Looking for meaty meals and childhood memories at the new-look Big Boy Japan.
Every now and again an overseas chain comes to Japan and becomes a bigger success than it is in its home market. Mister Donut is the most famous example, having just one shop left in the U.S., its country of origin, versus well over a thousand in Japan, but another is Bob’s Big Boy, or just Big Boy, as it’s called in Japan.
Starting out in southern California in the 1930s, Big Boy expanded across America, where it had nearly 250 restaurants in the late ‘80s. Far fewer of these remain open today, but here in Japan, the Big Boy brand is going strong with 172 branches serving up meaty meals.
Our Japanese-language reporter Takuya Inaba has many fond memories of dining out with his family at their local Big Boy while he was growing up, and when he heard the chain has been renovating and redesigning many of their restaurants as of this summer, he decided to go check out the new look. Until now, Big Boy Japan had always leaned pretty heavily into their “casual American eatery” vibe, but the redesign is going for a bit more of a fashionable feel.
▼ Takuya visited the Big Boy branch in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
That’s all well and good, but Takuya would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a sadness in his heart when he got up to the front door of the restaurant and there was no Big Boy mascot statue there to greet him. As a kid, he’d always loved seeing that smiling cowlicked scamp, and not being greeted by his smiling face put a bit of a damper on his mood.
Thankfully, though, after Takuya got inside…
…he saw that Big Boy remembers its mascot after all!
Even this, though, had a bittersweet feeling. Instead of being at the entrance to welcome customers, he’s now a presence in the background, remembered, but no longer really “here,” Takuya felt.
Still, Takuya was looking forward to all the meat he was about to eat. Like a lot of originally overseas chains in Japan, Big Boy Japan’s menu has been adapted to suit local tastes, and their specialty is hamburger steak. Burgers, meanwhile, are something they usually only offer periodically, but this branch has them as part of their regular menu, so Takuya ordered both a hamburger steak and a hamburger.
Waiting for his food with a mix of emotions, Takuya’s spirits got a boost when he noticed that among the staff…
…was a Big Boy mascot robot waiter!
Unmistakably the classic spokescharacter Big Boy has had for decades, he’s been given an extra dash of modern Japanese graphic design cuteness, and the robot even sported a name tag identifying itself as “Bobby-kun” (ボビーくん).
Now that Takuya’s nostalgia had been satisfied, it was time to do the same for his appetite. He started with an Otawara Hamburger Steak, a 250-gram (8.8-ounce) all-beef hamburger steak for 1,375 yen (US$9.30), which was juicy and immensely delicious.
▼ Hamburger steak served on iron hot plates like this is often brought to the table rare, so that diners can let it cook to the amount they prefer before they start eating.
The 1,045-yen Beef Burger, which uses the same meat as the Otawara Hamburger Steak, was similarly excellent. Yeah, it’s more expensive than a burger at a fast food joint, but the higher quality is worth it, in Takuya’s book, and it’s still more affordable than something comparable would be at a trendy gourmet-aspiring burger bistro.
▼ Surprisingly, Big Boy Japan’s burgers don’t have a third slice of bread in the middle, which was a key characteristic of the “double-decker” Big Boy Burger in America.
Oh, and Takuya also tacked on a Premium Set upgrade to his hamburger steak order for an additional 649 yen, which gets you unlimited refills of soup, salad, rice, and curry.
▼ With curry rice getting more expensive to cook at home, this is a nice perk.
According to Big Boy Japan’s management, they’re not currently planning to renovate each and every branch, but are waiting to gauge customer reactions at the locations that have been redesigned before deciding how to proceed. If they decide to add Bobby-kun robots while still keeping the Big Boy statues at the entrance, though, Takuya will be very happy, and very full from all the repeat trips he’ll make.
Related: Big Boy Japan official website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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