Tokachi Beer

This place is annoying. Of the three brewpubs in obihiro, this one has the most pretention. They want to be the elegant place in town, bu it's a failure. Prices are high; service is good for the customer, but the guy was yelling at his waitress in front of us, which I didn't find very professional. They have two entrances, one of which is crappy and should be closed. I didn't eat there, so I can't talk about the food. And I couldn't read their menu either. The decoration is incredibly cheesy and doesn't really make sense with the kind of snobby place they're trying to have: a fake jungle in the middle looked totally ridiculous to me. They also seemed to promote wine more than their own brews, which I found weird. The only positive thing is they're making a few good beers. I think I wish their beers were crappy, so I could just hate them.

From the street, this place looks great, with a huge version of their bottle label wrapped around the building (painted on). The entrance (there were two we later learned) that we entered from was a tight hallway with random things like machinery and wires strewn about and nobody to receive us until we were halfway into the restaurant. Once through the hallway, the restaurant opens into a bizarre tropical jungle scene that seemed beyond tacky.

Much of the seating is on the 2nd floor which is partially hidden from the ground floor. The menu was standard Japanese, and a little expensive. Beer was also a little on the expensive side. There were no seasonal beers available besides a "Hasukappu" one, which was also bottled.

The bar area was perhaps the nicest looking part of the place, but it was squished right next to, and almost INTO the shop and cash register area near the second exit--which ruined quite a bit of any shot at atmosphere they had going for them.

There was also an unhealthy focus it seemed on wine, with wine bottles everywhere and the menu featuring FAR more wines than beers.

A disappointing experience from such a well-known Hokkaido Brewery.