Despite famous chains like Hard Rock Café and Planet Hollywood declining in popularity, experts still think that themed restaurants will be sticking around for a while yet. The trick to creating an excellent themed restaurant isn’t as complicated as some people might think. In the end, success comes down to basic restaurant essentials: good food and excellent service. Once that’s taken care of, elements like entertainment and surroundings are an extra draw - though memorable customer experiences can certainly make an eatery stand out from the crowd. Here’s a look at 15 bizarre themed food joints from around the world - places where every day is dress-up day and strange and creative designs are king.
15. A380 Sky Kitchen - Taipei, Taiwan
A380 Sky Kitchen is located in Taipei, Taiwan, and the restaurant does an excellent job of making its decor match its theme. The interior looks like an Airbus plane, and the waitresses dress just like stewardesses. Patrons can order a variety of foods, including Japanese, European and Australian dishes. Still, although the atmosphere is very true to the theme, one reviewer complained that it felt like a gimmick and that the food wasn’t much better than the stuff you’d get on a real airplane. Can’t please everyone? Well, lacklustre food is actually a common pitfall for many themed restaurants. Quality fare, great service and consistency are the keys to success when it comes to running a restaurant - whether it’s themed or not.
[More here and here] [A380 Air Kitchen website] [Video]
14. Alcatraz E.R. - Tokyo, Japan
Alcatraz E.R. was one of Tokyo’s first themed restaurants, and it’s both weird and creepy. This hellish prison-hospital eatery requires that all customers declare their blood type before entering. Each table is behind bars and decorated with prison and hospital paraphernalia. The menu offers a range of spicy delicacies, including human intestines (in reality a very long sausage), and a drink called Nounai Hassha (“brain buster”) that’s served in a mannequin head. The waitresses dress up as nurses, and according to CNN, they can get pretty feisty, “injecting” disorderly customers with huge syringes. Based on reviews, the food seems quite expensive, but the entertainment factor might make up for it.
13. Jekyll & Hyde Club - New York, USA
The Jekyll & Hyde Club Restaurant and Bar is run by the Jekyll & Hyde Entertainment Group and is located in Times Square, New York. Passers-by could walk right past without realizing it, however, as the restaurant’s entrance is concealed inside “Henry Jekyll and Sons Surgical Supplies of London.” A doorman guards the secret entrance to the restaurant and lets people know the password so that they can get inside. The menu includes pastas, pizzas, burgers, sandwiches and a variety of other tasty sounding dishes. Guests are also treated to live entertainment and spooky special effects while they eat.
12. Christon Café - Tokyo, Japan
Christon Café is located in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward. The restaurant has a Gothic theme and is lavishly decorated with various religious artefacts. Customers are immersed in a setting that includes crosses, the Virgin Mary, gargoyles, stained-glass windows and fake candles. The location is (apparently) perfect for wild, all-night parties. One reviewer said that the food was excellent; another claimed that it was “nothing special” but conceded that it was reasonably priced. Considering the restaurant’s reputation for crazy parties, it’s a bit surprising to find out that weddings can be held there as well.
Since themed restaurants offer a strong element of entertainment, they can often attract business through pure hype. However, this won’t be enough to sustain profitability unless the food and service are well thought-out - or enough tourists with cash in hand are constantly passing through.
11. Ninja New York - New York, USA
Ninja New York sprawls across 6,000 square feet of New York City’s Hudson Street and features a Japanese mountain village atmosphere. Reviewers say that the joint is perfect for kids and families and describe the experience as great lowbrow fun. Although the pseudo-Japanese food is presented beautifully, the word is that it isn’t consistently good, and it’s proved to be the main point of disagreement among reviewers.
The servers, dressed all in black, perform magic tricks and ninja antics. However, many reviewers commented on the price. According to Food Service Warehouse, most themed restaurants can afford to charge a bit more because they provide a one-of-a-kind experience - but patrons must still feel that it was worth it.
10. Buns and Guns Military Restaurant - Beirut, Lebanon
Buns and Guns was an unusual restaurant tucked into the war-torn suburb of Sfeir, which is a Hezbollah-controlled area in Beirut, Lebanon. The city, which has undergone its share of military strife, seems like an unlikely location for a food joint with a sense of humour. Chefs would dress up in full camouflage, and a wall of sandbags lined the frontage. Customers ate to the sounds of gunfire instead of music, and the menu featured items with names like Kalashnikov, Viper and rocket-propelled grenade. Owner Yousef Ibrahim said, “It attracts customers in an unconventional way. You noticed the moment I opened the restaurant, there was a lot of business.” Although his restaurant is now closed, Ibrahim’s aim was to make people laugh.
9. Snow Restaurant - Kemi, Finland
The SnowCastle of Kemi is a hotel in Finland that’s rebuilt every year and is made entirely of snow and ice. The hotel also boasts a unique, ice-themed SnowRestaurant, where sculptures, mood lighting and a diffused frozen glow make this a rare dining experience. With an inside temperature of 23 F (-5 C), the atmosphere is far from toasty, so customers eat dressed in coats, gloves and hats. Even the tables are carved from ice. Fortunately, the food is hot (if you eat it quickly enough). The menu features seafood, reindeer and other tasty treats; and drinks include hot chocolate, mulled wine, and red and blue ice shots (served in tumblers carved out of ice).
[More] [SnowCastle website] [Video]
8. Alice of Magic World - Tokyo, Japan
Playing cards, oversize teacup booths and heart-shaped light fittings all feature at the Alice of Magic World restaurant in Tokyo. The eatery, which is located in the Ginza district, has received positive reviews from blogging tourists, and we’re sure Lewis Carroll fans looking for a unique dining experience would love it. The waitresses dress up in Alice in Wonderland frocks, and the menus come in mini dioramas with foldout flaps. Customers choose from artistically-presented food like “Magic Mirror Salad,” “Cheshire Cat Tail Pizza” and “Burgundy-Style Braised Beef Cheek in Queen of Hearts Red Wine Sauce.”
7. ‘S Baggers - Nuremburg, Germany
Nuremberg-based German restaurant ‘S Baggers gives new meaning to the term “fast food.” Customers order their eats using the computers at their tables and then wait for their dishes to arrive via a twisty roller-coaster rail system that descends from above. Watching food whizz by, customers may feel as if they’re in a factory, or inside a futuristic machine. The menu features typical local fare, and many of the customers are German. Seats are available by reservation only, and the menu changes from week to week - which no doubt keeps things fresh for regulars.
6. Barbie Cafe - Taipei, Taiwan
Barbie dolls were initially made in Taiwan, so it’s fitting that this Barbie-themed joint is based there. Opened in 2013, the pink, plastic, frilly restaurant is even more distinctive than other themed eating spots because it was opened as part of toy company Mattel’s business strategy. The company hopes to promote the doll’s brand image and attract Barbie fans from all over East Asia. A local woman with a five-year-old daughter said, “My child and I both love Barbie, and this lovely and cute place is like a dream come true for us. I will take her here to celebrate her next birthday.”
5. Hospitalis - Riga, Latvia
Hospital-themed Hospitalis is located in Riga, Latvia, and as far as themed restaurants go, this one doesn’t skimp on the details. The decor is intentionally sterile-seeming, with white tiles, gleaming metal and lots of authentic medical instruments. Rather than getting a knife and fork, customers are given a variety of surgical tools with which to eat their food: think syringes and scalpels. And any patron who orders from the restaurant’s “Crazy Menu” has to sign a liability waiver ahead of taking their first bite (seriously). Customers can also volunteer to be put in a straitjacket and enjoy being spoon-fed. Drinks, meanwhile, are mixed by bartenders in surgical gear and are served in IV bags, urine sample containers and test tubes.
4. Hello Kitty Dreams - Beijing, China
In 2011, Hello Kitty Dreams opened in Beijing, China. Predictably, the restaurant is packed with Hello Kitty paraphernalia and awash with the colour pink. Many of the food items display Hello Kitty’s face, making fans of the Japanese cat sensation feel like they’re at the Hello Kitty equivalent of Disneyland.
With decent food and ties to a popular brand, Hello Kitty Dreams probably has more chance of survival than the average themed restaurant. In fact, since it opened, business has shown little evidence of slowing down. CEO Sarah Wang says she plans to focus on this restaurant before considering opening any others. “It’s my first time in gourmet business and I wish to go about it carefully,” she explains.
3. Safe House - Wisconsin, USA
At this themed restaurant, cute Japanese kittens give way to spies and intrigue. Welcome to Milwaukee’s Safe House. Much like the Jekyll & Hyde Club, Safe House offers customers a bit of extra fun by concealing itself behind a false frontage, this time labelled “International Exports Ltd.” And without a password, patrons must earn their right to get in. In one case, this involved a curious would-be customer walking around like a penguin for half a minute. Full to the brim with spy memorabilia, James Bond references, and quirky nooks and crannies, Safe House will appeal to anyone who has an obsession with secret agents and espionage. According to the official website, Safe House is “licensed to thrill” - and given that it’s been open since 1966, it presumably delivers on this promise.
[More] [Safe House website] [Video]
2. Vampire Cafe - Tokyo, Japan
Diamond Dining’s Vampire Cafe might not be as spooky, creepy or macabre as the name suggests. One reviewer even called the candlelit restaurant “romantic” - despite the black drapes, coffins, and puddings with skull-shaped chips. Spiders’ webs wrap around the chandeliers, every one of the mirrors is smashed, and the entrance floor is made up of lit “red blood cells.” One reviewer wrote, “Our food was exceptional, though the portion size was generally hit or miss.”
Guardian writer Chris Michael says that the place has “a bloody charm” and is great for a drink, even if you’re not having a meal. And with cocktails such as Blood Clot, Blood Orange and Vodka and, of course, Bloody Mary, there’s sure to be something to tempt the fussiest drinkers.
[More here and here] [Vampire Cafe website] [Video]
1. Giger-Bar - Chur, Switzerland
Although Giger-Bar in Chur, Switzerland isn’t a restaurant, its fascinating architecture and unique alien theme make it a must-include on this list. Opened in 1992, the bar features designs by Swiss artist H.R. Giger and offers a truly one-of-a kind environment. Vertebrae, biomechanics and unearthly art reminiscent of Giger’s Alien creations make this stop a must-see for fans of the artist and the movies.
According to some reviews, the bar itself has bad service and is exorbitantly priced (which is perhaps typical of Swiss establishments), but the main attraction is Giger’s unique work. Still, as we mentioned earlier, the best themed joints offer novel experiences and entertainment without sacrificing the quality of the food or service.
[More] [Giger-Bar website] [Video]
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5. Carton King: A Taiwanese Restaurant Where Everything Except the Food Is Made from Cardboard
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1. The World’s Most Bizarre Restaurants
2. 7 of the World’s Smallest Restaurants
3. 5 Most Unusual Fast Food Restaurants From Around the World
4. The Amazing Labassin Waterfall Restaurant in the Philippines
5. Carton King: A Taiwanese Restaurant Where Everything Except the Food Is Made from Cardboard
6. 5 Ridiculously Expensive Restaurant Menu Items
Good food and excellent services is the impressive and not forgettable in Hotels of its customers.
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