An Aussie traveller recently in Japan was stunned to learn that Sizzler restaurants are still in existence – and even thriving.

The tourist discovered the once-popular buffet restaurant open and operational during a recent visit to the Japanese city of Shinjuku – complete with the same green ‘Australian’ branding he remembered.

Sharing the food find on his Tiktok account @onsennoodlesthe man was floored to observe that the restaurant chain was still open in Japan – years after the last Aussie Sizzler shut its doors.

‘What, what, I thought it was dead,’ the man exclaimed at the start of the 19-second videowhich zoomed in towards the iconic Sizzler restaurant sign.

‘Aussies! Sizzler is alive and well in Shinjuku,’ read the overlaid text on the video, which has since been viewed over 435,000 times.

The short clip is filmed outside the restaurant and showcases the unchanged and instantly recognisable signage, façade and décor.

‘It’s actually fully – it’s a buffet!’ gasped the stunned man as he scanned around the restaurant interior.

The viral video quickly garnered over 18,000 likes from nostalgic Aussies who were delighted to learn that Sizzler wasn’t completely extinct.

The comments section erupted with calls from Aussies campaigning for the restaurant to make a long overdue comeback Down Under.

‘We need to bring Sizzlers back to Australia,’ demanded one much-liked reply.

‘Petition for Sizzler to come back to Oz,’ another agreed.

‘Sizzlers come back! We can treat you better this time,’ added another.

But some of the TikTok video replies pointed out that although Sizzler was long gone in Australia, it had continued to successfully operate in overseas locations – Japan included.

‘To my knowledge Sizzler only failed in Australia. They still exist in a lot of other places,’ read the top-liked reply.

The family steakhouse chain, which was founded in 1958 in California, still has numerous restaurants open in the States.

In the US, Sizzler restaurants are primarily in California, but there are also venues in Puerto Rico, Utah, and Oregon.

Internationally, Sizzler restaurants are currently open in Japan as well as Thailand.

Prices vary between locations, but an online menu for the Shinjuku Sizzler restaurant reveals that dining at the Sizzler Salad Bar costs ¥3773 (AU$39) for dinner or ¥3,014 (AU$31) for lunch.

Other popular menu items include the rib-eye beef steak & Salad Bar, which costs ¥4,851 (AU$50) at lunchtime.

Aussies who’d visited the Sizzler outlets in Japan confirmed that the experience had lived up to their memories and expectations.

‘(Not gonna lie), we got Sizzler on our last day in Tokyo. Extra cheese toast was ordered,’ one Aussie replied.

The first Australian Sizzler opened in July 1985 in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Annerley – and the business operated in Australia for 35 years.

At its peak in 1993, there were 83 Sizzler restaurants open across the country.

The final Australian-based Sizzler restaurants were closed in late 2020. At the time, their popularity was already in rapid decline – and this was only accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The main attraction of Sizzler restaurants is their renowned all-you-can eat Salad Bar.

Previously in Australia, prices for the buffet started from $19.95 per person, offering diners the chance to load up on the Salad Bar’s extensive range of choices, which  included pumpkin soup, pesto pasta and desserts.

But the iconic dish that remains most fondly remembered is their signature cheese toast.

Demographer Mark McCrindle previously offered Daily Mail an explanation for why the once popular American restaurant chain and its all-you-can-eat model went out of fashion.

‘(G)reat nostalgia, but the fact is we’ve all changed,’ he told Daily Mail in late 2020.

‘That cheesy toast, we look back with such warm affection – but the reality is would we still go for it?’

The demographer cited how Australians’ changing taste preferences in the 2000s – greatly influenced by our multicultural society – meant that Sizzler’s offering became bland by comparison.

‘Our culinary tastes are more culturally diverse,’ Mark noted at the time.

Mark also acknowledged how all-you-can-eat dining experiences – like Sizzler and Pizza Hut – also fell out of fashion at this time.

‘It’s (no longer) just about the value for money – “I’m going to spend this much and get all I can, I can go to the buffet 16 times”.’

Mark added that expectations of what Australians considered a dining out ‘experience’ started to shift in the 2000s from previous decades, seeing diners start to opt for restaurants that offered ‘ambiance’ and better matched their ‘lifestyle’.