Visiting The Pokemon Cafe In Osaka, Japan

I was lucky enough to get a reservation at the Pokemon Cafe here in Osaka and, as you can imagine, my childhood (and adult) self was absolutely thrilled. I’ve been a fan of Pokemon since I watched the anime on a Saturday morning as a child, and visiting the cafe was a priority for me on this trip.

The cafe is located next to the Pokemon Center inside Daimaru department store in the central Shinsaibashi area of Osaka. That means you can eat and then browse all of the Pokemon goodies until your heart’s content, or vice versa. There are also some gachapon up there too, if you fancy risking your chances on winning your favourite.

The cafe itself isn’t as large as the Tokyo branch, but the decoration is equally as super cute. There are paintings of Pikachu all over the walls in various restaurant roles; icing cakes, cleaning tables, and serving food, among others. There are a few statues of the new starter Pokemon from the newest game, Scarlet and Violet, on the joined counter style tables, and there’s also a little photo op with waiter Pikachu, Chespin, Piplup, and some fake food. There are also Pikachu plushies in his various cafe outfits dotted around the room and then the lighting feature in the ceiling is a giant pokéball! At the front of the cafe, a table is set for two Pikachu eating a meal together and this is a lovely photo op too.

Theme cafes have a reputation for food that is pretty and creative, but not that tasty, but the dishes here were actually delicious. You order on a tablet and you can order as many times as you want within the first 60 minutes of your 90 minute reservation slot. I went for the Pikachu curry, which comes with your choice of an additional pokémon ‘best friend’ accompaniment and you can choose between the 3 original starters. I went for Charmander, and his face was layered on a chicken cutlet on top of a crushed pumpkin salad. Squirtle and Bulbasaur have different options so make sure to check them out.

As a drink, I went for the Eevee Royal Milk Tea, which comes topped with sweet whipped cream, an almond cake tail and a biscuit face. Now, I don’t like milk tea, but I HAD to get this for how cute it was. Plus, it was a dessert and a drink in one, which is a win in my book. The toppings were all delicious, especially the cake, and the drink was refreshing too.

For every drink you order, you get the chance to ‘win’ a flat plastic coaster with a different pokémon on. You choose a from a selection of Pikachu doing different poses and dependent on the one you choose, you get a different coaster. They seemed to all be from the new generation, unsurprisingly, but I did get the little mice that seem to be very popular at the moment, so that was great!

I finished my meal off with a black coffee, in a Pikachu mug obviously, and a little Pikachu tail biscuit on the side. This was so buttery and the perfect accompaniment to the hot coffee. Also available are latte that come in a pokéball mug with your choice of Pokemon decoration on top, but I’m not a fan of milky coffee so decided on the Pikachu option instead.

At some point during your meal, Chef Pikachu comes out to see everyone and does a little song and dance with the waiters. He only stays at the front of the cafe and you can’t stand or move around so it might be hard to see depending on where you’re sitting. It’s all in Japanese, but the moves are pretty easy to pick up if you want to dance along in your seat. I know that it’s sometimes Gengar that comes out instead of Pikachu, but that’s only for around the Halloween season I think.

After you finish you can visit the cafe shop (this is open to the general public too) and purchase any cafe related items like the cute Pikachu silverware and plates from the restaurant or a Pikachu plush. There are also some items that you have to preorder when making your reservation, so check if you want to do that before you go.

Overall, I thought the cafe was great, the staff were fantastic and I really enjoyed my time there. I loved the experience of eating Pokémon themed food in a Pokemon themed environment and I even went home with my very own pokéball mug from the shop. If you’re a fan of the games or the anime, I definitely recommend visiting on your next trip to Tokyo or Osaka.

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Visiting the Pokemon Cafe

The Pokemon Cafe has two permanent locations in Osaka and Tokyo (read about our visit in 2018) which are both open 7 days a week (with some exceptions). Reservations are required and you can book online. There’s also a permanent Pokemon Sweets cafe in Tokyo, which is takeaway only and doesn’t require reservations.

Osaka Reservations

This is very straightforward to do, but it’s tricky to actually get a spot and you have to apply at exactly 6pm JST 31 days before you want to eat there. It’s key to be on the right page, with the date selected so that you can hit the continue button as soon as it turns 6 o’clock. The tables fill up within milliseconds, so if it comes back as unavailable, don’t be disheartened. If you keep refreshing, some of the tables come back as available after about 15 minutes or so. On my second day of trying, I refreshed the page every so often for around 30 minutes and finally found availability. But you have to be quick to grab them or someone else will! If this is a must do, I’d start by trying for the first day of your trip and then if you miss out on day 1, you can try for day 2 and so on. If you don’t manage to get a reservation, you can wait in a standby line next to the restaurant in case of cancellations and no shows, but there’s still no guarantee you’ll get in.