Saizeriya - Casual Italian restaurant popular among young people

Saizeriya is a popular Italian restaurant chain. It has more than 1,000 restaurants all over Japan, including 6 restaurants in Hamamatsu. One of them is located downtown and easily seen from the street, but I had never been there before until today. This may be because it is on the second floor in a building, and I couldn’t imagine how it looked inside.

Recently, I had been busy with work and wanted to have a substantial dinner for a change. From some websites, I had heard that Saizeriya is convenient for vegetarians and vegans to eat outside the home. On their website, they provide information on ingredients of each dish, and I found there are five menu items that are vegan-friendly.

Today I went there around six o’clock in the evening. It was not very crowded, and I could choose where to sit. On the wall, there was a big picture of an angel. It felt comfortable to see it.

After ordering all the five vegan-friendly menu items, I went to fetch some water. The restaurant has a beverage station, but I had just water this time. As I looked around, I noticed that many of the customers were young people including high school students, both boys and girls. After a while, two dishes came to me. They were Salad with “Carottes râpée” & Ravigote Sauce and Pickled Celery.

The salad was colorful with vegetables such as carrot, tomato, diced paprika and zucchini (?), and green leaves. It was flavored with vinegar and olive oil and was sour and sweet. I should have mixed the ingredients well before I tasted it, but I didn’t notice that instruction on the menu. Maybe I’ll do that next time. Pickled Celery was also flavored with vinegar and olive oil but was not so sweet as the salad. The portion was much more than I expected, which surprised me a bit.

Then, I had Grilled Potato with a pack of tomato sauce and Spaghetti “ALIO OLIO.”

Grilled Potato was a little harder than French fries of other restaurants I know but was sufficiently grilled. The spaghetti flavored simply with garlic and olive oil was also al dente and good. When I finished them, I was quite full but had a dessert Lemon Sorbet finally.

Though it was vegan, it was thick and creamy. It was sour and refreshing. I wondered if it was ok to come to Saizeriya just to eat this sorbet, not for lunch or dinner. When I left the restaurant, I understood why it seemed to be popular among young people. They provide substantial meals at reasonable prices, even for vegetarians and vegans! My dinner costed only 1195 yen in total, so it was great value for money.

Saizeriya
Address: fun Building 2F, 70-1 Chitose-cho, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka
Tel: 053-450-8311
Open hours: 11:00 - 0:00
Access: 8-minute walk from JR Hamamatsu Station