Sapporo Beer Garden Restaurant — Restaurant in Sapporo

This was a top 3 highlight to our Japanese adventure. My only regret is not spending more time in Sapporo - what an awesome city!

We initially went to the museum, and a gentleman working there waved us over to him and asked if we were going to be having lunch. He said now would be best, sounded good to us, and he ended up doing us a solid since when we left the Bier Garden 2 hours later, it was near capacity.

We walk over to the larger of the restaurant options, a giant beer hall reminiscent of something you might see in Munich. Fantastic atmosphere, if not a tad too brightly lit. Friendly server had good English to help us order, and gave us bags to put our coats in.

There were quite a few different food and drinks options.

The upgraded all you can drink is worth every penny. Something like ¥2500/$17, which is only ¥700/$5 more than the basic option. You get waaaaay more beers to choose from, including the very refreshing Sapporo Five Star and very drinkable Dewar's 12 Year. Between the two of us, we had 6 or 7 pours of Dewar's and around 8 beers. That amount of drinks would be around ¥30000/$200 alone in the US.

I don't think I quite understood the all you can eat options, but there was a special insert in the menu for a Waygu cow option, and we instantly went for that. It's ¥4000//$28 per plate, which is absolute steal compared to the US, and even more reasonable than many restaurants we saw in Sapporo. This option doesn't come with anything else - rice and vegetables are an upcharge. We did get rice, which was very good.

The cow is amazing, and being able to cook it to your liking is out of this world. No sauce needed, just enjoy with a quick hot sear on each side, then flip a few more times quickly to help render more of the fat. Super tender, amazing flavor.

I also ordered one last plate of chicken to try, and it made me glad we went with the cow. Chicken was covered in a gooey sugary sauce and made a mess of the grill. Not good.

Service was stellar. Putting in the max 5 item order into the tablet, to the time it was delivered, was never more than 90 sec. Truly exceptional.

We spent about ¥14000/$95, which is amazing value for how much we are and drank. If you're a drinking enthusiast and you enjoy a great atmosphere, great food and great service, this is a bucket list...

Understandable that there is language barrier. In order to get a same day reservation without calling or booking online, you'll need to go through the free tour first then go back to the information desk and they will write your name and time slot to any of the dining options available that day. We opted to the most popular all you can eat option as recommended by the staff. The inside was very casual and bustling. The food overall was very standard. We decided to do all carte because the ayce option was mostly for lamb which I did research about prior to getting there. The meat quality was okay. We paid about $80 USD for 3 people but we ate very lightly, about 20 pieces of grilled meat and salad. The photo is from the tasting area after the museum. It was about $12 USD to try all 3. You have to use a kiosk to order....

Mitigated experience at the beer garden. I think the experience can change on where you are seated at (and the view you are offered), and the fact you are Japanese or not. They where kind and helpful even if I did not try to speak Japanese with them.

They made a mistake and I was able to drink 5 stars Sapporo beer with all you can drink but you must know it is not supposed to be the case. If you want to drink 5 star, you 'll have to pay.

The meat is not out of the ordinary. Vegetables were extremely basic.

This is a nice place for big groups as you can have grand tables prepared. But I would recommend for families and friend to go to a more local meat store, and visit a beer shop to better enjoy...