Oh, Saizeriya. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
Saizeriya is a chain of cheap, casual Italian restaurants. But you must understand, it is more than that. It feeds both our body and our souls.
The first time I went was perhaps a couple of months after I moved here. I only ordered one pizza, which was nice but quite small. I came away feeling vaguely happy with my meal, and amused at the ostentatious Renaissance-style decor; still I was unaware of the depth of this beautiful relationship I had just begun. A few months passed and I realised that there was a Saizeriya just above one of the schools I work at, where I happened to have a few troublesome students and generally found my shifts quite stressful. Hell, why not drop in after work for a glass of wine and some pasta? Unwind for a bit.
Saizeriya is designed to comfort. Everything is painted in warm tones. The seats are like little sofas. Everyone is happy to see you. A glass of wine is 100 yen (50p). When you order a pizza, the server always double-checks to see if you only want one. Thus, I learned the mistake I'd made during that blundering first visit: you don't order just one thing. Even if you're not that hungry, the prices demand that you get at least two more dishes than you really need. Saizeriya wants you well-fed. Saizeriya is like a cuddle.
It is astonishing to see how much you can eat and not break 1000 yen. To start with, for 150 yen you can get access to the drink bar and load up on juice, fizzy drinks, coffee and teas. If you're feeling cavalier you can even grab one of the nice teabags to take back home with you. (I feel a little guilty about this, but then I remember that for the first six months or so of going to Saizeriya, I didn't realise you had to pay for the drink bar at all and was simply stealing loads of drinks from them. In light of this more serious crime, for which I have thoroughly repented, the teabag thing doesn't seem like a big deal). Along with drinks you could get pizza, pasta, salad, soup, bread, cheese and dessert and have it cost less than eight quid in English money. Every time you look at your final bill it's a little bit of magic. At such prices you can afford to get creative. I usually order two salads, the spinach sautee and the caprese, and mix them together in a big bowl of hedonism. Last week I got two pizzas, one after the other, and thought nothing of it. At Saizeriya you are your own god. There's even paintings of cherubs on the walls. Sometimes I close my eyes and think I hear them singing to me sweetly.
Saizeriya would never work in the UK. It's open until 2am, for Christ's sake, and you can get a carafe of wine for the price of a pack of Fruit Pastilles. Imagine the nightmares. The drunks. The aggression. Staff dodging pools of vomit and they bring yet another lasagne to the table of rowdy students. Never work. Only in Japan can Saizeriya exist, beckoning you in with its matronly glow, where you are always welcome.
Saizeriya is love.
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