We Took A Trip To Tokyo's Official Pokemon Cafe
GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.
Tokyo certainly loves themed cafe experiences and everyone in the world loves Pokemon, so naturally, a Pokemon-themed Cafe in Japan's metropolitan hub was really only a matter of time--and honestly, we're pretty surprised it took as long as it did. The official Pokemon Cafe opened just one year ago in 2018, right outside of the largest Pokemon Center store in the city--Pokemon Center Tokyo DX--in the Ginza area. You wouldn't recognize it as something special from the outside: Like many businesses in the Tokyo area, it's located in a nondescript highrise shopping center. From the outside, it'd be easy to miss.
But, if you follow the right signs, you'll make your way to the fifth floor of the Nihonbashi Takeshimaya building and be abruptly and immediately transported out of the mundane, suit-clad banking district and into a very literal Pokemon extravaganza.
What is a Pokemon Center? Why is Tokyo DX special?
Pokemon Centers are, in the most basic terms, Pokemon stores--and Tokyo is full of them, which can make navigating them a little bit tricky. Functionally, they all fulfill the same role, as places where you can go and buy any Pokemon merch your heart desires, from home goods to trading cards and everything in between. But not every Center is created equal. Available stock, ease of access, and typical foot traffic affect each location as you might expect--some Centers, like the one in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City, for example, are located in the middle of very popular shopping centers, making them a little bit more high stress to see and visit.
By comparison, the Tokyo DX Center is both the newest and the largest Pokemon Center in the city, situated around a themed foyer complete with a life-sized Snorlax statue diorama that separates it from the adjacent Pokemon Cafe. Luckily, a little over a year after opening, the crowds have become completely manageable, especially during the week.
Like virtually all of the Centers in Tokyo, DX has a selection of exclusive Pikachu-centric plush merch, but it also has a full touch screen PokeDex wall and a dedicated gaming area.
What about the cafe?
Visiting the Tokyo DX Pokemon Center is really easy--just hop on the train, jump in the elevator, and shop until your credit card melts. The Pokemon Cafe, however, is a little trickier.
First, like many of Japan's more popular themed cafes, you need a reservation. The cafe may be a year old, but it's still just as busy and as in demand as it was on opening day. Securing a time for you and your party to eat will be your first major hurdle. Luckily, reservations can be made online.
The reservation process
Booking a time slot may be a little intimidating for non-Japanese speakers. First, you'll need to head over to the official booking website. Then, you'll need to either run a Google translate, or trust your instincts--many of the buttons and prompts have English subtitles, and the ones that don't are mostly self-evident, so don't panic.
Reservations are open a month in advance, down to the day. Meaning you won't be able to book a spot for your trip months in advance, so be diligent. If you're headed to Tokyo on the 15th of the month, the earliest you can secure a spot is the 15th of the month before.
The cafe can accommodate up to 8 people per party, so if you're traveling with a large group, be ready to make multiple reservations or get pretty cutthroat with your friends and family.
Ordering
Rather than having a dedicated waiter or waitress, you'll order everything except water on an iPad on your table. There's food, desserts, and themed drinks to pick from on the default menu--or, if you're lucky, a themed menu section with bonus treats. This month's theme menu centered around Detective Pikachu for obvious reasons.
You can order everything all at once--the desserts have an option to be scheduled after your meal--or you can order multiple times. Your reservation slot gives you a 90-minute window to order and eat with the final order cut off a half hour before your time slot ends.
What about the food?
Like most themed dining experiences, you're paying more for the experience rather than the food itself, so the menu items are all a little pricey at around 1600-2500 yen each (around 15 to 25 US dollars). The standard menu offers some very Japanese "dinner sets" of curry, beef patties, tempura, and different kinds of rice featuring Pikachu, Eevee, and Snorlax, while the Detective Pikachu special menu has the extremely American choice mac and cheese with french fries.
We tried the Pikachu set, which seemed to have a little bit of everything--all of which tasted good to great, though the red-seasoning on the rice inside the Pikachu-faced omelet made it seem a little, uh, gory.
The Detective Pikachu mac and cheese was a little odd--the Pikachu face was white bread coated in some sort of mustard for the yellow coloring and the noodles themselves were coated in two types of liquid cheese. Not at all bad, but not exactly expected.
And the deserts?
The dessert menu is full of over-the-top parfaits, puddings, and pancakes again themed to Pikachu and Eevee with Jigglypuff sneaking in as a cheesecake dish.
We tried the Pikachu pudding, which really just tasted like your standard Japanese flan-inspired pudding, with a variety of fresh fruits; and the Jigglypuff cake which was surprisingly good and not at all as sweet as you'd guess by looking at it.
The drinks?
The drink menu is where things really get crazy.
If you're someone who isn't quite as bought-and-sold on the Pikachu/Eevee hype, the drink menu is your time to shine. With all three original legendary birds (Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres), Gengar, Mew, and Ditto represented, it's easily the most diverse selection.
The themed drinks themselves are mostly fancy boba-based drinks and smoothies, but there's also your standard coffee and tea. One of the most unique features of the cafe is its lineup of latte art. For around 700 yen (roughly $6 or $7 USD) you can select a hot or cold latte (with the option of up charging to keep the Pokeball-style mug it comes in) with a stenciled picture of any of the original 151 Pokemon on the foam.
Hoping to be as adventurous as possible, we tried the Ditto jelly tea, which was served on a glowing LED coaster, and the Articuno smoothie. The Ditto drink was actually at least four different layered flavors, some of which were actually jelly rather than liquid, while the Articuno smoothie was very similar to a cranberry flavored cream soda.
Drinks come with souvenir coasters.
The "show"
At the end of the 90-minute reservation window, guests are treated to an encounter with Chef Pikachu, who comes out with the aid of a mic'd up MC to narrate his adorable shuffle between the tables. The show itself is entirely in Japanese, so you'll need to use context clues to figure out exactly what's going on, but the general gist of it is that Pikachu is thanking you for visiting his cafe. He even comes around to each individual guest and shakes their hand.
No, really. It's amazing. Meeting a celebrity chef has never been this adorable.
The verdict
All told, the Pokemon Cafe experience is a definite "must-do" for any Pokemon fan making their way out to Tokyo. Sure, it's a little pricey--our tab came out to about 7,000 yen with two meals, two drinks, and two desserts--but as far as themed dining experiences are concerned, it felt worth it. The food is good, the ambiance is better, and a personal thank you from Chef Pikachu is somehow the best.
And if you're an even bigger Pokemon fan, the cafe also offers exclusive merchandise for purchase as you pay your tab--Chef Pikachu plushies, dining sets, tote bags, you name it. It's all stuff you can't get anywhere else, and considering how tricky it is to actually secure a seat, to begin with, probably some of the most hard-to-get Poke-merch in the world. Definitely worth carving out a budget for if you've got Tokyo in your vacation sights.