Japanese chain restaurants

Tetsugen

If you guys could have any Japanese chain restaurant to open up in your town, which one would it be ? Trying to get some ideas for a project, please list a name of the place, why you love their products and where you're from.

MoSiAc

Sushi Ondo (genki sushi) would be one. I love conveyor belt sushi health reservations be dammed.
Viking Sakura - all you can eat of a mess of dishes and of course yakiniku - so what if I have to cook it, it's great!
Honestly it's not a food chain but those bento boxes from 7-11 were great when I just didn't feel like cooking.

I am from Kentucky lived in Yamanashi.

Tetsugen

Mosiac, what did the 7-11 bentos contain ? Were they cold or hot food items ?

Deebaser

Yeah imma gonna go with a conyeor belt sushi place too, but take that with a grain of salt. Where Im at we have plenty of Japanese places already and that would just be awesome.

Lord Jezo

MOS Burger all the way so I could eat more of their rice paddy burger things and get more of the little cell phone strap thingies out of the plastic egg machines.

MoSiAc

Tetsugen wrote: »

Mosiac, what did the 7-11 bentos contain ? Were they cold or hot food items ?

They would microwave them for you if you wanted, or you could just eat em straight like they were.

But usually these would be hot food items.

Also MosBurger was pretty good. That topping on there I remember eating many many times at school lunch.

CygnusZ

I think conveyor belt sushi would be a really difficult business in the United States. There's a great chain of conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Shizuoka called "Numazu Sakanagashi Sushi", which is way more expensive than a crappy 100en place, but it has fresh fish delivered from Numazu port and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. There's always Kappa Zushi as well, but it's pretty nasty.

CoCo Ichibanya probably has a good enough business model that it could succeed in the United States (I believe they have a few stores in Hawaii already). The idea at CoCo Ichibanya is that you order curry, a topping (which can be anything from a chicken cutlet, hamburger or cheese to simply mushrooms), you choose the amount of rice you want and how spicy you want it.

I also think a chain like Hokka Hokka Tei might do alright if they worked hard at creating contracts with work places in urban areas to deliver affordable bentos. I sort of want to say that Mr. Doughnuts could be successful too, but wasn't it originally an American chain?

MoSiAc

Ohhh I forgot all about Bikkuri Ramen. I never saw them in the north but in the south I loved their cheap ramen. they had lots of different styles and you could get gyoza and fried rice in a set for like 300 yen.

While I agree with you Cyg that Kappa Zushi is terrible, not all 100 yen is bad, at least not in my eyes.

metaghost

CygnusZ wrote: »

I sort of want to say that Mr. Doughnuts could be successful too, but wasn't it originally an American chain?

Yeah, though apparently they're different companies, as Mr. Doughnuts (America) was eventually assimilated into the Dunkin' Donuts corporate structure, while Mister Donuts (Japan) is owned by a Japanese company that bought the rights to use the name in Japan. I think there's something similar to the origins of MOS Burger.

@ MoSiAc - While Bikkuri was awesome for the sheer cheapness, I think I'd prefer Yotteko. They served a serious Choshu Ramen and the gyoza were the size of child's hand, dense with garlic and spicy meats.

MoSiAc

That sounds good, we didn't have Yotteko where I lived. Actually come to think of it I can't remember a single "chain" ramen place near me. They were all mom and pop places, which made awesome ramen, but it was a lot more expensive.

I hate this thread because of all the good memories of food, and I love this thread because of all the good memories of food.

Improvolone

VariAsian is an all you can eat buffet with pretty decent sushi, filet, crab legs, duck... mmmmm

Arminas

While I was in Japan, we ate at a chain called Yoshinoya. The specialty there are their super fast (and cheap) beef bowls. Think thinly sliced beef with a bit of sauce over rice and some pickled ginger on the side. There was actually a recent NYT article about them, competitors and how price cutting was affecting the economy. I enjoyed the fast service and, while I knew it wasn't exactly healthy, it was nice to be able to eat a filling meal for cheap while traveling.

I'm not sure how much of a chain this restaurant form is, but I really liked ordering from vending machines in some of the restaurants. You go to the vending machine first, pick out all the items you want, and then bring the ticket stubs to your seat and a waitress would come by, pick up your tickets and then bring you your food.

MoSiAc

Arminas I loved that at a lot of places too. Or ordering off a computer screen. I got to see exactly what I wanted before I ordered it. It sort of takes the "person" out of the job, but it felt so easy.

Yoshinoya is great after drinking food. In my town they were always near bars and other places that stayed open late and served alcohol.

metaghost

Arminas wrote: »

I'm not sure how much of a chain this restaurant form is, but I really liked ordering from vending machines in some of the restaurants. You go to the vending machine first, pick out all the items you want, and then bring the ticket stubs to your seat and a waitress would come by, pick up your tickets and then bring you your food.

I never really saw this outside of the extremely busy Ramen joints, like Jyangara Ramen, which I don't think is a chain.

And yeah, Yoshinoya is pretty delicious, and I think there might actually be a couple locations in the States.

Esh

CygnusZ wrote: »

I think conveyor belt sushi would be a really difficult business in the United States. There's a great chain of conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Shizuoka called "Numazu Sakanagashi Sushi", which is way more expensive than a crappy 100en place, but it has fresh fish delivered from Numazu port and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. There's always Kappa Zushi as well, but it's pretty nasty.

CoCo Ichibanya probably has a good enough business model that it could succeed in the United States (I believe they have a few stores in Hawaii already). The idea at CoCo Ichibanya is that you order curry, a topping (which can be anything from a chicken cutlet, hamburger or cheese to simply mushrooms), you choose the amount of rice you want and how spicy you want it.

I also think a chain like Hokka Hokka Tei might do alright if they worked hard at creating contracts with work places in urban areas to deliver affordable bentos. I sort of want to say that Mr. Doughnuts could be successful too, but wasn't it originally an American chain?

I've seen "conveyer belt sushi" in Boise, Portland, and Seattle and it did/does great in all three. I can think of three places here in Portland off the top of my head.

Raqie

I'd say Tenya the tempura chain. It's fast, cheap, and has a delicious vegetarian meal.

I don't know which ones I've been to were chains but I'd also love to have an izakaya. It's nice to have somewhere to hang out with friends and get a variety of mixed drinks and food. I don't really like typical bars and it's better than going to some place like Applebee's.

I live in Sarasota, FL but have spent time in Tokyo.

MoSiAc

I don't think I've ever been to a chain Izakaya but man they are awesome. There was one I went to in kofu where the guy just wanted to have lots of people to speak English with and he knew we liked to drink so he told us "drop 2000 yen here and I'll just keep giving you whatever alcohol you want / i have" and boy did he. We hung out with that guy for months, he always had a very delicious and varied menu which was nice as well.

darkmayo

I would kill for a Lotteria Burger joint.

Or a Mos Burger



other than that, if there is a chain that is more of a traditional Japanese cuisine with little or no sushi would be good. Or a rock ass Ramen joint.

admanb

Living in Seattle, conveyer sushi is fifteen minutes away. However, I would kill for a tiny ramen shop with $3 bowls.

I would also die for it. Of a stroke.

Tetsugen

Any other burger chains you guys would recommend ?

Can you also list some bento chains ? Are they similar to bentoss in California ? (http://www.bentoss.co.jp/us_shop.html)

Lord Jezo

Tetsugen wrote: »

Can you also list some bento chains ? Are they similar to bentoss in California ? (http://www.bentoss.co.jp/us_shop.html)

Here in New Jersey at Mitsuwa (which is a Japanese chain supermarket itself) there are a couple of lunch style places like the one you listed there. I don't know if they are chains, I think they may be in Japan?

http://www.mitsuwanj.com/en/store.htm#

Click that and scroll down to the restaurant section to see what we have.

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Fubear

Arminas wrote: »

While I was in Japan, we ate at a chain called Yoshinoya. The specialty there are their super fast (and cheap) beef bowls. Think thinly sliced beef with a bit of sauce over rice and some pickled ginger on the side. There was actually a recent NYT article about them, competitors and how price cutting was affecting the economy. I enjoyed the fast service and, while I knew it wasn't exactly healthy, it was nice to be able to eat a filling meal for cheap while traveling.

I'm not sure how much of a chain this restaurant form is, but I really liked ordering from vending machines in some of the restaurants. You go to the vending machine first, pick out all the items you want, and then bring the ticket stubs to your seat and a waitress would come by, pick up your tickets and then bring you your food.

Yoshinoya U.S. locations

I actually went into the one in NYC after just wandering around, and only because of the mildly fond memories I had of eating at these in Tokyo. Wasn't that great over here.

yotes

Lord Jezo wrote: »

MOS Burger all the way

Esh

admanb wrote: »

Living in Seattle, conveyer sushi is fifteen minutes away. However, I would kill for a tiny ramen shop with $3 bowls.

I would also die for it. Of a stroke.

There was one I really liked in Fremont. Just across the bridge. They used to play anime and Japanese game shows projected on the wall.

baudattitude

Lamp-tei. Very awesome 24-hour donburi joint, think yoshinoya with a much bigger menu. I think it's kansai based but I've only been to their minato-ku location in Tokyo.

Failing that, just having a gyuudon place would be good, it's a staple fast food in Japan but nigh impossible to find in the US.

Or, hey, track sushi is actually very common in the US but I haven't seen any standing sushi bars. General principle is, it's just a track sushi place but doesn't have chairs. Usually pretty cheap since lack of seating means that customers cycle in, eat, and get moving again faster.

Richard_Dastardly

What's the name of that chain restaurant that makes the takoyaki? The one with all the different flavors of mayonnaise?

I want that place in America.

Rainbulimic

I know it's a UK thing, but regardless, Hi Sushi! (their website leaves much to be desired).
Not a huge chain, but I've been in two of them and the atmosphere is pretty awesome.

They do a sort of all-you-can-eat buffet thing after 5. They give you a list of hot Japanese food and you choose something like 5 different dishes to test, and then a list of sushi, from which you choose 7 pieces and then continue to order whenever you run out of sushi. They reserve the right to charge £5 for any uneaten sushi, because it's all prepared to order.

Enchman

CygnusZ wrote: »

Hokka Hokka Tei

I would kill for these in the States, though I think they renamed it to Hotto Motto. Their chicken nanban was my favorite back in the day. Otherwise, I'm in the good ramen place boat.

UrQuanLord88

Arminas wrote: »

While I was in Japan, we ate at a chain called Yoshinoya. The specialty there are their super fast (and cheap) beef bowls. Think thinly sliced beef with a bit of sauce over rice and some pickled ginger on the side. There was actually a recent NYT article about them, competitors and how price cutting was affecting the economy. I enjoyed the fast service and, while I knew it wasn't exactly healthy, it was nice to be able to eat a filling meal for cheap while traveling.

I'm not sure how much of a chain this restaurant form is, but I really liked ordering from vending machines in some of the restaurants. You go to the vending machine first, pick out all the items you want, and then bring the ticket stubs to your seat and a waitress would come by, pick up your tickets and then bring you your food.

This. Yoshinoya is not your typical burger fastfood restaurant but it gets the job done with cheap bowls of meat and rice

Cokebotle

I really don't like MosBurger.

I would LOVE for Yoshinoya to go State-side. BEEF BOWL!

Slider

P.F. Chang's! I finally remembered it.

descolada

About 90% of the Hokka Hokka Tei's changed names to Hotto Motto overnight. Most of the remaining ones are in the middle of nowhere, like Shimane-ken. Not that it matters-- it's the same damn thing. Their chicken nanban is still awesome.

Ringer Hut is another favorite chain of mine, for when I feel like something a little different than ramen. It might be easier to market to Americans too, as champon looks much heartier than your average bowl of ramen.