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Henry’s Pizza in Chuo-ku, Osaka

Staff Rating:

+81667664312

Tanimachi 4-chome Station

4 Chome-2-2 Tanimachi, Chuo Ward

[see on the map]

In our search to find the best pizza in Osaka Japan, we bring you: Henry’s Pizza in Osaka’s Chuo ward (a couple blocks to the southeast of Osaka Castle) – a very fine pizza spot, delivered in a mix of old and new, and artfully done.

Osaka’s Henry’s Pizza is in a big, free-standing, three-story building. That is a lot of Osaka real estate for a pizza slice joint (which makes me a little curious about backstory on this place). The style is very “America,” from the pizza to the interior design. It’s all new, and it’s real nice.

Henry’s Pizza is one of several pizza slice places in Osaka, and they do slices right. There’s a big beautiful display case, four-five flavors, ovens in the background (on standby) ready to re-heat your slice. They rep Budweiser (iconic, but perhaps not worth importing or hyping), and they have a soda machine. They have garlic knots. They are missing a few standup arcade games, but other than that, they have the classic American pizza experience prettied dialed in. And they do it without having an stale retro wannabe feel to it. I like all of this (well, not the Budweiser, but all the rest of it).

I teased something about “old and new” in the intro to this piece; so let’s start with the traditional, classic, older elements of Henry’s:

As you roll through the front doors, you get an almost “diner” feel. There is a relatively new hamburger chain in the US called “Five Guys,” and Henry’s has a similar in a “very American” way, with the same “simple but sublime” attention to detail. It’s concrete floors. White, shiny, ceramic tiles. It’s the stainless steel. Clean, simple, to the point of art. Good job.

Osaka’s Henry’s Pizza is actually much bigger than most NYC slice places. In fact, the entire first floor is spacious and underutilized. They have room to let you come in, stretch out, and pick our your slice from the inside. The second floor is dedicated to seating. The third floor was completely empty, and felt like an art gallery, or a place to through a little party, or both.

On my first visit I got a Veggie slice, and a Jalapeno with Cream Cheese.

Both were very good slices, but the Jalapeno with Cream Cheese was a particularly excellent combination. I basically can’t read (Japanese), so I thought the cream cheese was going to be ricotta. It was only after I took a few surprising bites that I looked at the menu again; cream cheese, okay, got it. The way the cream cheese hits versus the spice of the jalapeno – bangin’. Damn good pizza, based on the cheese-sauce-crust combo alone. Add in that spicy-cream-ness, well done.

And then, we have the garlic knots. Ouuuu-ah. Ohh yeah.

Does the average Japanese person know what to expect from a garlic knot? I doubt it. But for Americans, this is a garlic-y bread-y perfection, but a kind of low-end, simple, “Sbarro” supremacy. A garlic knot, she is a very simple thing. And even more so when she comes delivered unceremoniously in a little flap of tin foil. But pizza dough and garlic and oil and oregano… can go a long way toward a simple happiness. And as you tear into your first (or you 5000th) garlic knot, you will instantly know what I mean.

Hungry yet?

Another “old” thing to get excited about are the red pepper flakes.

The Japan like their spice. But when it comes to pizza, they have what seems from my perspective to be the strange tradition of putting Tabasco on their pizza (and Louisiana hot sauce has nothing to do with pizza). Almost every pizza shop in Japan you go to has a few bottles of Tabasco available, and you can shake a few red-hot drops of that spicy sauce onto your pizza to give it some heat. That is a perfectly fine tradition (odd, as it is), but in opting for Tabasco, the Japanese leapfrog over the traditional source of spice, which is red pepper flakes.

The whole process of grabbing that round, clear container of spicy red pepper flakes, and shaking them onto your slice, is part of the pizza experience (at least in the US). When I was a kid, getting pizza delivered to your door almost always included a few packets of red pepper flakes (my house had a whole drawer full of them). The flavor, and even the smell – it’s classic pizza experience. And Henry’s knows it – and is one of the only places in Japan I have ever seen proper pepper flakes on the counter (Hughes Pizza in Kita-ku also serves up the flakes).

If you look in the shots in this review, you’ll see the flakes and seeds are in play. Another reason to love Henry’s pizza in Chuo-ku.

(The beat up Ice Cube sticker is random, but I like it.)

Old and new, huh? Here is some of the “new:”

Big mean speakers in the corners of the ceiling bumping, aggressive (but groovin’, occasionally nerve-wracking) trap music. The Circle Jerks poster is offset with a modern Mark Gonz print (and some tired, “social justice” agitprop, circa summer of 2020).

And they don’t take cash (say what?); credit only. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you can’t be “punk” if you don’t take cash. That part of Henry’s is a little “social credit China” for my tastes.

Okay, so: Let’s say you think a simple pizza spot shouldn’t require a paper trail to buy a slice, perhaps the very old-school soda machine will bring you back down to earth.

There was a time in my life when I never let a day go buy without a fountain soda. There is something about a wax cup, and the free-flowing fizz of a Coke from a soda machine that is a kind of familiar perfection for an American brat (like me). In this case, I opt’d for a Dr Pepper (for the second time that week, I’d also went after “The Doctor” at Ogimachi Love Burrito, as few days earlier that week).

There is all that seating area upstairs, and the decor continues the clean minimalism (with whitewalls and more stainless tabletops). Henry’s takes the high-style a step further, with the hardwood floors that look to be made from up-cycled wood (my guess is they are using the wood from a bowling alley (?) or a gymnasium(?)) – dissembled, resembled, and repurposed. Cool.

I brought my slices (2), my Dr P (1), and my knotted garlic (1) upstairs. I settled down in the far corner, with a killer view of the street from the 2nd floor. I vibed through the trap bangers. I ate pizza. It was cool. I like Henry’s.

However, if I want to heckle them (beyond the too-cool-for-cash issue), I might add:

My gawd, the 2400 yen sticker pack (~~unpictured, because,~~ “shame on you”) is lame.

Can I get a sticker? “Sure. 2400 yen.” 240 yen, uh, um, oh, o-okay. “No, no, 24-hundred-yen. Don’t worry, you can put in your credit card and make payments.” Just think about it: at a little over 500 JYP per week, in just over a month you will have paid off your sticker debt. Ahhh, that is so embarrassing.

As Henry’s wants you to cough up all that “cash” (or rather – charged) they compete with the laughable ridiculous of a similar BS sticker pack at “Princess Coffee” in Shinsekaibashi. If you get around much, you’ll know half the places in Osaka will give you a sticker for $0 – which makes sense: shop stickers help that business to get their name out (that is what stickers are for) and to help market their proddy. To kick the customer right in the wallet area – for the privilege of helping them advertise – that’s a too much for me. Lame, lame, lame.

I like Henry’s – but the “sticker-shock” is up there with “least cool moments in pizza shop history.” Booo. Hssss. Booo.

Let’s get the vibe back here, though, and I’ll say, emphatically (criticisms aside):

Henry’s is a cool spot. I am of the opinion that slices are not the ultimate way to do pizza, but as slices go, Henry’s is top shelf. I would come back. I would bring friends. I got hungry for another Henry’s experience just doing this write up.

One more thing to love about Henry’s is that there is a skateboard undercurrent to this shop. We had a little bit of interaction with a skateboard shop in Osaka called GOOD TIMES, and they were sharing a flier (also Budweiser inspired… you don’t have to be the world’s most righteous restaurant reviewer to notice a trend here) for a skateboard vid premier at Henry’s.

It was also true that (on the day I was there) there was a genuine, real-deal set-up casually tossed under a table. It’s well ridden. And if you look close, up on the nose, there is in fact a Henry’s Pizza sticker – I hope that guy didn’t have to pay 2400 yen for it!

Okay, there you have 1300 words about Henry’s. And the final judgement is the same as the initial impressions: thumbs up. Go Henry’s.

If this review doesn’t piss you off (and it might), we could be friends. I like you so much, if we ever meet up, I’ll give you a bunch of stickers – for free. It’s good like that.