Our budget wine lover isn’t sure what to do now.

The SoraNews24 team loves the Italian-style Japanese family restaurant chain Saizeriya, so much that it was the surprise location of our annual year-end party. That’s why we stay up to date with any menu changes, and upon its menu update as of February 21, 2024, our Japanese-language reporter Ahiruneko knew he had to investigate.

To clarify, not many menu items changed, but the layout of the menu itself did. These pasta dishes are new to the Saizeriya game…

…but we’ll explore that at a later date. For this trip, Ahiruneko was more concerned about spotting the differences between the old menu design and the new one. It got a major makeover.

For some background information, wine at Saizeriya is available in a glass and two sizes of decanters. There’s also a “magnum”  size that’s actually, well, a whole magnum of wine.

That’s right; for 1,100 yen (US$7.49), you can get a 1.5-liter (around 50 fluid ounces) bottle of red or white wine brought to your table.

Considering a 500-milliliter decanter of red or white wine is 400 yen, the 1.5-liter option is a steal. Ahiruneko discovered this deal years ago, and he’s never looked back.

▼ Ahiruneko discovering his first magnum back in 2019.

So, what’s new about the menu design? In short…this!

The new menu has a life-sized image of the magnum bottle so you know exactly how much you’re getting before even ordering it.

A memo next to the image says, “Try comparing it to the real thing!” for all the doubters.

Ahiruneko wasn’t a doubter, but it felt like a game to compare it, so he promptly ordered a magnum bottle. Seeing it in 3-D reaffirmed how huge it was.

To accompany his wine, he ordered some Dry-cured Ham and Buffalo Mozzarella for 500 yen…

…and a Warm Asparagus Salad for 300 yen.

▼ A meal fit for a Saizeriya sommelier.

If you’ve been observing the photos closely, you might have noticed that Ahiruneko came here alone, and he wasn’t certain he’d be able to polish off the whole bottle on his own.

On the old menu, there was a note under the price of the wine that said, “You can take the bottle home if you can’t finish it in-store”…

…but that note was not in the new version. Uh oh.

That probably meant Ahiruneko would have to find a way to finish the bottle on his own, or accept his defeat and leave the remnants behind. Would he be able to finish it? Well, he is famously fond of his drink and he hasn’t returned to the office yet, so we’ll have to wait and see. For now, take note of this small but important difference, as our reporter may have learned the hard way!

Photos ©SoraNews24
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