On a business trip, I went out for drinks with a colleague on a Friday evening. I was able to leave work early. My boss, who doesn't drink alcohol, suggested we grab a meal in town. However, it was the Friday after the Bon Festival, and all the places I had in mind were fully booked. We ended up at this place instead. The service for drinks and food was quick because, well, it was empty. (laughs)

I tried motsunabe for the first time, as I had it before in Kushiro and it was delicious. You can choose between pork bone miso and chicken salt broth, and I went with the chicken salt broth. It was so delicious that I wanted to have ramen as a finishing touch if I had more room in my stomach! Everything else was also delicious, and I was personally very satisfied. They had some unique menu items like burdock and lotus root chips, and deep-fried grated yam and fish roe which were really to my liking. I haven't been to a good izakaya in a while, so I was very satisfied. Even though I received a different dish than what I ordered, they promptly and pleasantly handled the situation. I left the restaurant with a smile on my face, feeling very satisfied.

I went to "Warawara" for a girls' night out. It was actually a pre-inspection for our year-end party. As soon as we walked in, we realized it wasn't really set up for a big party, more like a regular dining experience. The place was almost empty on a weekend night, which was a bit concerning. We ordered a variety of dishes, and the highlight was the "Tteokbokki." It was cooked at our table and was delicious. We finished it in no time. The sauce was the only thing left. Then, I had an idea - I asked for rice. We added the rice to the sauce and cooked it again. It was the best dish of the night. The rest of the dishes were like typical izakaya food.

The restaurant was registered without me realizing it. Since it's a local city, there isn't much information available, so I happened to have the opportunity to visit and decided to leave a review. While walking in a certain place that day, I ran into S-san and S-chan who were about to go drinking! They invited me to join them, and even though I was a bit hesitant, I have excellent footwork when it comes to drinking, so I treated the captain to a meal before arriving late at the restaurant. It was the second day of the opening. I had a coupon for a thousand yen off from a newspaper insert. The place used to be "Uchikuru" before (I hadn't visited before). The interior was nicely renovated and clean. It was a bit late, but I ordered a Kirin Ichiban Shibori draft beer (medium) for 418 yen, cheers! Since I arrived late, there were many items missing from the receipt... I only have feedback on the items I have photos of that I ate: - Caesar salad 418 yen: The vegetables were surprisingly crunchy, so-so. - Assorted grilled skewers (salt) 520 yen (probably): Since they were frozen, they were just okay. - Hot cheese tteokbokki (rice cake) 523 yen: They finish it at the table, so follow the instructions to add the cheese at the end. Oh, I wasn't expecting much, but the sweet and savory sauce mixed well with the cheese, and the tteokbokki was chewy and surprisingly good! I would order it again next time (if there is a next time). I heard that the mapo tofu for 418 yen, which I didn't try, was also good. I ate a few other items, but I don't have feedback or photos of the taste (^^;). Since it's a chain izakaya, as long as you don't have high expectations from the start, it's good enough (same opinion as everyone else). However, without a course with all-you-can-drink, the prices are quite high for a chain restaurant... Currently, in my local area, the "Yama○ Saru" from the Aikkusu Group is gaining popularity for its extremely cheap all-you-can-drink option (according to information from a drinking establishment). To compete with that, they may need to come up with something unique... The day I visited, the employees were still working hard since it was a newly opened establishment (have they gotten used to it by now?). There was a touch panel at the table for ordering, but since both the customers and the staff were not used to it, we ended up ordering verbally (^^;). The restaurant was nice and clean (wait, was it?). Thank you for the meal~