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residentgrigo
Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2623
Location: Germany
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 1:47 pm
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Hamburg Steak is considered "Japanese comfort food". Huh, i currently live in said Hamburg. Hanbāgu steak, lol.
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Emma Iveli
Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Posts: 679
Location: Hobo with internet
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:16 pm
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Quote: | Don't expect to go to one of these places and get a Denny's Grand Slam. |
That's exactly what I was excepting when I went to a Denny's the second time I went to Japan...
Yeah me and my friends went to Denny's because well to mix things up and get some American Food (that wasn't McDonalds and even then I got the Ebi Sandwich). We were all surprised that it severed Japanese food.
It also doesn't help there used to be a Denny's in Japantown in San Francisco that I went to many times as a kid so that might have also affected how I saw it...
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Zin5ki
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:18 pm
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If I may make a confession, I do wish to go to Denny's at some point. My stateside friends sternly warn against doing so, and doubtlessly with good reason, though a slight but certain fascination endures their words of caution.
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CorneredAngel
Joined: 17 Jun 2002
Posts: 854
Location: New York, NY
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:19 pm
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Quote: | In fact, in the areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto I visited, I only spotted a couple of Coco's and Saizeriya, but no Denny's, Royal Host or Bikkuri Donkey. |
The Denny's that's literally across the street from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building looked like it was very much the default breakfast place for office workers in that part of Shinjuku
Last edited by CorneredAngel on Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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mrakai
Joined: 30 Oct 2003
Posts: 42
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:22 pm
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[quote="Emma Iveli"]
Quote: | there used to be a Denny's in Japantown in San Francisco that I went to many times as a kid so that might have also affected how I saw it... |
I miss that place. The didn't really do much different than the rest of the Dennys in the states, but they did have nice Hawaiian breakfasts.
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
Posts: 1122
Location: Puget Sound
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:37 pm
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Zin5ki wrote: | If I may make a confession, I do wish to go to Denny's at some point. My stateside friends sternly warn against doing so, and doubtlessly with good reason, though a slight but certain fascination endures their words of caution. |
Their warnings are probably at least powered by a sort of snobbery... There's a lot of people who look down on the diner chains and view them as refuges for penniless wanderers of various sorts. Which is not entirely untrue, but it does vary wildly with the location. (I love Denny's and Shari's and their ilk, but you couldn't pay me to visit one in the inner city or near a college... especially from the dinner hour into the wee hours.)
The same goes for the food. It's mostly plain high-calorie bog standard American standards, and there's a lot of folk who look down their noses at that too.
But the biggest problem is no doubt service... Not only does it vary wildly from location to location, it also varies even more wildly from shift to shift. American restaurants in general, all across the spectrum, do not emphasize or enforce any norms of service quality.
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Top Gun
Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4830
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 5:06 pm
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DerekL1963 wrote: |
Their warnings are probably at least powered by a sort of snobbery... There's a lot of people who look down on the diner chains and view them as refuges for penniless wanderers of various sorts. Which is not entirely untrue, but it does vary wildly with the location. (I love Denny's and Shari's and their ilk, but you couldn't pay me to visit one in the inner city or near a college... especially from the dinner hour into the wee hours.) |
I don't know that it's "snobbery" as much as "concern for Zin5ki's gastrointestinal tract." I don't know about Denny's as a whole, but eating at the long-since-closed one near here was essentially taking your life into your hands. Besides, we had Perkins around here, which is a huge step up.
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Zin5ki
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 5:29 pm
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I dined at Chili's once and was reasonably fine thereafter! Does that not entitle me to attempt tasting the ware of the fabled Denny? I understand it is useful for when you want breakfast at an inconvenient hour.
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CatSword
Joined: 01 Jul 2014
Posts: 1489
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 5:32 pm
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Unfortunately, I doubt any actual Japanese family restaurants are as interesting/oddball as Wagnaria.
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Asterisk-CGY
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 398
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 6:41 pm
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Man what I really want is to find another place that did Parfaits. We used to have a Japanese cafe here that had the franchise of one of the more well known Japanese brands that I can't remember anymore, but then turned generic before closing down altogether, and replaced by a high end sushi joint. Granted, I could also just make my own.
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EricJ2
Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 6:44 pm
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Quote: | I say "were" because the family restaurant boom has been on the decline since 2007. The worldwide economic crisis from that era, coupled with the decline in children, has changed Japan's eating habits. |
Yeah, was blanking on the name of that one 90's Japanese Denny-esque family restaurant chain where the waitresses wore the iconic orange-and-white-apron outfits--
Which became a corporate-disguised icon throughout most of 90's anime, whenever the characters had to stop off at a nice mainstream cafe'.
(And why the orange-and-white-waitress look briefly became one of the official fetishized Japanese fan costumes, along with maids, schoolgirls, shrine-maidens and race-queens.)
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
Posts: 1122
Location: Puget Sound
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 8:15 pm
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Zin5ki wrote: | I dined at Chili's once and was reasonably fine thereafter! Does that not entitle me to attempt tasting the ware of the fabled Denny? I understand it is useful for when you want breakfast at an inconvenient hour. |
People exaggerate about Denny's... And yes, breakfast is available 24/7. It's an American thing, I don't know why.
Top Gun wrote: | I don't know that it's "snobbery" as much as "concern for Zin5ki's gastrointestinal tract." I don't know about Denny's as a whole, but eating at the long-since-closed one near here was essentially taking your life into your hands. Besides, we had Perkins around here, which is a huge step up. |
As I said, I think people exaggerate about Denny's. That being said, I usually choose Shari's (a regional diner chain) over Denny's... But that's as much about the one Denny's in the area being rather inconveniently located as anything else.
What I really miss is Waffle House...
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RegSuzaku
Joined: 08 Jul 2018
Posts: 273
Location: Ikebukuro
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 8:47 pm
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CorneredAngel wrote: |
Quote: | In fact, in the areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto I visited, I only spotted a couple of Coco's and Saizeriya, but no Denny's, Royal Host or Bikkuri Donkey. |
The Denny's that's literally across the street from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building looked like it was very much the default breakfast place for office workers in that part of Shinjuku |
Yeah, there are Dennys, Gusto, and Jonathan's everywhere. In the ~10 blocks from my school to Ikebukuro Sunshine City, there are at least 3 of each. The Jonathan's diagonally across from Laforet Harajuku is still there. There's at least one of the three chains, usually two or more, near almost every Yamanote line train station I've been to, and by most of the less major ones as well.
...... the Gusto by Ikebukuro station that's on the 7th floor of the building with Dennys on the 3rd floor and Toranoana on the 6th floor... at that Gusto, there's a new drink bar machine that has hot or cold milk drinks. So you can choose hot or cold, choose cocoa, matcha latte, royal milk tea, strawberry milk, or vanilla milk. So.... Arata from Tsukiuta loves strawberry milk, and his partner Aoi is called the prince of the group, and I ship them, and they're my favorite characters in everything, so... I like to go there and get strawberry royal milk tea. Because ship.
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ly000001
Joined: 30 Apr 2010
Posts: 76
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 9:03 pm
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Zin5ki wrote: | If I may make a confession, I do wish to go to Denny's at some point. My stateside friends sternly warn against doing so, and doubtlessly with good reason, though a slight but certain fascination endures their words of caution. |
A friend who has eaten at Denny's in Japan said he was surprised how much better the food and service was compared to the ones in North America. Regarding the North American ones, he said something like "You only go there if it's 4am, you've been out all night drinking, and there's nothing else open."
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Cutiebunny
Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 1770
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 9:52 pm
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I enjoy Denny's in Japan. It's cheap, portion sizes were fairly large and the service was very fast. I went to one in Harajuku. Honestly never had a problem finding Denny's in Tokyo. They weren't as common as McDonalds though, but they were fairly common in areas near train stations.
Denny's had free WiFi in Japan, which was nice because I could give the portable WiFi a break while I ate. Was it the tastiest meal I've ever eaten? No. But I paid 1500 yen for soup, rice, ebi fry, some veggies and an unlimited refill soft drink/tea. My friend especially appreciated the prices after she dropped a stupid amount at Animate and Lashinbang.
What I didn't see mentioned in the article is that the Japanese Denny's really strives to give you the item exactly as pictured on the menu. US Denny's will flop 3 pancakes on a plate and there you go. Japanese Denny's does pay a bit more attention to the presentation side. The cup of corn soup shown in the menu looked exactly like the one I received. The ebi fry and veggies were close matches as well. The place was clean, well lit and despite there being several parties waiting before us, we were seated within about 10-15 minutes. Staff also spoke a limited amount of English too, which was unexpected but welcomed. I recommend reading the reviews on TripAdvisor if you're curious or if you'll be in Japan sometime soon.
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