Beer Garden Smackdown!

A couple of nights ago we went to the Kirin Beer Garden for the first time. Now it's time for a point-by-point comparison between the Kirin Beer Garden and the Sapporo Beer Garden.

Location: the location of the Kirin Beer Garden right next to the Nakajima subway station is a huge plus. The Sapporo Beer Garden is not very close to any subway station. There is a bus that goes there, but I've never actually ridden it. Winner: Kirin.

Appearance: Outside, the Kirin Beer Garden looks kind of boring, just a big tall building, and inside the lobby, it looks sort of like sterile hotel reception area. In contrast, Sapporo Beer Garden has a nice setting. The reception area is in its own building that has character. Winner: Sapporo.

Souvenier Shopping: Kirin Beer Garden's souvenier shopping was sadly lacking. Sapporo's reception area has a full omiyage shop, complete with steins and Hokkaido food specialties. Winner: Sapporo.

Room Atmosphere: We sat in Kirin's Space Craft room which was rather modern, and frankly lacking in a lot of visual interest. It does, however, have a large video screen on one wall where you can watch them BBQ oysters and read the specials (well, if you can read Kanji, which we can't). Sapporo Beer Garden has better tables and more character, and just seems like a more authentic place. Winner: Sapporo.

Drinking Experience: Well, I have to hand it to Kirin here. We ordered the Tower of Beer which is really tall and holds 4 liters of beer right at the table (picture coming soon). We drank a whole tower, plus 2 more partial towers. That may very well have been the highlight of the evening. So, even though I think I like Sapporo beer better, the Kirin experience was too good. Winner: Kirin.

Food: The Kirin grill was non-stick, which was pretty cool. Unfortunately, that's about the best thing I can say about it. The meat itself... well, the funniest thing I can say about the meat is that they asked us if we wanted "row style" which in the end we figured out was non-marinated and probably was supposed to be "raw." Maybe we should have ordered the marinated meat, because the meat wasn't that tasty. It just didn't have that much flavor, even with the dipping sauce. The pieces were a nice slabby thickness though. In contrast, I really like the meat at the Sapporo place, and the dipping sauce is tastier. And since we're there for the meat... Winner: Sapporo.

Did I have fun at the Kirin Beer Garden? Hell yeah! More fun than I did at the Sapporo Beer Garden? Yep. But, I think it was the good company, the alcohol and the fact that we followed it up with a couple hours of (expensive) karaoke.

Final score: Kirin 2, Sapporo 4.

Matt and I are off for mega-family vacation. Be in touch from Kyoto!