When you travel the scenic areas of Japan, such as around Mount Fuji, you quickly realise your dinner options are mostly boring franchise joints. Enter Cafe Restaurant Gusto, a chain that tries to stand out with its whole robot gimmick.
And what do I mean by robots? Well, you order your food via a tablet and your food gets delivered by a robot. Sounds cool, right? Well, not so much actually. It is a bit shit.
What is Cafe Restaurant Gusto?
Cafe Restaurant Gusto is a massive family-style restaurant chain all over Japan. It is part of the Skylark Group, which runs a bunch of casual dining spots. Gusto’s style is somewhere between a cheap diner and fast casual, cheap prices, simple Japanese-Western fusion dishes, and a menu that covers everything from burgers to noodles to Japanese staples.
The vibe is basic, practical, and aimed mostly at locals and families rather than tourists. It is open late, convenient, and clean but has none of the charm or excitement of a proper local eatery.
And the menu
The menu is huge and covers all sorts of dishes. You will find classic Japanese staples like curry rice and tonkatsu alongside pasta, hamburg steaks, and even some Western breakfast options like pancakes. The star of the show is the variety of chicken dishes, including grilled and fried chicken.
Drinks include a solid selection of Japanese beers like Asahi and Sapporo, highballs that are both strong and cheap, sake served warm or cold, and a handful of soft drinks. They also have seasonal specials that change throughout the year, usually based on regional ingredients or popular Japanese comfort food. The menu is designed to please a broad crowd, from kids to older locals wanting a familiar meal.
And the food at Cafe Restaurant Gusto
Despite the food taking ages to arrive thanks to the robot issues, (more on that later) it was actually pretty good. I went for the Japanese curry with a cheese-filled burger patty in the middle and a huge heap of rice. Very Japanese, but also filling and full of flavour. Everyone at the table enjoyed their dishes, including a bowl of boiled pork that went down well too.
The highballs were strong and plentiful which helped wash it all down. That said, none of this could take away from the overall fast-food vibe of the place. The wall of kids’ toys for sale near the entrance did not help either. Oh Japan.
Click to read about Chicken Sashimi.
And the fucking robots
Japan is obsessed not just with robots but automation in general. The bloody problem is that so much of it is completely unnecessary and actually ends up making things take longer. I’ll give you one example before coming back to Gusto.
At our hotel in Hiroshima we had to queue up, hand over our passport, and get a QR code. Then we had to queue again at a machine to enter our details for the keycard. The machine refused to recognize I was staying alone and kept asking for another passport. Luckily, I have two. The crazy part was there were two staff members standing around to help, but they did not just hand over the keys, which would have been way quicker.
Anyway, the same nonsense happened at Cafe Restaurant Gusto. You are meant to order from a tablet, but the tablet would not work. The waiter refused to take the order verbally and insisted it had to be on the tablet. Once you finally order, the food arrives on an electric tray carrier that barely qualifies as a robot. This robot spins around like a confused toddler, then you have to stand up and grab your food. It is not kitsch or fun, it is just dumb.
Locations of Cafe Restaurant Gusto
There is a Gusto right near the Fuji Visitor Center in the town of Fujiyoshida, making it an easy spot for dinner after hiking or sightseeing around Mount Fuji. The chain has thousands of locations all over Japan including in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, so if you are after bad service from humans and robots alike then you are in!
Address near Mount Fuji
Cafe Restaurant Gusto
2 Chome-6-12 Fujikawaguchiko, Minamitsuru District, Yamanashi 401-0301, Japan
Phone +81 555-83-5701
Click to check my tours to Japan with YPT.