COLONY by EQI 心斎橋アメ村店 — Restaurant in Osaka

The food here is really well-made. The sauce for the beef is tasty. Their Japanese pancakes are nicely soft and fluffy, and the earl grey syrup and jelly flows really nicely and gives a very nice mouthfeel. It's my second time here; the last time I came to Osaka, I also visited this restaurant. Then, I initially wanted to try the Japanese pancakes and were delighted at how they were comfortably soft and have interesting flavors.

I also just want to reply to the review made by Eva Federici on 5 April 2025—I was sitting right behind her group when they were creating a ruckus at the restaurant, and what she said in her review is not true. When I arrived at the restaurant just before they did, the restaurant was almost packed even though it was close to 10pm.

Eva and her group were told all of them had to buy something, because the restaurant is small and busy, and like many small businesses in Japan (and in Taiwan where I live), businesses therefore require customers buy at least one drink, because they are trying to make a living. I came when the restaurant first opened, so they are relatively new.

The food is meticulously made by the staff, so they informed all of us that it would take 30 minutes or so preparing the food, unless it's for drinks. It's actually quite commendable that in spite of being so busy, the restaurant still insists on preparing food meticulously. If customers cannot wait, they can leave, but Eva and her group was complaining for 10 to 15 minutes that the wait is long, that they did not all want to buy drinks or meals. One boy was begging the staff to bend the rules, another told him the rules were silly. So after a very long haggling, one guy said let's go, and they left. Then 10 minutes later, the group returned and said they still wanted to eat, so the staff told them about the time it needed to prepare the food and that it would close at 11pm—as stated clearly on Google Maps which Eva clearly reads, and the group started making a fuss about why they needed to wait that long, and that it was unfair of the restaurant to make them eat with so little time, and one person asked if the staff could extend their work hours, just so this group could eat. Also, the restaurant made it very clear to all customers they only accept cash—again, if customers are not happy, they can leave.

Eva and her group made such a ruckus at the restaurant that the whole ordeal lasted 20 to 30 minutes, including when they left and came back. Customers at the restaurant were so embarrassed and sorry for the restaurant that a few of them said sorry to the staff when they were paying or leaving. I also tried to say sorry.

Eva and her group are the reason some Japanese no longer welcome tourists because they behave like spoilt entitled brats—you come to Japan, you respect their rules and customs, and if you choose to eat at a restaurant, they have their set of rules, so if you do not like the rules, you don't have to eat there. It's the same in Spain or Europe or elsewhere. If I were the owner, I would have thrown Eva and her group out. In some other countries, they would have received harsher treatment. They are behaving like brats because they know the Japanese are too polite to tell them off.

In fact, I think the person they were speaking to is the owner because he was there when I first visited and talked to me about his restaurant. Also, he speaks good English, and Eva and the group decided otherwise because they were speaking quickly and unhappily, and disregarded how hard he was trying to explain to them. The whole time, he was very polite and even when they wanted the food to be made faster, he still went to the kitchen to ask if it could.

The owner of this restaurant is clearly very proud of his food, as he deserves to be, because of how well the food is made, and he went out of his way to make Eva and her group feel respected, when they clearly do not deserve it.

I wanted to write this response because of how unfairly Eva and her group disrespected the restaurant, and...

If you're going to Osaka, you need to stop here. If you're not going to Osaka, BUY A TICKET NOW and go just for this place. I am not sure if I'll be able to find the right words for this review but I'll try. My sister and I planned a once in a lifetime (for her) trip to Japan and her bucket list had certain foods/trends to try. One was souffle pancakes. We found pancakes earlier but it wasn't what I was thinking of so in the last 2 days in our stay in Osaka, I looked for someplace that had the viral pancakes and found this. I was worried because it looked like it was in a seedy part of town and I wasn't sure what I was leading my precious baby sister into (not to mention we passed it at first because we missed the sign), but when we finally walked inside, the atmosphere immediately took over. Somehow we were transported out of the noisy street into a clean, peaceful, light-hearted mood place. We were a little unsure of how it would work (since it was pretty late) but here's what we learned: 1 drink per person Souffle pancakes are heaven on earth

We got the basic pancakes (gotta do research to see what we're working with) and much like what you'd expect from an egg white based pancake, it tasted like eggy clouds. The syrup was real maple syrup (something we've both grown to appreciate after suffering from the chemical kind) and we marveled. I'm not a drinker but my sister had some wine and really loved it so I take her word for it. When we were done, the owner of the store, Masa-san, talked to us a bit of the front step to get to know us better. It was so refreshing to get that kind of attention after a crazy day of traveling and tourist stuff. As we were leaving, we found someone's wallet that had been dropped on the ground. I knew it was right to take it to the police but I didn't know where it was, so I went to go ask Masa-san if he could help. He promised to take it to the police.

The next day, my sister's last day in Japan, my last day in Osaka, she said she kept dreaming about those pancakes and we finally decided to go back a second time!!! This time we saw a couple familiar faces and ordered the banana chocolate souffle pancakes (so worth!!!). Masa-san updated us on the wallet (owner was relieved and grateful!) and we got to talk about his shop. It's been there for almost 8 years (as of August 2024) and he really does enjoy the customer service part of it. He gets all sorts of foreigners as well as locals and each one is special. He treats each one, regardless of who they are or where they are from, to the same doorstep conversation and a wave goodbye until they are out of sight. It's obvious he's doing what he loves and I, personally, would love to see more people like him. Thank you so very much for everything, Masa and co! You all made this trip amazing. Please keep up the good work! お疲れ様でした！！！ (Please excuse my lack of pictures. The food was way too tempting to have any patience...

Found this spot on a search on Google as we wanted to try Tornado Egg rice and Pancake (Japan soft pancake). The location was easy to find. A small Cafe, we went at night so the wait was not to long. Has not been crowded by foreigners so even if there's a line should not be long wait. The owner is very hands on with the service and along with his staff, they are all super friendly and detail in service. There is a 1 drink per person order. The food was all freshly made, fresh ingredients, nothing has extra sugar added (hence I'm from US and don't like sweet sweet items), beautifully presented. The Tornado egg rice was delicious, sauce was not over powering (had demi gloss and also cod version), demi gloss here has a little after sweet taste but not the over sweet many say they tasted elsewhere, so we were surprised but grateful. We also had the Loco Moco which is a hamburger patty with egg and demi gloss, let just say we wiped the plate clean. The pasta was also a good option, smaller portion but just enough for 1. Now the pancake, we only had the Matcha one, as we worry the rest would be sweet, but they offer a good selection of choices. The pancakes tooks 20 min to make but worth it, the taste of the egg in the pancake was so fresh and clean it was like your eating steam egg, the bounce of the pancake was perfect. The matcha was not too over powering and the sauce had just enough lite sweet to it, which is great as it would not leave one feeling you ate a packet of sugar. The presentation was beautifully put together. The drinks were my surprise as there is limited sugar in it, thank you for this, we had ice tea with lemon which taste pure no sugar and refreshing tea and lemon, royal milk tea which has strong tea flavor low/no sugar which made it taste like a HK tea and apple juice which is a lite version and not sugar loaded. The food and atmosphere was great, didn't feel we were rushed and they accommodated us very well (party of 6) and we apologize for a spilled apple juice incident (kids) but the staff came over made sure we were OK and handed us wet napkins to clean up ourselves, we are sorry for mess caused. The only thing we suggest to change is the restrooms, as we notice the female one has a wet floor issue and not enough lighting. This issue did not interfere the whole eating experience. We recommend this place to others and suggest you to try, a simple menu offering of items but wide variety within, very reasonable prices and service was...