Sukiya, a beef bowl chain in Japan, was temporarily shut down and renovated after a customer posted a photo of them discovering a whole dead mouse in their miso soup.
Japan has several fast-casual food chains, meant to serve up good, humble food at a low price point. Sukiya is one of those chains, known mainly for their gyudon (beef over rice) as well as some curry options. It’s a small, simple, and cheap menu.
However, every meal can come with a value set that includes a bowl of miso soup. Unfortunately for one customer, they chose the wrong day to get soup.
On January 21, 2025, a customer reported that they found a dead mouse in their soup. The image spread around online for a while, with Sukiya finally acknowledging and apologizing on March 22 and admitting that, yes, the rodent was indeed real.
Sukiya apologizes & temporarily shuts down restaurant
According to Yahoo News Japan, the origin of the image that got spread around was a Google review for one of their Tottori City locations, one that clearly displayed the carcass in their bowl.
After months of speculation from concerned customers, Sukiya finally admitted the image was real and addressed the problem.
While the original google review has been pulled, the image is still out there.
Sukiya Japan had this to say in response:
“Around 8:00 a.m. on January 21, a customer at the store pointed out to an employee that a foreign object had been found in the miso soup before it was eaten. The employee also visually inspected the soup on the spot and confirmed that a foreign object had been found. An investigation into the cause of the contamination determined that the object was found in one of the bowls when the ingredients for miso soup were being prepared,” they explained.
“The employee neglected to visually inspect the product before serving it, and the soup was served without noticing the object. The store did not serve products that were likely to be contaminated to anyone other than the customer in question.”
Though it took more than 2 months for the company to respond after the image was posted online, they claim the store was closed immediately after the mouse was found.
“We temporarily closed the store immediately after the incident, conducted a hygiene inspection, and took measures against cracks in the building that could have led to contamination, as well as providing strict training to employees on hygiene management, such as visual inspection of products before serving them,” the statement claims.
However, the restaurant re-opened 2 days after the rat was discovered. This, combined with the fact that it took two months for them to respond, left locals dissatisfied with their response.
As a result, this specific location was changed to be the “Disneyland Branch” for a brief time before Google manually reverted the location’s name and kept people from changing it.
However, the location’s google reviews still contain people posting pictures of the mouse and telling others not to go there.
Here’s an excerpt from the above review: “Despite serving mouse soup, they concealed the fact for two months. After it was featured on social media, they were forced to announce it on their website the next day as if it was someone else’s problem.”
Content shared from www.dexerto.com.