Saizeriya Italian

Saizeriya - That ubiquitous restaurant surely cannot be any good! Think again. And for those that are frugal (depending on the Yen rate - many of us)  this might just be the place you're looking for that meets price and quality objectives. I've put a few locations on the blog map.

299 Yen

I had my doubts about Saizeriya until I looked at the menu and saw the crowds. The food is good and portions nice sized. The chef salad above is a full size bowl and came with a generous topping of grated Pecorino Romano cheese which they import from Italy.

The 399 Yen pizza

Just your basic pizza. The menu calls it マルクリタ or margherita and says "Pizza with Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese."  The Buffalo Mozzarella being imported from Italy.  Only 399 Yen for this pizza. If you want some toppings (not American style), guess what, same fantastic price.  At nicer Italian restaurants in town you might expect to pay $10-15 for a basic pizza like this of the same size.

Here's an interesting fact: Saizeriya is the largest importer of Italian wine to Japan. They've gone so far as to have vineyards in Italy making wine just for Saizeriya. A glass of the house wine is only 100 Yen. A 500ml "decanter" for 370 Yen.

Check their online menu.  The story of the low prices goes back to the 90s when the restaurant was still small and went by another name. There were no lines of customers back then. In a bold move they cut prices by 70% and there was no looking back. Their prices have not changed much since. On their website you can also see where they source all of their ingredients.  It includes beef from Australia, pork from the U.S., cheese and wine from Italy, shrimp from Canada just to name a few.

They have a lunch menu with set meals for only 500 Yen.  You'll get unlimited soup (basic broth) from the drink bar and either salad or rice depending on what you order. The drink bar is 100 Yen.

Hamburger, chicken and some noodle/cabbage - 500 Yen

Garlic bread 150 Yen

Drink bar