Daruma Main Shop — Restaurant in Sapporo

Daruma is vastly overrated--it is hard to believe that many of these reviewers have had many experiences with Japanese "yakiniku," or even Mongolian "Chinggis Khan" (in Mongolia, where I have spent a lot of time). I rated the service one star b/c of the long waits that everybody mentions, not b/c of the service inside which is just fine and friendly. But waiting one or two hours in the snow (last February during the Ice Festival) or last night in the pouring rain is a joke unless the dining is superb, and it is not. There are only three menu options (Chinggis Khan @ ￥1280--mutton, I think, Superior Meat @ ￥1400, and Filet @ ￥1600). Each is about four smallish hunks of meat. The Superior meat was chewy and the filet was OK, but lacked taste. There is only one kind of sauce, a rather bland soy-mirin combo. You can add only garlic or red pepper. There is a big pile of onions that get piled on the coal-fired hot cast iron cooking plate that are tasty. The "Mom's home-made kimchee" is pretty good. You need at least two plates of meat per person to fill up. Our total bill was ￥9800 for two people, four plates of food, three beers. The overall taste of the meat was about 2-3 stars, the lack of other sauces and condiments about 1 star. The atmosphere was fun and lively, but since they rush you out it is isn't much fun. Since there are only three set options for meat, everything is pretty bang-bang, order, eat, run. There are many, many other places that are cheaper, have better tasting meat, and vastly more menu options--and no wait. I am happy to have had the famous Daruma experience, but I wouldn't go back. If you must go, try one of their other shops (Daruma 7.4, Daruma 5.5, etc.) which are bigger and...

This place was recommended by our hotel reception as all the other genghis khan places we originally wanted to visit were fully booked. This place has gotten so popular that they’ve opened several other outlets within walking distances of each other. The other outlets are open later. Given their close proximity, have a walk around to see which has a shorter queue. We moved from the outlet 5.5 to the main shop because of a shorter queue. Be prepared to smell like bbq after this, there were no lockers to keep your things so everything will smell like smoke. They’ve kindly provided some fabric spray at the exit should you wish to use it. This place seems popular amongst the locals and local tourists alike. There is always a queue but everything was handled efficiently. The menu has some simple English. We order one of each different meat types they offered. They distinguished the cuts using different plates, so should you wish to order more of something, just point to the plate then gesture how many. Initially the server started off cooking the meat for us - as we were clueless tourists and weren’t sure what to do. After which we just followed what every one else was doing. The food was good. The place is small, but you’re served promptly so everything moves fast. Cash...

We party of two got there at 9pm on a Wednesday, we waited for an hour and a half in the cold, so regrettably our expectations were high.

Instead we sat at the bar right next to the door so that whatever warmth was whisked away every time someone entered or left the restaurant.

The waiter was very keen to take our order as the restaurant was busy, but even though he stood directly in front of us while we shivered, and donned our winter jackets inside his restaurant, we still had to ask three times for a cup of warm tea.

The food itself was passable, the premium meat was juicy and tasty, but the rest of the cuts were a bit dry. Many of the cuts showed signs of being refrigerated, and had that early-greyish hue. The onions either tasted burned if left too long or made our eyes water otherwise. We had to ask twice for seaweed, and got double the rice we ordered.

In the end it came to 7200 yen, not exorbitant by any means but in Japan where we are always astonished by the good service and quality of food we were a bit miffed here. Too bad because it looks like a beloved restaurant which at one time earned its reputation as an establishment...