About 46 minutes by car from Naha Airport, in Kitanakagusuku Village, there is an American restaurant that reminds one of the good old days in the United States. With its red triangular roof and white walls, it looks like something you would find in the American countryside. Once inside, you will find a lovely country-style interior. The menu is as large as it gets. The food is hearty and reasonably priced, a unique Okinawan experience!
Point 1: Get intoxicated by the good old American atmosphere at the “Rose Garden!
With its red triangular roof and white walls, the exterior of the restaurant looks like something you would expect to find in the United States. Once inside, I found classic tables and chairs with flower-patterned tablecloths. The walls were decorated with many pictures.
Yes, it looks like a scene from an American TV drama from the 1970s. I know it gives away my age, but I am sure I was watching it dubbed since there was no such thing as bilingual broadcasts like now (lol).
On the table was a rose in a silver vase. Salt and pepper and paper napkins. In Japan, restaurants with the name “grill” used to have this style.
In the U.S., if you go to the suburbs of New York or LA, you can still find restaurants like this.
The owner of “Rose Garden” is an American, Mr. Ray Payne. He came to Okinawa in 1960 as a manager for Pepsi-Cola, and after leaving the company, he started several restaurants, offering different cultures to Americans living in the area as well as to the locals.
What a surprise, that Elvis Presley lived in the neighborhood!
Incidentally, the still popular Sam’s Anchor Inn steak restaurant is one of the restaurants he founded.
Point 2: What is the menu of “Rose Garden” like?
So what does the Rose Garden menu have to offer?
The menu can be broadly divided into breakfast, lunch, and a set dinner menu, as well as an amazing array of single items, including pasta, house original dishes, salads, fries, and much more.
Breakfast includes pancakes, waffles, eggs Benedict, ribeye steak, and pork chops. French toast and omelets are also available.
For lunch, you can order the same menu items as breakfast, but as a lunch special, you get soup, salad, and bread or rice.
You can also change the soup to clam chowder (250 yen), onion soup, or minestrone (200 yen).
It is fun to have pancakes with bacon, etc., or to have the same menu for breakfast and lunch.
The price is very reasonable at around 1,300 yen for a hearty set that includes two pancakes or waffles, two eggs, and a drink.
Point 3: Dinner at “Rose Garden” is sumptuous!
Here at Rose Garden, we are open until 9:00 p.m. and dinner is also available.
For dinner, you can choose from single dishes such as steak, seafood, pasta, fried dishes, etc., or a “combination” of steak and seafood, or a “special course” that includes an appetizer, soup, salad, dessert, and coffee with the main dish.
The most expensive lobster course, which is as large as it gets, costs only about 5,300 yen, so you can see why the prices are so reasonable even for such a luxurious dish.
The “house special,” which includes a salad and drink, is the Louisiana Gumbo (1,890 yen) and the Beef Stew Chantilly, which can be described as very American.
The taste is, of course, well known, but the portions seem to be too large for the Japanese.
