Gyoza no Ohsho

Rating: Not great
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 1778 yen
Payment:  Cash only
Dishes: Fried rice, gyoza and fried rice teishoku, sesame balls
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Gyoza no Ohsho (Gyoza King maybe?), is a chain of Japanese Chinese restaurants that are (maybe?) famous for their gyoza, at least that's what it appears from the name.  They have tons of branches in Japan (Wikipedia says over 600), and the only other thing I recall is that the owner was shot to death in Kyoto a couple of years ago (they say it may have been yakuza related).  Anyone getting shot in Japan is big news, so that memory kind of stuck.  Yet for some reason I have rarely eaten there, probably because it isn't very good.

As my son and I cast about for unreviewed Chinese restaurants to eat at, the pickings are getting slim, and I gratefully recalled Ohsho.  My son ordered his usual fried rice and was satisfied.  I was tempted by what appeared to be a special deep fried katsu roll of some kind, but figured I should go with one of the many cheap teishokus and ended up with a fried rice and gyoza combo.  The fried rice was ok, and so were the gyoza.  Meh?

It was cheap though, I'll give it that, and ubiquitous, so if you end up liking it, it will always be close by.