RResidents in Japan

Fake items on the menu – is this true?

I’m a big fan of Cherry Cola and whenever my girlfriend and I go to a restaurant with Cherry Cola on the menu (usually a US-style restaurant), I always order it however 100% of the time I am told it is sold out. My girlfriend said that some restaurants in Japan add fake menu items to make the place seem foreign and cool. I couldn’t believe it as I have never heard of a restaurant doing this in the UK.

Is this actually true? have you ever experienced it? Have you ever ordered a Cherry Cola and it was in stock?

24 comments

  1. Like, on the actual menu with other items you can order?

    I’ve seen restaurants that have fake chalkboard type decorations with food items listed on it in english, where I’m nearly 100% sure it’s just something they bought online and hung up to look cool, but I’ve never heard of fake items on the actual menu you can order other items off of.

    It could be possible they listed it when they had it in stock but they just don’t sell enough to restock regularly… or something like that?

  2. I’ve seen it in import stores, but I’ve never ordered it in a restaurant because I’m not six years old

    Edit: Maybe I should try it again sometime, looks like it’s very popular

  3. Never seen that…but then I usually drink water because I’m cheap and they don’t do free refills here anyway.

  4. Japanese don’t drink enough soda (pop for your weirdos) to make it worth stocking at restaurants. I’m surprised it’s even on the menu, probably a US inspired restaurants.

  5. Probably an old menu? But I have definitely experienced this before. I tried a few times to order something on different days. I just gave up going there.

  7. Cherry Coke was discontinued in Japan due to poor sales, then brought back as a seasonal item. I think it’s completely discontinued again but I could be wrong.

    So it probably was on the menu before rather than being a “fake item”. Maybe it’s still occasionally available, but it’s obviously not too popular in Japan so they wouldn’t put it on the menu only to seem “foreign and cool”.

  8. Can you tell us which restaurant you visited? Perhaps it was a regular option before and, now that it’s no longer available, they haven’t removed/scratched it from the menu.

  9. I’ve heard this happens too! I hope it isn’t the case though.

    What is also likely is that they had it at some point, but it isn’t popular enough to restock (or perhaps a problem with imports) and they just haven’t updated the menu yet. A lot of places that sell “Cherry Coke” in Japan also sell Coke with a cherry syrup added (rather than original Cherry Coke), so it’s also possible what they’ve run out of is the syrup and not Cherry Coke.

    (Despite what others say you can buy Cherry Coke — usually from import stores like Kaldi, occasionally at Don Quijote — so though it might be a move to “look foreign” it isn’t that difficult of an item to find.)

  10. I think there was a incident with sushi-chain Sushiro recently, which your GF might be referring too. Sushiro always has 期間限定 items on their menu that change every month/every season etc. These are often limited in quantity too and can sell out quickly. But apparently Sushiro didn’t have any of their 期間限定 items in stock at most of their locations and would just list them as “sold out” from the get-go. People who went there first thing in the morning and saw the “sold out” sign apparently caught on and it became a bit of a scandal.

  13. I went to an American style hamburger shop last Valentine’s Day (we all have our own idea of romance) and had a Cherry Coke. I hadn’t had one for a long time. It was good.

  14. Maybe they make their own cherry coke with grenadine, but were out of syrup?

    A lot of small cafes will only stock so much product for a day and then try to sell out of as much as possible to limit waste.

  15. Just like with root beer here, cherry coke can be found at a lot of food import stores. As for restaurants, probably the simplest explanation holds, they have it occasionally. I can’t see some restaurant owner putting cherry coke on the menu with a plan to be “cool” and never have it in stock.

  17. I’ve never heard of a restaurant doing that nor have I ever been to one that does. The most annoying restaurant I’ve ever been to for items being 完売 or 終了 is the Hama Zushi where we often eat lunch at on our Saturday afternoon shopping trips. I know they’re not faking it on the menu, though, because sometimes they have the desired items and sometimes they don’t.

  19. Is that the case with Starbucks pumpkin spice latte? I’ve been to several across different prefectures in Kanto and it’s always sold out. But there’s some purple, lean looking drink that’s available.

    Has anyone ordered it?

  20. I once ordered a new pizza on Domino’s website, they made me add it to the cart, went all the way to pay, put my CC details in, and then got a message from the store saying “thanks for participating in our secret survey. We currently don’t offer this pizza but we are testing for customer interest. For your inconvenience, please accept this free pizza coupon” and then I had to go choose some other “real” pizza to get. I was pleasantly surprised cause I got a free pizza but a bit disappointed too. Never seen it happen again though

  22. Arms burgers by Yoyogi park has cherry coke, and I’ve ordered it a few times, so I’ve been to a restaurant with cherry coke 🙂

    But, last time I went they didn’t have any, but that is more related to the hassles of importing in recent times. National Azabu also didn’t have any (but did have cherry drpepper).

  23. Yeah, well to me it’s similar to how menu items at restaurants (specially fast food) look great in images and photos but mediocre on your plate or tray. But I agree with you that it’s sort of irritating.

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