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Shopping

How to Use a Family Restaurant in Japan | Ordering, Drink Bar and Payment at Gusto (ガスト) and Saizeriya

Japan's family restaurants ("famiresu") are chain restaurants with affordable meals. Using Gusto (ガスト) and Saizeriya as examples, this guide explains ordering on a tablet or your smartphone, the drink bar, the late-night surcharge, how to pay and how to check allergen information, based on each company's official information and photos taken in the restaurants.

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Overview

A Japanese "family restaurant" (famiresu) is a chain restaurant serving Western and Japanese dishes, desserts and more at affordable prices. You are welcome whether you come alone or with your family. This article uses Gusto (the sign on the restaurant reads "ガスト") and Saizeriya, both with locations across Japan, as examples and walks you through everything from ordering to paying.

The outside of a Gusto restaurant. Round red signs reading "ガスト" in katakana are above the red awning and beside the entrance.
The entrance of a Saizeriya restaurant. A green oval Saizeriya sign is on the red roof, and a menu stand and a sign with the opening hours stand in front of the entrance.

The photos show one example of each restaurant at the time they were taken. Menus, prices, facilities and opening hours vary by location.

Step by step

From being seated to paying

  1. At the entrance, tell the staff how many people are in your group, and follow their directions to a table.
  2. Order your food at the table. How you order depends on the restaurant (explained below).
  3. Your food is brought to your table. At some Gusto locations, a serving robot delivers the dishes.
  4. When you have finished eating, pay and leave (see "How to pay").

Gusto: order on the tablet at your table

At Gusto, you choose and order your food on the tablet placed on your table.

The first screen of the tablet on a Gusto table. In the center are the table number and a button to start ordering. Below are language buttons for 日本語, English, 中文簡体 and 한국어, and a notice in Japanese that a 10% late-night surcharge is added to orders from 22:00 to 5:00.

At the location in the photo, the first screen of the tablet let us choose English・中文簡体・한국어. Gusto's official website also has menus in English, Simplified Chinese and Korean.

Saizeriya: order on your own smartphone

According to Saizeriya's official guide, you scan the QR code on your table with your own smartphone and order by entering the numbers printed on the menu.

  • You can choose the language on the ordering screen. The official website also has menus in English and Chinese.
  • You can also order by speaking to a staff member. To call one, press the bell on your table.
  • The official menu includes a note asking each person to order at least one item.
  • Water is self-service.

Services

Drink bar

The drink bar is a self-service station where you pour your own coffee, tea, juice and other drinks, and you can refill as many times as you like.

The drink bar at Gusto, with a coffee machine, tea bags, juice machines, glasses and cups lined up. A sign showing the price of the set drink bar hangs above.
  • The price differs depending on whether you order a "set drink bar" together with a dish or dessert, or order the drink bar on its own. At Gusto, the drink bar on its own costs more.
  • Prices vary by location.
  • There are prices for children, and children aged 3 and under drink for free (at both Gusto and Saizeriya).

Soup

At Gusto, if you order a dish that comes with the "soup of the day", such as a breakfast or lunch dish, you can serve yourself soup from the soup corner. At the location in the photo, a sign said that refills are free and that customers who ordered only the drink bar cannot use it.

The soup corner at Gusto. A black board shows "SOUP CORNER" and instructions in Japanese, with soup cups lined up in front. Tables for customers are in the background.

At Saizeriya, customers who arrive between opening time and 15:00 on weekdays can have soup (free refills). Weekdays during the year-end and New Year holidays and similar periods are excluded.

Breakfast

Breakfast at Gusto is served until 10:30. The start time, dishes and prices vary by location, and some locations do not serve breakfast. At Saizeriya, breakfast is available only at some locations.

A breakfast at Gusto: a plate with a fried egg, bacon, sausages and salad, and pancakes on a plate in front.

The photo shows one example of a Gusto breakfast (a fried egg, bacon, sausages and salad, with pancakes instead of toast for an extra charge).

Paying

How to pay

  • Gusto: Besides cash, you can use credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, UnionPay and others), transport IC cards (Suica, PASMO, ICOCA and others) and QR code payments (Alipay, WeChat Pay and others). However, for every payment method there are locations that do not accept it.
  • Some Gusto locations have self-checkout machines that you operate yourself, and at some locations you can pay by scanning a QR code shown on the tablet with your own smartphone.
  • Saizeriya: Accepted payment methods vary by location. With the store search on the official website, you can check whether a location accepts credit cards or transport IC cards. If you ordered on your smartphone, tap the checkout button on the ordering screen and follow the instructions.
  • For more on transport IC cards, see also Welcome Suica: How to Buy and Use It | A 28-Day IC Card for Visitors to Japan.

Tipping is not customary at restaurants in Japan (according to the Japan National Tourism Organization).

Good to know

Allergies and smoking

  • On the allergen information page of its official website, Skylark, the company that operates Gusto, shows for each of its restaurant brands whether 9 allergens (buckwheat, peanuts, wheat, egg, milk, shrimp, crab, walnuts and cashew nuts) are used in each dish.
  • Restaurants do not remove specific ingredients from dishes on request. Cooking utensils, dishes and frying oil are shared.
  • For children of elementary school age and younger, Gusto offers a "low-allergen menu" that does not use the 9 allergens above as ingredients. These dishes are prepared with the regular kitchen utensils.
  • There is no vegetarian menu (according to Skylark).
  • At Gusto and other Skylark restaurants, smoking is not allowed inside the restaurant or anywhere on the premises (including e-cigarettes). Under Japanese law, restaurants are in principle non-smoking indoors.
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