Robot Restaurant in Tokyo, Japan: Review, Reopening & Replacement

Robot Restaurant is a crazy dinner show in the neon district of Shinjuku in Tokyo with samurai, dancers, monsters, etc. This review shares whether it’s worth the money, photos from our experiences, and info about its replacement and reopening. (Updated January 21, 2025.)

The bad news: Robot Restaurant has now been temporarily closed for the last 5 years. The good news is that the owner and operator of the Robot Restaurant has been working on reviving the concept, and has promised its return. The second bit of bad news is that this started two years ago, and the Robot Restaurant revival has been plagued by delays due to unforeseen circumstances and equipment maintenance.

It’s all very nebulous, especially since the new Robot Restaurant concept was once in rehearsals. What would cause over a year of delays is beyond us. It wouldn’t surprise us if the Robot Restaurant is never resurrected, or if it occurs at a much later date as something different entirely.

Honestly, that has sort of already happened!

Samurai Restaurant Time at Gira Gira Girls debuted one year ago in the exact same location as Robot Restaurant. Not only that, but Samurai Restaurant Time uses the same visual style and recycles much of the same equipment and props from the Robot Restaurant.

That might seem odd. After all, robots and samurai are two totally different and downright dissimilar things. It would be like if a zombie hunting restaurant suddenly became a street fighting restaurant. That’s actually an apt example, considering that both Resident Evil and Street Fighter use the same underlying video game engine.

In the case of Robot Restaurant, as you can read here, the experience wasn’t so much about robots as it was complete chaos and craziness. Sometimes “robots” (air quotes) were part of that, but it was mostly a bunch of kitschiness and absurdness.

All of that is still present in Samurai Restaurant Time. Now, it’s just samurai that are the ostensible theme of the show, rather than robots.

Samurai Restaurant Time is still very similar in style or substance, which is part of why we suspect the Robot Restaurant in its prior form will not return. Because it already has, but as Samurai Restaurant Time. There’s simply so much overlap between the two and little daylight between the concepts that it’s hard to imagine both being offered simultaneously without major changes.

There are three performances of Samurai Restaurant Time daily: 10:50 to 12:30, 14:00 to 15:40, and 16:30 to 18:10.

The earlier showtimes often have slightly discounted tickets if you purchase online in advance. On the day we visited, there was also someone outside with fliers with coupons and availability for all 3 shows. If our experience was any indication, Samurai Restaurant is not nearly as popular or well-known as its predecessor.

One thing we do want to “correct” about other reviews that we’ve seen of the Samurai Restaurant are that it’s a night-and-day difference from the Robot Restaurant. This is inaccurate.

Our guess is that for most Tokyo-based bloggers or writers, Robot Restaurant was a one-and-done. They published their reviews, perhaps begrudgingly acknowledging that the low-brow entertainment offering held some appeal, and moved on. The touristy show was beneath them.

It was not beneath us. Whenever we had friends visiting Japan for the first time, or even sometimes without any excuse, we’d revisit Robot Restaurant. We ended up seeing it a half-dozen times over the years. The one constant about it was that there was nothing constant. It was different every single time. Sometimes dramatically so. I have no clue why, but that was part of the allure–you never knew what you’d get.

Point being, that Samurai Restaurant definitely is different from the version of Robot Restaurant critics saw…but that’s nothing new. I cannot imagine how much Robot Restaurant would’ve “evolved” over ~5 years. I honestly am baffled that they changed the name to Samurai Restaurant, and wouldn’t be surprised if it gets changed back at some point if ticket sales are still slow.

Arguably the bigger changes are that Samurai Restaurant is now held earlier, and Kabukicho definitely is less alluring in the cleansing light of daytime. Beyond that, I also think that Kabukicho has gotten sketchier over the last 5 years, but it’s not like it was prim and proper before–this is the red light district, and it shows.

We’ll have a full review of Samurai Time Restaurant soon, but for now, this Robot Restaurant review remains almost entirely accurate. Again, same idea, new name. And just as we recommended Robot Restaurant, we suggest seeing Samurai Time Restaurant. It’s totally bonkers and unlike anything you’ve ever experienced–it’s an absolute blast. Even at full price, it’d be worth it.

For now, you can find out more and purchase tickets on the official Samurai Restaurant Time website: https://samurai-restaurant.tokyo/top/

We had heard about the Robot Restaurant a few weeks before our first trip to Japan almost 15 years ago, and I was immediately excited about the idea.

The video I saw combined dinosaurs, robots, tribal drums, samurai, and a variety of other oddities. It seemed like what you’d get if you gave a 10-year old boy a blank canvas and checkbook (it reportedly cost over $100 million USD to build) to design a restaurant, and he threw everything “awesome” into it, without regard for how those things meshed.

Robot Restaurant tickets might seem like they are a lot of money, but this is a lavish production and we have no hesitation to pay $75 or more for tickets. I don’t know what my price ceiling on this awesome experience would be, but we’ve visited multiple times and haven’t batted an eye at prices yet–and we’re normally pretty frugal.

One thing I’d recommend is eating before you arrive at the Robot Restaurant. While the meal options have differed with every visit we’ve made to Robot “Restaurant,” there is one constant truth: the food there is awful. As of our most recent visit, food was an optional add-on (one drink is included). I have no clue whether this will remain the case, but we’ve never had a good meal here. Even the most basic snacks have tended towards being awful. With a surplus of nearby restaurants in Shinjuku, there’s no reason to pay for garbage food at Robot Restaurant.

Another tip: the show is now relatively family-friendly. There’s still plenty of robot violence, but it’s too cheesy to be taken seriously. Most of the sexualization has been removed from the show, so if you’re watching videos to determine whether Robot Restaurant is appropriate for your kids, be sure to watch ones from the last couple of years. As Robot Restaurant has increased in popularity among foreign tourists, the show most definitely has been toned down.

With that said, Shinjuku in the late hours, particularly on weekends, is not the most kid-friendly place. If you have kids and are considering Robot Restaurant, I’d highly recommend one of the first two shows, and doing it on a weekday, if possible. Weekends at 9 p.m. are fairly raucous, and worlds away from what you’d find elsewhere in Tokyo. Moreover, the venue is in GiraGira Girls, which is a girl’s bar that is not-so-family-friendly. That’s just my take, though…to each their own!

The Robot Restaurant is located in what’s probably best described as the “neon district” of Shinjuku, and is about a 15 minute walk from the Shinjuku Station. All around the Robot Restaurant were the types of seedy things you might expect to find in parts of Vegas or New Orleans, except with a Japanese twist.

One thing you might wonder is whether the Robot Restaurant is “too touristy.” That’s debatable. The whole production is undeniably aimed at tourists and they are now the core demographic. However, it’s created and presented in a way that, for lack of a better term, is distinctly Japanese. 

The end result, I might add, is more “authentic” than so much of what’s presented in Japan to international tourists. A lot of the experiences that are ostensibly culturally authentic are more about presenting a manicured and carefully-curated experience–giving foreigners what they want as opposed to what’s real. It’s hard to articulate, but there’s a romanticizing veneer or facade that you just won’t find here.

With all of that out of the way, here’s my original review of Robot Restaurant, fresh from my first visit to this glorious land where robots and dinosaurs frolic together in a sea of neon fun…

Initially, everyone else in my group was not sold so easily on the Robot Restaurant. This was “back in the day” before it was plastered all over commercials, television specials, etc. At that time, it was just another show several flights down below a building a random Shinjuku alley. (What could go wrong?!) They were all a bit apprehensive, wondering what kind of nefarious place I was trying to convince them to visit. In their defense, the videos I showed them did have a lot of scantily-clad women and not much else.

I didn’t want to watch a ton on YouTube (I had made my mind up that I wanted to go upon hearing a description of the restaurant) as I didn’t want to spoil the show, but what I did see didn’t make a whole lot of sense. The videos were mostly incoherent, save for a lot of movement, samurai, masked madmen, drums, dancers, and occasional “robots” and “animals.” After much persuasion, they were on board, ready for the greatest experience of their lives.

We received a pamphlet with the tickets, and it promised greatness. According to it, there were “no rules,” and you could get on stage with the dancers and touch the robots. Cool. We spent the rest of that day physically and mentally preparing for the Robot Restaurant. Shinjuku is an interesting place. Business by day, party by night. Well, in different parts, but same idea.

The Robot Restaurant itself is pretty difficult to miss in all of this–it has the giant dinosaur out front. We waited in a glitzy lounge-type area while the previous show emptied (there are multiple per night) and the crowd was a good split of Westerners and Japanese. This is noteworthy because it was fairly rare to see this many Westerners in one location in Japan. I’d hazard a guess that a good chunk of the Westerners were heavily intoxicated, too.

My only intoxication was the surreal happenings all around me, and I’m fairly sure that doesn’t count. After being herded downstairs through narrow hallways into an area that surely would have been our grave had there been any sort of fire, we were given boxes of food.

I’ve never done LSD, but it sure felt like what I was experiencing the first time at Robot Restaurant was an acid trip or some sort of hallucination. What, exactly, the Robot Restaurant is (it really doesn’t involve food or robots) is sorta beyond description. The Robot Restaurant defies categorization, but it’s ultimately best described as a campy dinner show straight out of the mind of Hunter S. Thompson.

Before the show started, we were given several warnings, including several stern restrictions, including warnings that “big cameras” weren’t allowed to take “up-close” photos of the dancers.

Apologies for the photo quality here, not only is the area dark, but I took these photos quickly so as to avoid having any issues. We were also warned not to touch the dancers and to not get out of our seats.

Quite the contrast to the “no rules” touted in the brochure. It was no big deal, just a bit comical. In the restroom, another American who was a regular of the restaurant, advised me not to make eye contact, as some of them were Yakuza girlfriends.

Rumors have spread online that the Robot Restaurant is owned by the Yakuza…as best I can tell, these rumors are false, and in fact, the establishment is anti-Yakuza.

As for the show itself, I don’t really know what to say about it. It started out with a somewhat serious tone, with dancers engaging in what seemed to be ritualistic dancing and drum beating, and then descended from there into utter insanity.

The first insane scene was robots versus animals, which culminated in a knock-off Kung-Fu Panda riding a bull through a lineup of robots.

Another scene involved Captain America, fembots with Thor hammers, and a dinosaur (or maybe it was a giant armadillo…or that dog-like creature from John Carter…it’s tough to be sure) fighting robots, in a scene dubbed “Robots vs. America.” There were actually a lot of references to American culture in the show.

After that, the dinosaurs came out in full force and battled robots, winning handily. Because of course dinosaurs would battle robots in this show. In other versions of the show, there’s a giant snake and other creatures that the robots battle. The winner never seems to be pre-determined, with the results differing depending upon when you visit.

Around this point, the giant chain fence went around the audience.

It was at that moment that we all collectively realized that “shit was ’bout to get real” up in there. A battle of epic proportions (or not) then took place.

Later, they passed out glow sticks and giant fembots were driven around by some dancers, possibly battling one another. Robots on scooters and Segways were also around then.

This was a more lighthearted scene as compared to the “intense” battle scenes before it. This was all set to, what else, but Gangnam Style.

They also allowed the audience on stage after this scene for photos with the robots and dancers. Despite the rules that there be “no touching” of the dancers, most of them touched guests while posing.

The dancers again touched guests when they flew right over the audience in some odd, assembly-line style riders that circled on the ceiling.

Random side note: the excited Japanese businessman to the right of me giving the thumbs up with a fembot and a masked dancer flying above in the background totally makes this photo, I think.

This one photo basically embodies the randomness that is Robot Restaurant.

As the dancers “flew” around overhead, a giant tank came out. I might be messing up the order of some of these scenes, but I don’t think there was really a linear storyline.

It was basically: awesome stuff happens…then more awesome stuff happens…then more–you get the idea.

I’ll stop with the descriptions now, as they shed very little light on the scenes in question. I would say that the photos speak for themselves, except in this case, I’m not quite sure what they say.

For lack of an articulable summary of the Robot Restaurant’s show, here’s my best description: crazy stuff happens, and it’s beyond awesome.

Awesome in ways you wouldn’t expect to be awesome, but it just works.

While this review covers the basics of what happened during our show, it only scratches the surface of a show that must be seen to be truly understood. The crazy on-screen graphics, the restrooms, the excitement of the audience, the seriousness of the stage-hands, the everything.

We talked to a regular of the show after it was over, and he said that each show he has been to has been different. He was particularly impressed with the different dances they manage to learn (they were well done), which makes sense given that everything but the dances seemed very loosely scripted. Staff had surveys for guests after the show, and they took these surveys very seriously.

It’s clear that they want to improve the experience. (Perhaps the food will be better in the future?)

With all of that said, is the Robot Restaurant worth it? Yes. I don’t care if the price has jumped in price to $150/person by the time you read this, it is absolutely worth it. That evening was the most we’ve laughed in a long time, and was incredibly fun. This review makes light of the show (and for good reason), but it’s absolutely a ton of fun. We literally laughed the entire time we were there, and although it was corny and totally bizarre, it was also totally fun.

In fact, we enjoyed our first experience at Robot Restaurant so much that we’ve been back several times since over the course of the last decade years. Suffice to say, Robot Restaurant has become more family-friendly and tourist-centric than it once was. Rest assured, though, it’s just as zany and totally bizarre as it has ever been.

If you like lighthearted, fun things and have a sense of humor, you will enjoy this. It’s not for everyone, and definitely has some mild sexuality to it and violence, but both are fairly benign and it’s all so comical that it’s tough to take any of the “bad” elements too seriously. Ultimately, there’s a reason why Robot Restaurant is so incredibly popular: it’s flat-out awesome. It epitomizes the “bizarre” side of Japan, and is a distinctly Japanese experience…even if it is incredibly touristy, gimmicky, and kitschy. That’s all part of the fun.

Just be sure to purchase Robot Restaurant tickets in advance to get them at a discount and make sure to grab something to eat before you attend the show! (Robot Restaurant is a bit of a misnomer.) With all of that said, we highly recommend Robot Restaurant, and it’s an absolute must-do for anyone visiting Tokyo who loves fun. Going to Tokyo without seeing the Robot Restaurant is distinctly unpatriotic.

If you’re planning a trip to Japan, we start by consulting our Ultimate Guide to Kyoto and Ultimate Tokyo City Guide to plan all aspects of your visit to Japan’s top two cities. You should also check out our other posts about Japan for ideas on other places to visit! 

Your Thoughts

If you’ve been to Samurai Restaurant Time or Robot Restaurant, what’s your review of the experiences? Any additional tips you’d offer for a first-timer to Japan visiting Shinjuku? If you haven’t been, on a scale of 1 to INFINITY AWESOMENESS, how great does this look to you? We’re interested in hearing your thoughts on this amazing show, so please share in the comments. If you have any questions, be sure to post those, too, and we’ll do our best to answer!