When Tokyo does themes it takes them to the extreme! From warring robots to sexy monsters and foreign butlers (yes really!), these are the best theme cafes in Tokyo, if you like your coffee to be served with a side of crazy!
Best Theme Cafes In Tokyo
1.Kawaii Monster Café
It doesn’t get any wackier than the Kawaii Monster Café in Harajuku. Imagine if a circus, a unicorn and a plate full of giant cupcakes exploded in a room and you’ll start to get an idea of the outlandish décor of this theme café.
Diners are seated in four themed areas and served by sexy ‘monsters’ with big pink hair and scary contact lenses.
The limited rainbow-themed menu is surprisingly tasty though, especially the dips they style like an artist’s palette.
There’s also a ‘show’ per sitting where the monster kawaii ladies take to a merry-go-round and dance to songs only the locals will understand. This is also your chance to get a picture with the ladies but expect to pay extra to do so. (A theme you’ll spot throughout this article).
Find it: YM Square Building 4F, 4-31-10, Jingumae, Shibuya
Fee: Entrance costs ¥500 (added to your bill at the end of the meal) and you’re required to order at least 1 main meal and a drink per person
Update 2023: Unfortunately the Kawaii Monster Cafe is permanently closed. Check out these 25 fun things to do in Tokyo instead!
2. Robot Restaurant
The Robot Restaurant is not so much a restaurant as a cabaret show in a trippy beer hall (by all accounts the food is not worth ordering).
What is worth coming for, however, is the frankly bizarre performance where giant mechanical animals ridden by scantily-clad ladies take on robots to save the world (at least I think that’s what was happening).
From the psychedelic entrance to the dance-filled finale, the Robot Restaurant is a mad, brash evening out like nothing else you’ll ever experience.
Find it: 1-7-1 Kabukicho Shinjuku-ku
Fee: Entrance fee is ¥8000. Meal fee is ¥1000 but I suggest you skip this and just order drinks instead!
The Robot Restaurant is super popular so it’s best to buy tickets in advance.
Update 2023: This restaurant is temporarily closed.
3. Maid Cafés
Photo via @home Maid Café
Dispersed among the neon-lit and geek-streaked streets of Akihabara (or Electric Town) are Tokyo’s Maid Cafes.
Maid Cafés have gone more mainstream in recent years but the slightly icky concept is that a costumed maid treats the guest as a ‘master’ who pays (through the nose) to be entertained.
One of the most well-known Maid Cafés is the seriously pink @home Maid Café in the AKB48 building. Entrance costs ¥700 and includes one photo with the maid you’ve chosen. You must order at least 1 menu item, which may not taste good but will definitely involve some sort of cutesy decoration.
Quite surprisingly women and children are welcome, with discounts offered for High School students!
Find it: Mitsuwa Bld. 4F – 7F, Sotokanda 1-11-4, Chiyoda
Fee: Entrance costs ¥700 (less for students!) but you must order at least 1 item from the menu. Additional photos and games like Connect Four are charged as extras.
Read next: Tokyo neighbourhood guide
4. Butlers Café
Foreign Butler Café Tokyo via TimeOut
Another slightly awkward concept café is the Butlers Café where women go to be treated like Princesses (or not according to this reviewer!).
The Butler Café in Shibuya is decked out like a (peeling) Victorian castle and the scripted butlers are English-speaking foreigners.
Similar to the Maid Café you are restricted as to what photos you can take and what interaction you have with the Butlers, who apparently have to escort guests to and from the toilets.
The Butler Café also insists guests order two items per person every two hours and visiting after 6pm incurs additional charges.
Find it: 11-6 Udagawa cho, Shibuya-ku
Fee: Entrance costs ¥2000 plus you have to order 2 items per person. A pizza costs ¥2300.
Looking for a quirky place to stay in Tokyo? Check out the artists rooms at Park Hotel
5. Dog Café
Photo via Dog Heart Café
Cat Cafés are so 2016. For all of us who prefer to pet pooches, Tokyo has a Dog Heart Café by Aquamarine.
Designed for dog lovers who don’t mind a mutty smell and the odd puppy piddle on the floor, Dog Heart is less a café and more of a petting centre home to Toy Poodles and a Beagle.
There’s a cover charge to get in, or if you prefer to take the dogs out for a walk you can also ‘rent’ them for one hour.
Find it: 1-45-2 Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku
Fee: ¥950/30 min, ¥1,550/60 min, one-hour dog rental ¥3,600
6. Snake Café
Photo via Tokyo Snake Center
Yes, you read that right, Tokyo has a snake café for people who aren’t freaked out at the idea of sipping coffee with a serpent.
In reality, the Tokyo Snake Centre is a little less scary than it sounds – all the slippery inhabitants are non-poisonous and will be safely in tanks for the majority of your experience.
Entrance costs ¥1,000, this includes a drink and a hold with a ssssnake of your choosing – perhaps Carrot, Marshmallow or Love will take your fancy?
Find it: Sanpo Sogo Bldg 8F, 6-5-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku
Fee: ¥1,000 yen entrance, includes 1 drink
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This post was originally published on Skyscanner Australia.
I visited the Robot Restaurant and the Maids Cafe. I have to say they were most hilarious places ever. I didn’t stop laughing while I was there.
I know just what you mean!