Guide to Making Reservations at the Pokémon Café in Japan

When we were in Japan, Michael and I got reservations at the Pokémon Café in Tokyo, which was a true feat considering that getting reservations there was on par with getting into Berghain. It was challenging, but I’m here to give you my tips and tricks for getting the coveted reservation, navigating the website, and letting you know if all the hassle is worth it.

Is the Pokémon Café really worth it?

For us, it was.

Michael and I are lifetime Pokémon fans. When I was a little girl, my older brother, Ian, and I used to act out episodes of Pokémon. He’d be Ash, I’d be Eevee, and we’d run around the house battling imaginary Pokémon until the sun went down. On the weekends, we’d rush to the store for Pokémon cards and play the games on my brother’s Game Boy.

Pokémon are engrained in Michael and I’s history, so we knew that visiting the Pokémon Center and eating at the Pokémon Café were non-negotiable.

Look at this little face!

There was a moment when we were sitting at our table, and Chef Pikachu came out to say hello, and I started tearing up. It could have been the jet lag or the fact that I still had no idea what time zone I was in, but I felt so unbelievably happy to be there. My inner child was bursting with joy.

It was worth it for that feeling alone.

However, if you’re not a big Pokémon fan, there are plenty of other places in Tokyo or Osaka where you could go instead.

How is the food?

While Japan has exceptionally high standards for food (we genuinely didn’t have a bad meal our entire trip), character cafes tend to get away with serving food a bit lower in quality than every other restaurant because they know you’re not there for the food — not really, anyway.

The food at the Pokémon Café was more for the aesthetics than anything else. Everything you eat there is cute, almost too pretty to eat. I’d done my research and read that the savory options were subpar. A YouTuber I watched recommended only getting the sweet things off the menu for a better dining experience, so that’s what we did. And that’s what I’d recommend you do, too.

We ordered the Pikachu pancakes, a character latte, and a black coffee with a Pikachu tail cookie on the side, and an Eevee milk tea.

Was it the best food I’ve ever had? No, it wasn’t even the best food I had that day. But it wasn’t terrible, either. It was just fine.

All that to say, you’re not going to the Pokémon Café to have a great culinary experience. You’re going for the vibes, the ambiance, the experience.

And I can testify: the vibe, the ambiance, and the experience were a 10/10 for us. 

How are the prices?

Compared to most other cafes in Japan? Expensive.

Compared to how much the food at a place like this would cost anywhere else in the world? Cheap. If there were a Pokémon Café in Zurich, I’m sure you’d need to sacrifice your firstborn to finance it.

For everything we ordered (plus some souvenirs we purchased), we paid around 6000 yen, which is 34 CHF (42 USD).

You can go down the street and get cheaper, better-tasting pancakes or ramen, but it won’t be shaped like a Pokémon, so…

What you need to know about making reservations at the Pokémon Café

Reservations for the Pokémon Café in Tokyo and Osaka open exactly 31 days in advance at 6:00 PM Tokyo Time. For us, that was 11:00 AM CET, but be sure to convert the time to your own time zone. You can make the reservation here.

Step 1: Prepare Ahead

Before reservation day, mark emails from @mail-pokemon-cafe.jp as “not spam.” The confirmation emails are in Japanese and can easily be mistaken for spam. If you miss this email, you may also miss your reservation.

Step 2: Be Ready With Backup!

Reservations sell out incredibly fast, often in less than a minute. The site also tends to crash under high traffic, so be prepared for a bit of stress. We had a whole team trying: myself, Michael, my friend Shervin, and her husband Dali. Despite all four of us trying simultaneously, we didn’t get a reservation right when they ope due to how quickly everything sold out and the technical issues (the site kept crashing constantly).

Step 3: Use the 20-Minute Window Trick

Here’s the key tip: Keep refreshing for the next 20 minutes. When someone gets a reservation, they have 20 minutes to confirm it by clicking a link in the email. If they don’t, their spot is released back into the system.

Most people don’t realize this, mainly because the confirmation email:

• Looks like spam
• Is in Japanese only
• Requires you to click a link to lock in your spot

We got lucky at 11:20 AM CET when a slot reappeared. I grabbed it as soon as it popped up and, most importantly, went straight to the email and clicked the confirmation link. That’s what secured our booking. We ran around the house, hugging and squealing like we’d won an award.

Step 4: If It Doesn’t Work, Try Again

Still no luck after 20 minutes? Try again at 40 minutes past the hour. People continue to miss or ignore the confirmation emails, and some slots will likely reopen. But be aware: the reservation window officially closes after one hour.

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All in all, our visit to the Pokémon Café was a magical experience. If you or your kids love Pokémon, I’d highly recommend going.

I wish you all the luck in the world getting reservations!

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