥1,000 each, and a bowl of edamame is ¥500. An honest note: the French fries at ¥600 are fine but forgettable next to everything coming out of the oven, so spend the money on onion rings at ¥700 or put it toward a second pizza. Finish with the home-made chocolate brownie and ice cream at ¥600.

The taproom's beer page lists 24 taps dedicated to Japan and the United States, and the lineup changes constantly; the board is officially updated on Tuesdays. Breweries that have appeared include Ballast Point, Sierra Nevada, Stone, Lagunitas and Lost Coast from America, alongside Baird, Minoh, Swan Lake, Yo-Ho and Kiuchi from Japan, plus beers from the group's own Shimoda brewery. There is also wine by the glass and close to 100 bottles.

Because the list moves so often, the smart move is to ask the bar staff what was tapped most recently rather than defaulting to a familiar American IPA you can find elsewhere in Tokyo. The Shimoda beers are the house speciality and are included in the all-you-can-drink sets on the group menus. Last drinks are poured at 10:30pm, half an hour after the 10pm last food order, so order the pizza before the beer list gets too interesting.

Reservations are taken by phone on 03-5413-0333, and booking is worth doing on Friday and Saturday nights, when the room fills with groups watching live sports on the projector. The room seats about 72 people, with roughly a dozen seats at the counter for solo drinkers. Groups can book set courses with all-you-can-drink; the rules are one drink at a time, you hand back your glass to get a new one, and last call comes 30 minutes before the course ends.

Families are welcome, and strollers fit through the room more easily than at most second-floor Roppongi bars. Cards are accepted and there is no table charge. In past years the pub has run a ticketed Thanksgiving turkey buffet with all-you-can-drink in late November, booked by email and paid in advance, which tells you how much of the regular crowd is American. Its message plate service, at ¥1,500, turns dessert into a birthday or anniversary plate.

Two Dogs makes a natural anchor for a gallery evening. Mori Art Museum at the top of Roppongi Hills is a short walk away, and 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, the Tadao Ando-designed gallery in the garden behind Tokyo Midtown, is about ten minutes on foot. Seeing an exhibition first and arriving for pizza around 7pm avoids the after-work rush, which tends to peak once the nearby offices empty.

Plan B for a full room is simple: put your name down, walk up Roppongi-dori for twenty minutes, and come back, since pizzas turn fast and tables rarely sit long after the last slice. If you are heading home, the Hibiya and Oedo lines both stop at Roppongi Station, so a 10pm last order still leaves plenty of time to catch a train rather than a taxi.

Address: Aries Building 2F, 3-15-24 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032, about four minutes from Roppongi Station on the Hibiya and Oedo lines. Hours: Monday to Saturday 5pm to 11pm, last food order 10pm and last drinks 10:30pm. The official homepage lists the taproom as currently closed for lunch, and Sunday is not among the opening days. Phone reservations: 03-5413-0333. Cards accepted, families welcome.

Who it suits: craft beer drinkers who want proper food rather than bar snacks, groups watching a game, and families who want an easy dinner in Roppongi. Who it does not suit: anyone hoping for a Sunday lunch, or diners after a quiet date in a hushed room. Ask in the Karpo APP for another stop near Roppongi Crossing if you want a nightcap after the taproom closes.