People all over the world know about McDonalds, and I wrote about Mos Burger in Japan here. Another fast food option I’d like to introduce to everyone is called Lotteria. This one is a straight up burger shop that has a menu similar to McDonalds, unlike Mos Burger which goes out of its way to offer a Japanese twist on the fast food burger idea.
My personal favorite burger is called the Zetsumyou Burger (pictured to the right). The meat is meaty and good, and it’s topped with lots of good lettuce, tomato, and onion. Everytime I’ve had it, the lettuce has been fresh and crunchy, which really made it tasty.
Some of the other burgers they offer are the Zeppin Burger, and the Straight Burger, including some with double patties. The difference is in the toppings.
In the zetsumyo burger 
picture, you can see the 360 yen price for the burger by itself, and the 660 yen price (reduced from 690 yen) for the medium sized potato set.
However, the best thing about Lotteria, although not cheap by fast food standards, is that if you add 30 yen to the set menu price, you can trade up from french fries to a whole potato baked at high temperatures, and served with the option of salt (no extra charge), butter (30 yen), *mentaiko cream sauce (40 yen), or caramel sauce (40 yen).
I always order the potato as it feels like a healthy alternative to french fries, and is quite delicious. Don’t be afraid to try the caramel sauce or the mentaiko if you are in Japan. Mentaiko is a little salty, a little fishy so fans of other types of caviar and roe may enjoy it.
Here’s the link to Lotteria’s menu, and if you are in Japan, you can often find Lotteria shops in mall food courts, train stations, parking areas, and sometimes out on the street. The menu is in Japanese, but maybe you can get an idea from this. You can click on the upper left links to see burgers, side menus, the morning menu, and kids meals, as well as their “umayasui menu” which is Lotteria’s answer to other fast food shops’ low price options.
Here’s the commercial for the zetsumyo burger I mentioned above!
Looks good, doesn’t it?
*The mentaiko cream sauce is the roe of the pollock fish, and often served in Japan as a pasta sauce, or even spread on bread. There is also a spicy version.