Is the Kirby Cafe Worth It? My Honest Experience
Last Updated on December 11, 2025 by Kay
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If you’re a fan of Kirby and visiting Japan, it’s likely you’ll want to experience the Kirby Cafe, which brings beloved Kirby characters to life in food form.
In this article, I’ll share my experience visiting the Kirby Cafe not once but twice with my family, so you have an idea of what you should expect and whether it’s worth your time to go.
Spoiler alert: My second time at the cafe was a little different than my first.
Table of Contents
Kirby Cafe Reservations
There are three Kirby Cafe locations:
You need a reservation to dine at any of the Kirby Cafes; you cannot walk into the cafe and there is no waiting area for cancellations like at the Pokemon Cafe.
However, you might be lucky and score an online reservation on the day, and you can do this if you happen to already be at the cafe.
The first time we visited, we made our reservation for the Osaka location the day before our visit (I think someone cancelled). The second time, I made a reservation on the day of our visit, probably thanks to another cancellation.
Below is a screenshot of how many spots were available for three people when I checked the Kirby website about 8 AM on the morning of our visit.
However, if you want to guarantee you get a spot at the Kirby Cafe, I suggest making a reservation as early as possible.
Online reservations for the Kirby Cafe open the month before on the 10th at 6 PM JST. Note that the website is in Japanese only, so you’ll need to use a translation tool like Google Translate if you don’t understand the language.
If you successfully make a reservation, you’ll receive an email titled, “カービィカフェ予約システム】ご予約を承りました”. You’ll need to show this email to the staff when you arrive for your reservation, so I suggest printing it out or saving it in a special inbox so it’s easy to find. (Especially if your inbox is typically flooded and you don’t understand Japanese, because searching for it will be a pain.)
Make sure that your reservation name matches any ID you have, such as your passport, because the staff will confirm this as well when you go to the cafe. If the reservation name doesn’t match your ID, you will be denied entry.
Note that if you arrive ten minutes later than your reservation time, your reservation will be cancelled (!!!). The cafe asks that you arrive ten minutes early, so try to do that if possible. Better to be early than late, especially in Japan!
Our Dining Experiences at the Kirby Cafe
The Kirby Cafe in Osaka is located on the 9th floor of Daimaru Shinsaibashi. (For whatever reason, Google Maps states it’s the 1st floor, which is incorrect!)
Our First Time
For our first visit, we arrived about thirty minutes before our reservation time. Since we had some time to kill, we checked out Kirby Cafe THE STORE, which is located right across from the cafe.
There is so much cute Kirby and Waddle Dee merchandise here, such as frying pans, dishes, plushies, and blind boxes containing keychains or magnets. Almost everything is Kirby Cafe-themed and beyond cute.
It was so hard to decide what to get! I might have spoiled my daughter a little by letting her choose a few things, but I couldn’t help it. (I am a sucker for all things kawaii.)
We finished shopping about a few minutes before our reservation time, and after the staff checked my ID, we were allowed inside five minutes early!
(Make sure you don’t forget your ID, and ensure that it matches your reservation name, because they will check!)
Before we were shown to our seats, the staff member took a photo of us in front of a board with some Kirby props. We had the choice between holding Kirby and Waddle Dee plushies or a giant fork or spoon. My daughter chose the plushies (although I would have preferred the cutlery).
Like all diners, we only had 85 minutes to spend at the cafe, so I knew we had to be quick and make the time count. So before anything else, I made sure to look at the menu and choose what to get with my daughter.
My daughter decided to get the Kirby Burger with a souvenir plate, while I chose the Whispy Woods plate with an add-on Waddle Dee figure. For drinks, my daughter got the Strawberry Au Lait that came with latte art, while I chose the Waddle Dee Marshmallow Au Lait.
And because our eyes are larger than our stomachs, my daughter and I decided to share the unbelievably adorable-looking Kirby Car cake.
After ordering, we quickly took a look around.
I’ll admit, I was underwhelmed by the interior of the cafe. There were little Kirby and Waddle Dee figures here and there on the walls, so that was fun to spot with my daughter.
We also loved the huge Whispy Woods figure attached to the wall.
Kirby decals decorate the windows, and if you’re lucky enough to get a window seat, you’ll also have a view of Osaka’s skyline.
Of course, the cafe was playing music from the Kirby games, which was relaxing and helped draw us into the world of Kirby.
Despite all of this, though, I still wished for a bit more. The cafe overall is rather small and not as impressive as the Pokémon Cafe.
Our food arrived within ten minutes of ordering (!), and everything came at once, minus the dessert (which we asked the staff to bring later).
My daughter also got an adorable paper children’s bib, but she hates bibs, so she refused to wear it.
The burger was pretty decent, although the patty wasn’t anything special. It reminded me of the burgers kids in Japan get with children’s meals, so if you’re looking for something super beefy, this isn’t for you. The burger looked incredibly cute, though! They did such a good job making it look perfect.
My daughter did her best to polish off the entire burger, but it was pretty voluminous for her, so I helped her finish it.
The Whispy Woods meal that I got not only looked good but it tasted fantastic! I was quite pleasantly surprised by it.
I loved the different layers in the tree, the first containing a potato salad and the second cheese fondue.
The apple ginger chicken also tasted fantastic, I wish there were more of it! The detail on the plate, from the M on the tomato to the omelet star blocks, was cute, too.
My only complaint is that the plate as a whole wasn’t very filling, but thankfully, I had my daughter’s leftover burger to curb my remaining hunger.
Here’s what the Waddle Dee figure looked like. You can put it on the star-shaped turmeric rice, but I chose not to because I thought that was a little gross to do without washing it.
As for the drinks, I found both of them way too sweet. Even my daughter didn’t want to finish her strawberry au lait, which was surprising because, like most young children, she is addicted to sugar.
But I loved the souvenir coasters we got, and my daughter was beyond thrilled that one of them featured Meta Knight since that’s her father’s favorite character.
I also got the souvenir cup with my drink for an additional charge. The staff would give me a new one at the end of our meal, so I wouldn’t have to carry something used and wet home!
Our Kirby Car cake dessert arrived twenty minutes after our main dishes, so we had almost an hour to enjoy it.
To be honest, the Kirby Car cake, although very cute, was perhaps a bit of a mistake. It was delicious, but too much for both of us, and we ended up giving up halfway through eating it! The car mostly consisted of pink blancmange (a milk and jelly dessert), which was delicious but got a little tiring in terms of flavor, though the tiny cookies and jellies decorating the plate were fun to try.
Around the same time, the staff gave us a new boxed souvenir plate and mug (which I had purchased for an additional charge with my aforementioned meals). The table was already pretty crowded with all of our food, so I had to put the boxes on my lap and pray they wouldn’t fall. I wish they had given me the plate and mug when I was paying because there just wasn’t enough room on the table for them.
When we were done eating, we took a quick look at the goods for sale in the cafe (cutlery, mugs, cookies, etc).
Unlike Kirby Cafe THE STORE, these are only sold inside the Kirby Cafe.
We also took some more photos in front of the sign at the entrance before paying for our meal and heading home.
Our Second Visit
The second time I visited the Kirby Cafe, I went with my daughter and my brother. My brother doesn’t care for themed cafes, but he loves Kirby, so he made an exception for this one, especially since I enjoyed my first visit.
We arrived five minutes before our reservation time, but ended up waiting over ten minutes to be seated due to many other people showing up at the same time.
My daughter ordered the Whispy Woods plate I got last time. I thought the volume would be too much for her, and I was right. She left about a third of the food and thought the ginger in the chicken was “too spicy”.
My brother ordered the Kirby kushikatsu. He actually quite enjoyed this and said it was “really good” (better than Kushikatsu Daruma, a famous kushikatsu chain restaurant in Osaka), although overpriced.
I got the sleeping Waddle Dee omurice plate, and I wouldn’t recommend it. Although the egg was perfectly cooked, I did not like the beef chunks. Although tender, they just didn’t match the egg. It was a weird texture and taste combination. The rice was also soft and flavorless. I liked the demiglace sauce, though.
I ordered the Star-Crossed World special drink, which celebrates the newest game, Kirby Air Riders. I usually don’t like sweet drinks, but this was fantastic! I would actually go to the cafe again just to drink this. It was like a bougie 7-Up Slurpee, but not too carbonated or too sweet. I also don’t usually like jelly in my drinks, but this really worked.
For dessert, my brother ordered the Meta Knight chocolate parfait and a latte with Meta Knight art.
I also ordered a free birthday plate for my brother that had “Happy Birthday!” in Japanese written on it in chocolate. The staff also did a birthday announcement for my brother (which I requested when I made the reservation) and he got a free birthday coaster!
My brother loved the parfait and said it was the best he’s ever had! The drink, though, was subpar for the price. (But at least it looked good!)
I got a seasonal gateau au chocolat cake and paid about 800 yen extra for the winter plate to take home because it was so cute! I also ordered a latte with art.
The cake was grossly overpriced for what it was. It tasted fine, but it was way too small. I wouldn’t order it again. The latte was also pretty basic and overpriced, which I also wouldn’t get again.
In terms of service, our second visit was a disappointment. The waiters were really nice, but the food came out way too slowly. My meal arrived first, about thirty minutes after we were seated. Next was my brother’s, ten minutes later, and then my daughter’s, a few minutes after that.
We also ordered drinks with our dessert, but the drinks didn’t show up until ten minutes later. I felt a bit panicked, too, because we were told that we could only stay at the cafe for 80 minutes (but it was 85 minutes the first time we visited, so I was confused), and by the time the hot drinks arrived, we only had 9 minutes to enjoy them.
Thankfully, the staff didn’t kick us out when we went over by about five minutes. (I was determined to enjoy my expensive hot drink without burning my tongue!)
When it came to payment, the cashier was confused about who came first because there was no clear line. I waited next to the till, which I had also done the first time I visited (and where I had seen other customers when I had entered the cafe).
However, someone else came after me and lined up in front of the till, and when it was my first to pay, the cashier told me to wait and wanted to help the other customer. I explained that I had been waiting before them, and they apologized and let me pay first. I felt so uncomfortable from the entire interaction.
So, Is the Kirby Cafe Worth It?
If you’re a Kirby fan who doesn’t have super high expectations and if you don’t mind the high prices, the Kirby Cafe is worth visiting. My brother really liked what he ordered, and he thought the atmosphere was cute, but he felt the staff were overwhelmed. It’s a decent experience for Kirby lovers, and at the very least, you’ll have some great photos of the food.
In my opinion, if you’re expecting exceptionally great-tasting food for the price (as someone who lives in Japan), you’d better look elsewhere. It’s all about aesthetics and atmosphere at the Kirby Cafe.
As for my daughter, she’s a kid, so she always has fun at the cafe since she doesn’t have to worry about money.
I also really liked the plate and mug souvenirs that we purchased with our meals.
They’re of great quality and have survived being blasted with heat in my Bosch dishwasher. However, make sure you’re very careful with packing it if you’re traveling by plane, because although they’re durable, they still might break in your luggage.