Popular Maid cafés

Maid Cafes are a boom that is mostly only in Japan and specially Akihabara is Infamous in a good way and bad way for its many maid cafes. But what is a maid café really? The most basic maid café is basically a café where the waitresses are dressed as maids and act the part. When you walk in you will be greeted “Welcome Master/Mistress” and the waitresses usually dressed in to a cute version of the French- maid outfit. Everything made to feel and look very “kawaii” or for a westerner more likely very embarrassing. But that is just one kind of Maid cade that you can find, especially when walking in Akihabara you can see the sides of the streets full of girls dressed in different kind of outfits trying to get you to come to their café. In the cafes you can order drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol) snacks, foods, sweets and special kind of services, depending on the place these are usually something like the maids playing a game with you, the maids doing a idol kind of singing and dancing show, taking a picture with your favorite maid, or even getting to try yourself the maid uniforms and being a maid (the last one being only for girls most likely, but hey who knows you can always ask). So, here is a list of few of the different kind of maid cafes you can find from the streets of Akihabara so you can choose the one that is most for your liking, because going to a maid café is truly an experience everyone should try at least once.

Maid Dreaming (Basic maid café)

This is a chain of Maid Cafés and the one where most people happen to go to, where the most of the maids work at and what most articles and blogs about maid cafes are about, It is very much the definition of maid café, with the girls dressed in the cute French maid outfits, everything is cute and usually very Very VERY pink. Everything is done in an overly cute way, when you order something to eat or drink, you will do a “magic spell on to your order with the maid to make it “extra tasty”.

Cover charge:

Yes 500 – 1000 yen + needs one order per hour

Address:

 Sumiyoshi BLDG.6F 3-16-17 Sotokanda Chiyoda-ku (main store)

Opening times:

Mon to Fri 11:30 – 23:00

Sat to Sun 10:30 – 23:00

Website

Mononopu (Samurai/Ninja themed)

In Mononopu the girls are dressed as Samurais, they advertise as being a “warring states maid café”. Again the place is filled with cute, but with a bit of darker colors and the feeling at the cafe is a bit more relaxed than at Maid dreaming other than that it is very much the same with a bit more of a relaxed feeling and with a different theme.

Cover charge:

500 yen entrance + 500 yen for 120min + 1 drink per hour

Address:

Isuzu Building 5F, 4-6-2 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku. (Entrance behind the building)

Opening times:

Closed on Monday

Tue to Thu 14:00 - 22:00 (Lo 21:30)

Fri 14:00 - 23:00 (Lo 22:30)

Sat 12:00 - 23:00 (Lo 22:30)

Sun 12:00 - 21:00 (Lo 20:30)

Website (Only in Japanese)

Little TGV (Train themed)

This is again mostly different themed Maid café though again also bit more relaxed feeling than in Maid Dreaming. The theme of this maid Café is trains, most of the seats and tables are like from a train, the waitresses dressed Japanese style ticket collectors, and even the food is made modeled with things having to do with trains. This is specially to all the train enthusiast out there, or If you can’t take a shinkansen on your trip maybe this is a good alternative for that.

Cover charge:

500 yen

Address:

Isami-ya third Building 4F, 3-10-5, Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku

Opening times:

Closed on Mondays

12:00 - 23:00 (L.O.22:00, Drink L.O. 22:30)

Website

Cure Maid

This is said to be the first maid café in Akihabara and it is very different what most of the other cafes are. The waitresses are dressed as maids, but more of a real maid feeling than the maid cafe/anime feeling that the other places have. If you want the basic kawaii maid experience you should choose another place. But if you want a nice café where to relax and talk to your friend with the more of a real maid feeling in it then Cure Maid is the place for you. On Saturdays the Cure maid has classical music performed by the maids.

Cover charge:

 300 yen during performances

Address

Gee Store Akiba 6F, Sotokanda 3-15-5, Chiyoda-ku

Opening times:

Mon to Thu 11:00 – 20:00

Fri to Sat 11:00 - 22:00

Sun 11:00 – 19:00

Website

Pray (Heaven and hell themed)

Pray is a bit closer to a bar than a café it is smaller than the other places with most of the seats around the bar counter, the place is colored half white half black with girls dressed as angels on the white side and on the black side the girls are dressed as demons. You take a seat and the girls act closer to as what they are dressed as, you can also play different games with the waitresses for a charge and ofcourse a lot of different alcohol drinks. You can also bring some own snacks to the bar as long as you take the trash away or get a all you can drink menu.

Cover charge

800 yen for first hour + 300 yen for every 30min after the first hours

Address:

Matsutaka Shoji Building 9F, 4-5-8 Kotobuki, Chiyoda-ku

Opening Hours:

Mon to Thu: 16.00 - 22.00

Fri: 16.00 - 23.00

Sat to Sun: 12.00 - 23.00

Website (Basic info in English)

Grand Pirates (Pirate themed)

“Yarr ye land lubbers” but you know much cuter, the decoration is done with mixing cuteness in to a pirate themed bar. Under it all it is very much like other basic maid cafes but with the theme of pirates. The waitresses will sing and dance for a fee, play games with you for a fee, the games are not all the usual maid café games you can even be slapped by a pirate queen at a game.

Address:

Sentani building basement floor 1, Soto-Kanda 1-8-4, Chiyoda-ku

Opening times:

Mon to Thu 17: 00 - 23: 00

Fri 17: 00 - 5:00

Saturday 12: 00 - 5: 00

Sunday 12: 00 - 23: 00

 Website (only in Japanese)

Swallowtail (Butler café)

The way in maid cafes the the waitresses are dressed as maid, in butler café the waiters are dressed as butlers and treat you as the mistress/master of the house. There are not nearly as many butler cafes as there are maid cafes and the swallow tail is not unfortunately in Akihabara but located in Ikebukuro. Because there are not as many butler cafes as Maid cafes it is very busy and you need to make a reservation or go there at the opening time and hope there are some cancelations for the day.

Address:

Seiwa Bldg B1F, Higashi Ikebukuro 3-12-12, Toshima

Opening time:

Every day 10:30 – 21:30

Website (info of how to do a reservation in English but mostly everything in Japanese only)

Newtype (Crossdresser Maid café)

So the Newtype is a very different maid café, All the maids in the café are actually crossdressing guys. The name comes from the term “New Half” which is basically the Japanese term for a crossdresser. So, if you are interested in trying something very different then this might be for you. The waitresses act like in other maid cafes and many of the rules are the same the only difference is really that they are crossdressers.

Cover charge:

1500 yen but it includes a drink

Address:

3-7-12 Outside Kanda 8th Building Isamiya 3F, Chiyoda-ku

Opening times:

Closed on Mondays

Tue to Thu 18:00 – 23:00 (LO 22:30)

Fri 18:00 – 05:00 (LO 04:30)

Sat 17:00 – 05:00 (LO 04:30)

Sun 17:00 – 23:00 (LO 22:30)

Webiste (Only in Japanese)

Yaenmeiku (Vampire Themed)

What would Japan and maid cafes be without a vampire themed cafe. Yes, the maids in Yaenmeiku are dressed and act like vampires, but do not expect western kind of vampires like Dracula or the new generation of vampires in western fiction. The vampires here are as in any Maid café pushing the word cute to its limits.

Cover charge:

1 hour 800yen for men 500yen for women

Address:

T & K Akiba Bldg 2F, Kokusakida 3-10-5, Chiyoda-ku

Opening times:

Closed on Mondays

Tue to Fri 18:00 – 05:00

Sat 14:00 – 05:00

Sun 14:00 – 23:00

Website (only in Japnese)