Why Is Saizeriya So Cheap? "Put Prices Up a Little and Everyone Will Still Stick With You": What Japanese Diners Say About the ¥300 Doria Chain

What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 664 comments

• Raise prices a bit if you have to, I just want you to still be here.

  多少は値上げしてでもいいから、残っていて欲しい

  — @hatsyaki369 likes

• If the choice is dropping the quality or closing, I'd rather you raised prices. The pressure on companies to sell cheap comes around and lands on your own pay in the end.

  味落としたり閉店するなら値上げしてほしい 企業へ対して安く売れっていう圧がめぐりめぐって自分の給料に帰って来る

  — @先負学院校長252 likes

• Limit-up on the stock because investors welcomed a price rise. That's wild.

  値上げを好感してストップ高とか すごいよな

  — @LS460ar150 likes

• The branch near me was always full, and it still closed. I think it was mostly students lingering and groups of housewives chatting.

  近隣の店舗常に満席なのに閉店　長居の学生、主婦雑談組が多数だった気がする

  — @msiryuu9817135 likes

• With such a low spend per customer, city-center branches with high fixed costs must be tough. Italian food is easy to keep the ingredient cost down on, but the weak yen right now has to hurt! Italian, Spanish and Portuguese wines are cheap and good, by the way!

  客単価が低いので、固定費が高く付く都心の店舗は、キツイでしょうね、イタリアンは、原価を抑える事が楽ですが、今の円安はキツイと思います！ イタリアとスペイン、ポルトガルのワインは、安くて美味しいですよ！

  — @ougtet-j3j38 likes

• If anything, the city center can't be helped. Those aren't prices you can serve in the city center. I feel like downtown needs a different brand.

  逆に都心は仕方ないんじゃないですか。都心で提供する値段じゃないですからね。 都心は別ブランドの方がいい気がします。

  — @maroon.7733 likes

• Um, I'm a supplier, and Saizeriya is closing branches and opening new ones in parallel. They've stated they'll grow the store count beyond today's, so closures don't mean the business is doing badly. Low-profit branches, aging buildings and redevelopment do get closed, but new branches are steadily going up to make up for it. Everyone, rest easy!

  えと、関係業者ですが、サイゼリヤは閉店と新規開店を並行しています。 今後現状より店舗数拡大を明言してるので閉店＝業績悪化ではないです。 営業利益の低い店舗、建物の老朽化した店舗、再開発に伴う閉店は起きてますが、その分新規店舗は確実に増えてます。 皆様、ご安心を！

  — @アツシクション258 likes

• I looked it up and I can't find anything showing that many closures 🤔

  調べてもそんな数が閉店してると出てこないんですが🤔

  — @fuminaka87048 likes

• I delivered Saizeriya's ingredients for years, and we were given pretty strict temperature control, time windows and store counts. The hardest part was that with all the long weekends lately, every day left us exhausted. It's fresh produce, so the weight made it worse on top of that.

  サイゼリヤの食材の配送を長年やっていましたが、かなり厳しい温度管理、時間、店舗数を与えられました。一番厳しいのは、最近連休が多いので毎日がへとへとでした。生ものなので重いのも追い打ちとなりました。

  — @rajikiti01281 likes

• In Saizeriya's latest results, operating profit in Japan was about ¥1.4 billion, while overseas it was about ¥3 billion, more than double Japan. The Asia business runs an 11.0% operating margin and Japan runs 3.5%. That's extremely low next to the big domestic rivals, where margins in the 10% range are nothing unusual, and it's a level where a small rise in ingredient costs would tip it into the red. Saizeriya is a first-rate company that earns in Asia, sells cheap in Japan and gives it back to the home market.

  サイゼリアの直近の決算では、日本国内の営業利益が約14億円であるのに対し、海外の営業利益は約30億円と国内の2倍以上の利益を叩き出しています。 アジア事業の営業利益率は11.0%で、日本国内の営業利益率は3.5%です。 営業利益率10％台が珍しくない国内の大手競合他社に比べて極めて低く、ちょっと原価率が上がれば赤字転落する水準です。 サイゼリヤはアジアで儲けて、日本で安く売って国内に還元している超優良企業です。

  — @なおなおなおな203 likes

• Milan-style doria, pile on the extra cheese, and it's only 50 yen more. Saizeriya is amazing!

  ミラノ風ドリアは、チーズ大量トッピングで僅か50円UP。サイゼは凄い！

  — @hirohiro84954 likes

• A Saizeriya opened near me a few months ago and it really is cheap. I was just there today, actually. A bottle of wine, three starters, bread, pasta, chicken and dessert came to about ¥3,500. Of course you end up going back.

  数か月前、近所にサイゼリヤができたのですがホント安いですね ちょうど今日も行ってきたばかりですが― ボトルワイン、前菜×３、パン、パスタ、チキン、デザート頼んで￥3,500くらいとか、そりゃ通いたくなります

  — @ALPHONCEJ11 likes

• Out in western Tokyo, away from the center, it isn't just young people; you often see scenes that are a paradise for the elderly too. So you can really see it reaches everyone from the young to the old. Cheap and good. No drunks like at an izakaya. A bottle of wine for a thousand yen, an outrageous price. You can relax on a sofa. Given that, I stopped wanting to drink at izakaya. Not simply because I want to drink out. Because it's a place where you can spend time comfortably and safely. And that happened to be Saizeriya, an Italian place. I'm truly glad to be alive in an age that has Saizeriya. The pull-outs over soaring rents are sad, but it made me happy to see they're making the right business calls. Thank you as always for the easy-to-follow videos 🎉

  都心ではない西東京方面だと。若者だけでなく、老人パラダイスな光景もよく見かけます。ゆえに若者から年配者まで幅広くリーチしてるのがよくわかります。 安くておいしい。居酒屋みたいな酔っ払いがいない。ボトルワインが千円という破格。ソファでくつろげる。 だとすると居酒屋で飲みたいと思わなくなりました。 単に外で飲みたいからではなく。快適に安全に過ごせる場所だからこそ。それがたまたまイタリアンなサイゼだった。 サイゼリヤがある時代に生きていられて本当によかった。家賃高騰による撤退は寂しいですが、正しい経営判断をされてることが嬉しくなりました。 いつもわかりやすい動画を解説していただきありがとうございます🎉

  — @shingoristv3ch24 likes

• If they raise prices by 100 or 150 yen and end up in the same bracket as Olive no Oka, I think I'll start going to Olive no Oka. The hamburg steak and the meat dishes have dropped a good way in quality, so once prices go up, Olive no Oka wins on value.

  100円とか150円とか値上げしてオリーブの丘と同価格帯になったら、オリーブの丘行くようになると思う。ハンバーグとか肉料理系は大分品質落としたから値上げしたらオリーブの丘の方がコスパ上になる。

  — @BANEIJohoStation4 likes

• The Saizeriya branches in Jimbocho and Ochanomizu always have a long line. Please don't cut any more of them in Tokyo.

  神保町やお茶の水のサイゼはいつも長蛇の列。都内からこれ以上減らさないでくれ。

  — @nobys655624 likes

• There aren't any in Okinawa! So whenever I travel, I make sure to go!!

  沖縄には無いんですよね〜！ だから、旅行行ったら必ず行くようにしてます！！

  — @chan_higa8 likes

• I love Saizeriya 😊 I'm in my 80s, but I worked at it and got used to ordering on my phone too. I feel I have to go more often so the branch near me doesn't disappear.

  サイゼリア大好き😊 80代ですが頑張ってスマホ注文にも慣れました。 近所のお店がなくならないようにもっと行かなくてはと思います。

  — @kiyo-m-w9c0 likes

• In prefectures with a high minimum wage, add high rent and a branch will close. Even in regional cities they're opening a little away from the station instead of inside the station buildings.

  最低賃金が高い都道府県で家賃も高いと閉店でしょう 地方都市でも駅ビルに入らず駅から少し離れたところに出店してます

  — @taka721836 likes

• SaveSaizeriya↗サイゼリヤ

  The chain itself. Ordering is by QR code at the table: scan it and type the numbers printed on the paper menu into your phone. An 80-year-old in the thread says they got used to it.

  Sources: itmedia.co.jp — checked 2026-09-05

• SaveSaizeriya Jimbocho↗サイゼリヤ 神保町店Jimbocho, Chiyoda, Tokyo

  One commenter says the Jimbocho and Ochanomizu branches always have a long line, and asks the chain not to cut any more Tokyo branches (24 likes).

  Sources: shop.saizeriya.co.jp — checked 2026-09-05

• SaveOlive no Oka↗オリーブの丘

  The rival one commenter says they would switch to if Saizeriya's prices rose by 100 to 150 yen and matched it (4 likes).

Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.

Is Saizeriya worth it?

Yes, and the most-liked Japanese comments go further and ask the chain to raise prices so that it survives (438 and 369 likes). The Milan-style doria is ¥300 including tax, piling on extra cheese adds only 50 yen (54 likes), a bottle of wine runs about a thousand yen (24 likes), and one diner's bottle, three starters, bread, pasta, chicken and dessert came to about ¥3,500 (11 likes). The lone dissent, at 4 likes, says the meat dishes have slipped.

Sources: saizeriya.co.jp — checked 2026-09-05

Why is Saizeriya so cheap?

Because Japan is where it sells cheap and Asia is where it earns. In the year to August 2025 the Japan segment made ¥5.03 billion in operating profit on ¥172.9 billion in sales, under 3%, while the Asia segment made ¥10.13 billion on ¥83.8 billion, about 12%. Commenters add the unglamorous side: a former delivery driver describes strict temperature and time windows (281 likes), and a supplier says closures run in parallel with new openings (258 likes).

Sources: ryutsuu.biz — checked 2026-09-05

Is Saizeriya raising prices in 2026?

It is on the table. On 15 July 2026 president Shuji Matsutani said a revision from September onward was under consideration, watching consumer prices and staying within what the chain calls an affordable price, and reports say pricing by location is also being weighed. The stock hit its daily limit the next day, up ¥1,000 to ¥6,780. As of 5 September 2026 the doria is still listed at ¥300, the price it has held since July 2020, so check the menu on the day.

Sources: itmedia.co.jp · nikkei.com · bunshun.jp · saizeriya.co.jp — checked 2026-09-05

Is Saizeriya closing its Tokyo branches?

Not in net terms. The chain ended August 2025 with 1,053 branches in Japan, 15 more than a year earlier, and a supplier in the thread says closures and openings run in parallel (258 likes). What closes is the expensive real estate: commenters point to city-center rent and wages (38 and 36 likes), and one says even regional branches now open a little away from the station rather than inside station buildings. The Jimbocho and Ochanomizu branches still draw long lines (24 likes).

Sources: ryutsuu.biz — checked 2026-09-05