Hokkaido Pizza Peace in Comichi, Chuo-ku, Sapporo

As we work to create the best list of pizza restaurants in Sapporo, we add this review of the so-called “¥500 pizza” at Hokkaido Pizza Peace, in the Comichi “food mall” in Chuo-ku. If you think that price sounds good, don’t forget the cover charge (which is another ¥500) and that you also have to buy a drink.

Below we’ll explain the many rules for Hokkaido Pizza Peace, and show you what we think of their pizza.

Hokkaido Pizza Peace is located in Comichi. Comichi (which means “small street” in Japanese) has hints of a tradition in Japan called a “yokocho” – which are clusters of little bars and eateries in an alley. Comichi is a forced, artificial, indoor yokocho, built recently (2023?). Hokkaido Pizza Peace is on 2F.

I lived in this neighborhood when Comichi opened, and I’ve never liked it; it’s crowded, and with the grease in the air from several kitchens, it’s (uncomfortably) smokey inside. There are entrances on two sides of the building; one side touching the Tankukikouji shotengai. I’m sure plenty of local Japanese eat in Comichi, but for my tastes – it feels like tourist trap.

A narrow, smokey, tourist trap… with pizza.

¥500 pizza sounds good, and I bet they pull in a lot of tourists with that line. But the chance to eat ¥500 pizza comes with rules.

The rules are: you have to pay a 500 JPY “cover charge.” Or a “seat charge.” Or the “otoshi” fee. This kind of fee is actually common in Japan, but it’s a “tax” you don’t have to pay at most other pizza places in Sapporo. He offers “free popcorn” with the 500 JPY, but… who cares.

The second rule is that you also have to buy a drink. You’d probably buy a drink anyway, but at Hokkaido Pizza Peace, it’s a “rule.” So… to sit down at this particular smokey pizza stand, you start with a 1000 JPY bill before you even order your “cheap pizza.”

Before I could sit down he made agree to rules. It was cold, unfriendly, and an inhospitable start. “Yes, yes,” I said. I was already impatient. When I agreed, he nodded to a counter seat and I sat down.

I don’t like any of this. I would never eat at a place like this; I ate at Hokkaido Pizza Peace just one time, and only so I could (take some very nice pictures and) write this review.

So, let’s get to it.

The pizza menu offers up 10 choices: Five tomato sauce pizzas (Margherita, Marinara, Spicy Hot with Pepperoni, Anchovy & Garlic, and the B&G Olive); Three basil varieties (Basil Salami, Basil Mozzarella, and Basil Tomato); and two white sauce pizzas (White Garlic and White Mushroom).

They are a one-man shop, and because they have a tiny (electric?) pizza oven, the pizzas come slow. That is not my opinion; it’s posted on the wall. If this place was busy, you’d wait a very long time.

The guy was almost rude when he sat me down (100% focused his rules), but was nicer when he realized I could speak some Japanese. I’m not a tourist, but I’m sure he thought I was. That might give you an idea of how you’ll be treated if you show up there and can’t speak Japanese. I bet a lot of the tourists hate the ¥500 seat charge – as they should.

We know the rules include “free popcorn” for that ¥500 seat fee, but…

You might notice the popcorn machine is clean, and un-used, so the popcorn he served me was… yesterday’s popcorn; soft and stale. Everything about this place is set up for their convenience, not the customers.

Anyway, maybe the pizza would be good? So I hoped.

From their menu, I was interested to try the green basil pizzas (I literally just wrote about the Genovese Pizza at Italian イタリアン Circo), so that was how I choose to spend my next 500 yen at this shop.

Basil Salami Pizza: Basil Sauce, Salami
— From the pizza menu at Hokkaido Pizza Peace

Before I could taste anything, the warm smells were in the air. I could also smell the fresh pepper. The first bite was creamy; cheese and pepper, but maybe not mozzarella? Maybe a cheese blend?

That first slice finished with the taste of salt and a reasonably tasty pizza crust. That’s it, that’s the one nice thing I’m going to say about this place.

His crust is good. My favorite part.

Second slice: Again – melted cheese, but more like a cheese sandwich (that is not a compliment). There is some salami on this pizza, but I could never taste it. The basil sauce is very thinly applied; it is unnoticeable, you can’t taste it either. That green sauce looks pretty good, but there is no sense of basil flavor.

As I finished my third slice, I declared to myself that that cheese mix is not successful. It is generically savory, but there is nothing “Italian” about this pizza at all. It gives off a flavor that might as well be “German,” or some generic cuisine outside of the category of pizza.

He didn’t know it when I sat down, but I am the unofficial Official Pizza Czar of Japan. I have eaten at almost every significant pizza restaurant in Japan (I’m not kidding, over 100 shops, check out my list of pizza in Tokyo), and I say with authority: Hokkaido Pizza Peace doesn’t really make pizza, not really. If you know pizza in Japan (and I do), you’ll know some café and restaurants try to make pizza on a flour tortilla (which is a terrible idea, very sad “pizza”); those pizzas are very bad, and this one is only slightly better than that. They make a real crust in this shop, but otherwise, this is a low-priced “simulated pizza experience.”

Which brings me to the reviews. Google Maps ranks this place as 4.8 stars, as of it was a very good pizza – and it is most definitely not. Not even close. It is an overpriced, mediocre experience (maybe worse than mediocre). It is one of the worst pizzas in Sapporo (someday we’ll do a review of Buddy Buddy here in Sapporo, they make a “bar pizza” which is not real pizza, but is much better than this place). Hokkaido Pizza Peace is 2.9 out of 5.0. Or a 2.5. Almost every other pizza on our list is better.

We actually have a lot of really good pizza in Sapporo these days.  Even on foot, in a 10-minute walk from Comichi, you could be eating really good pizza.  Savoy Ezo, Italian Circo Pizza, and Osteria Salvatore are to the north, closer to Sapporo Station.  Near Susukino station you’ll find Pizzeria Circo (in the Cocono) and Circo Vivo (same company, two different shops). A little further to the west, you could eat at Pizzeria del Capitan (you should try their smoked mackerel pizza, it’s fantastic). A couple of those shops have “seat charges” also, but definitely much better pizza (and a better environment as well). Very close by you’ll find Dalsegno Pizza – which I don’t like very much, but is 10X better than this place.

Hokkaido Pizza Peace is “tourist pizza.” Or “amusement park pizza.” Or “airport snack bar pizza.” The inflated reviews on Google make those reviews worthless. And at the risk of sounding ego-manical, one of the reasons this site exists is to give you better local knowledge than those rankings.

I don’t personally like the yokocho experience, and in case, I have seen much better versions of this same concept other places. In Nagoya, Pizza and Burrata Vespa is in a yokochu; similarly crowded, but cooler – and that shop makes a unique and delicious pizza.

Eager to leave Comichi, I finished my meal by tearing off the crust on the last two slices (the crust is good), finishig those bites, and then jumping up to pay my bill and take off.

Truth in advertising: I looked at that receipt it was 1760 JPY for a seat, a pizza, a beer, and some stale popcorn. For around 1800 JPY, you can get a full-sized pizza of much, much higher quality almost everywhere else. That doesn’t include a beer, but the food would be 10X better, and a more comfortable atmosphere.

Of that 1760 JPY, the 500 seat charge is 28% of your bill. For what, exactly? Charging for a seat, in a half-empty restaurant is not a smart idea or a good value. Zero reason to pay that. Say no, pick a better spot.

Hokkaido Pizza Peace was a pretty bad experience. I wish them well, but I won’t be back.

Pizza in Sapporo

— For an outstanding garlicky Marinara pizza, check out Da Massimo in Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo
— The Savoy Pizza in Sapporo is a great choice (in Chuo-ku)
— There are three Circo Pizza restaurants; the Pizzeria Circo Cocono, the Sapporo Circo Vivo restaurant, and the Italian Circo Pizza (near Sapporo Station)
— Sapporo’s Pizzeria del Capitan is not far away at the other end of Tanukikouji
— Pizzeria Bocchi makes a high-end, gourmet Napoletana pizza in Sapporo
— The farmers from Makino Farms make wonderful little Neapolitan pizza at Makino Pizza (one or two days a month, only)
— A very formulaic Napoletana pizza at Dalsegno Pizza in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— A new downtown location for the chain store Osteria Salvatore Sapporo Pizza is in this same neighborhood
— To the west, Pluis Pizza in Nishi-ku makes a fantastic pizza
— Quirky neighborhood style pizza at the American-theme Smile Kitchen Pizza Diner
— A family style experience at Higashi-ku’s Orso Pizzeria Gelato in Sapporo
— The only New York pizza slices at Pizza Joint Pike in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— There is a full menu that includes good Neapolitan-style pizza at Agora Pizza in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— One of the worst Chicago pizzas in all of Japan can be found at The Craft in Susukino in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— Vecchia Roma Pizza in Nishi-ku, Sapporo