At the time of publishing this article, the cafe is almost strictly reservation only, and reservations can be hard to get especially for weekends. Be sure to plan in advance when you want to go and make your reservations online. After you book your time slot, you will be given a code to take to Lawson's convenience store to use on the Loppi machine, and once you pay your seating charge you will have reserved your spot! And the seating charge does come with your first drink free, including alcoholic and soft drink choices, so don't be upset too much by the 500 yen charge. Once you have your reservation, all that remains is heading off to the cafe! Luckily it's easy to find, just look for the giant Yodobashi Akiba building and it's right on the first floor!

This is first and foremost a cafe, so onto the food and drinks of course! There is one menu that is available all the time at the Square Enix Cafe regardless of the featured theme, including several massive hamburgers held together by mini iconic swords, dipping pancakes, and a large selection of cocktails. In addition to this standard menu, there is another menu that features the cafe's current theme. For us, it was full of food that the Ignis, one of the main FFXV characters, makes in the game. There were also four drinks inspired by each of the four leading males in the game, each available with or without alcohol - and a special character tumbler if you wanted, too!

Ordering from the special menu meant free gifts as well! Each of the limited items came with a small poster of a featured character also eating that same food. A few of the bigger meal choices even came with a larger poster! And after your first drink that is included with the seating fee, any additional drink came with a free coaster of a random FFXV character. Not wanting to miss out on all the exclusive merchandise, we ordered almost everything from the FFXV special menu. Two of our favourites the "memory lane" pastries Ignis makes for Noctis from his childhood which is delicious, and Shiva's Crystal Crème dessert, which really looks like it's made of snow! When we paid our bill at the end, we were rewarded with quite a lot of cool gifts!

Because the cafe is so new, and especially with the long-awaited release of Final Fantasy XV, it is almost exclusively reservation only right now. While you can try to just walk in during one of the time slots, the chances of a spot being available are slim, so definitely reserve your spot if you want to go! The first reservation slots are from 9am, and the last is 9pm, with a slot every two hours. As a party of just two, we also had to share our table with two more strangers, but it’s a great way to make friends with other fans of course! You are limited to 90 minutes per session, and last order is one hour into your time. If you really want to visit, plan accordingly! But anyone can go to the store, even without going to the actual cafe.

Ordering was done entirely through an iPad placed on each table, where you could simply click on the pictures to place your order. Be aware that the iPad was entirely in Japanese, however. If you are happy enough with just a picture of your food and guessing through a few buttons to order it, you should be okay. If you're pickier though consider taking a friend that is proficient at reading! Don't let it deter you from going though because there isn't very much Japanese you need to deal with, and you don't have to speak at all if you don't want to. Overall the ordering system was fast and efficient. Other than a speech at the beginning telling you about the café and encouraging you to take a lot of pictures (to make Prompto proud, of course!), there is very little interaction with the servers unless you call them over to the table.

The cafe itself is sleek and stylish, with a polished concrete and metal interior that gives it a very modern feel. There are three huge TVs, simultaneously playing gameplay footage, and segments from the Kingsglaive film and the Brotherhood anime. There is a Square Enix goods shop with plenty of merchandise that you can visit even without cafe reservations, too. It offers everything from t-shirts and plushies to posters, soundtracks, and even more Japanese souvenirs like fans and handkerchiefs. While a lot of the merchandise was FFXV, there were plenty of products from the other Final Fantasy games, as well as Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts too. Watch out especially for anything that is tagged as being exclusive to the Square Enix shop! The prices are average for anime or video game merchandise at other retailers in Japan. Whether you spend a little or a lot is entirely your choice.