Visiting the Pokémon Cafe is on the hit listing for a lot of dad and mom and Pikachu followers alike, however reserving a spot to get in may be harder than reserving an ANA First Class flight.
Right here’s how my household was in a position to get in and what we considered the expertise.
The Most Widespread Themed Cafe
Japan is host to a wide range of themed cafes for standard franchises, however most likely essentially the most well-known of those is the Pokémon Cafe, impressed by the well-known Pokémon online game.
The café is a novel place the place Pokémon followers can take pleasure in a enjoyable and interactive eating expertise that options dishes and drinks impressed by the assorted Pokémon characters.
Location
The Pokémon Cafe has two everlasting areas in Japan: one in Tokyo and one in Osaka.
On our journey to Japan this previous March, we visited the Osaka location.
The Tokyo location was the primary to open in 2018, within the Nihonbashi district. It’s situated beside the Pokémon Heart of the Takashimaya division retailer, the most important official Pokémon retailer in Japan (which is price a go to by itself) and is open from 10:30am to 10pm.
The café in Osaka opened a yr later in 2019, within the Shinsaibashi district. It’s situated contained in the Daimaru division retailer and is open from 10am to 9:30pm.
Reserving a Reservation
Like every thing standard in Japan, a sophisticated reservation is required to go to both café location (a minimum of in keeping with their web site). On-line reservations develop into accessible on the cafés’ official web site 31 days previous to your deliberate go to, at 6pm Japan time.
Via the web reservation pages, you may e-book for as much as a most of 8 friends per reservation, pending availability.
To make a reservation, choose the variety of friends and the date of your go to. After this, the time slots for that day will pop up. Chances are high that you simply’ll see on a regular basis slots greyed out, which means that they’re absolutely booked and never accessible for reserving.
Time slots with blue textual content point out availability for reserving.
In relation to reserving the Pokémon Cafe, don’t make your plans anticipating to e-book a most well-liked time slot. Somewhat, e-book no matter time slot you will get after which work the remainder of your schedule round it.
Take be aware that the café in Osaka can be divided into three seating areas (A, B, C). Whereas seating space A is closest to the quick present that the café places on, as soon as once more, your greatest guess is to simply choose no matter seating is obtainable on the time of reserving.
If you’re fortunate sufficient to snag a reservation, remember the fact that reservations are for 90 minutes of eating time, no matter your arrival time, so don’t be late.
My Expertise with Reserving
First, the dangerous information – Getting a reservation on the Pokémon Cafe is like successful the lottery.
Nonetheless, as a result of the Tokyo location is extra standard, your possibilities could also be barely higher when attempting to e-book the Osaka location.
That being stated, I attempted to get a reservation three mornings in a row, solely to fail.
I set an alarm for 4:50am to be able to e-book at 5am EST, when reservations opened. At 5am, the reservation web page turned gradual and infrequently timed-out earlier than I might even see the accessible time slots.
The primary morning I caught a glimpse of an accessible time slot in blue, however by the point I clicked it, it was unavailable. An entire day of reservations was booked up inside seconds.
Reddit boards and a few blogs instructed ready 15 to twenty minutes after the reservations opened and have been absolutely booked to attempt once more, as any incomplete bookings get re-released at the moment. Sadly, this additionally didn’t work for me.
I used to be a bit discouraged by this expertise, however I additionally knew this may be the seemingly consequence.
How We Snagged a Desk
Now for the excellent news – My dedication obtained the higher of me and I continued to scan via a number of boards, and got here throughout one success story that gave me hope.
One household was in a position to get into the Osaka location and not using a reservation by merely exhibiting up on the café when it opened.
Based mostly on this, after we arrived in Osaka, I requested my children whether or not they have been keen to present it a shot. It will be 20 minutes on public transit to get there with a giant probability of being turned away and all this ending in disappointment.
The children have been onboard, so we determined to attempt our luck.
My children usually are not normally morning folks, however on that morning, all of them awakened promptly. The Pokémon Cafe in Osaka opens at 10am each day, and we ended up arriving later than I had deliberate, at 10:04am.
There have been two traces at reverse sides of the café entrance. One was for these with booked reservations and the opposite was the café’s cancellation line, for folks keen to attend for cancellations or no reveals.
Once we arrived, we joined this line, with one couple already lined up earlier than us.
On the café entrance, there was a board that displayed the seat availability for the day. A crimson X meant they have been absolutely booked, whereas an orange triangle meant restricted availability.
The hostess suggested us that “restricted availability” normally meant that there have been two to 4 seats accessible. Based mostly on this board, you may decide to take one of many later accessible time slots, or you may proceed to attend in line for a final minute cancellation or no present.
On our specific day, there have been 4 time slots with restricted availability. I checked on-line whereas ready in line and noticed nothing accessible, so don’t anticipate the web site to present you correct info on same-day availability.
5 minutes into the café opening, they seated the couple in entrance of us. Once we instructed the hostess that we have been a household of 5, she shook her head and suggested us that at the moment, there was nothing accessible to accommodate us now or later.
Given this, I used to be ready to just accept defeat.
Nonetheless, after one other 10 minutes, we have been suggested {that a} desk for 4 and a desk for 2 had develop into accessible and that they might accommodate us if we have been keen to separate up.
We agreed to be cut up up, so that they directed us to the reservation line and our Pokémon Cafe expertise started!
In whole, 12 folks from the cancellation line, together with my household, have been seated that morning, in a restaurant that may accommodate 50 to 60 folks.
The Expertise
When getting into the café in Osaka, I observed that the venue wasn’t as large because the one in Tokyo however that it was brightly lit, with tables of two and 4 spaced comfortably. The partitions have been adorned with photos of Pokémon, and there have been Pokémon plushies and statues all through the house.
The tables have been preset with napkins, themed cutlery, placemats, and a pill the place you may view the menu and submit your order. The menu affords a collection of dishes priced for ¥1,540–2,750 and drinks for ¥935–1540.
In addition they have featured dishes and meal units that change now and again.
While you order a drink, you get a free plastic Pokémon coaster as a take-home memento; nonetheless, it’s fairly poor high quality, so I wouldn’t order a drink simply to get one.
The presentation of the dishes was positively the spotlight of the expertise for me. They have been creatively organized within the shapes of assorted Pokémon characters with ornamental components that have been additionally Pokémon-themed.
We had a Snorlax rooster and rice dish, a Pikachu curry plate, a Pikachu soufflé pancake, and a children Pikachu hamburger meal.
Although the meals presentation was pretty, the style of the dishes and drinks was mediocre, however I can’t say I used to be anticipating something extra.
Within the final 20–half-hour of the reservation session, there was a brief efficiency led by a employees member alongside a huge Pikachu.
The efficiency was fully in Japanese, so we didn’t perceive any of what they have been saying; nonetheless, seeing a cute, taller-than-them Pikachu was sufficient to take care of my children’ full consideration.
Conclusion
The Pokémon Cafe is a well-liked however hard-to-book expertise in Japan that’s on the to-see listing for a lot of guests.
When you’re feeling down since you’ve tried and didn’t get a reservation on-line, not all hope is misplaced. Although not overtly marketed, you may go to the café to attempt your luck at getting a desk in particular person.
Based mostly on my expertise, go as early as potential if attempting this method and go for the Osaka location over the Tokyo one if it’s an choice.
The expertise is a enjoyable and memorable one for anybody who loves the Pokémon franchise. As a father or mother who’s detached in the direction of it, I discovered it to be a bit underwhelming and overpriced, however my children actually loved it, and in the long run, that’s what actually issues.
