Dragon Quest is popular in Japan. So popular, in fact, that Square Enix decided to open a themed restaurant called Luida’s Bar: Dragon Quest dedicated to the series in Tokyo’s nightlife district of Roppongi earlier this year. And I got in, which – even five months after the grand opening – was not a simple task.
Put simply, Luida’s Bar: Dragon Quest is the closest thing Square Enix has to an amusement park in the entire world. Eating there is an experience in itself and will take up a large portion of your day, even though the actual experience only lasts 90 minutes. Why only 90 minutes? The time limit allows as many fans as possible a chance to have the Dragon Quest experience on any given day while also maintaining the air of exclusivity the place has. You can’t just walk up, get a table, and order. Like most things worthwhile in the country of Japan, you’re going to have to plan in advance and wait – in line – with a lot of other people. Probably for a while.
Through preliminary investigation and a phone call, I found out that it was possible to get a spot by going to the bar at 11:30 on the day I planned to attend. I had a bad feeling, though, so I arrived in Roppongi around 10:30 that day. My hunch was spot-on. Not only were there people already waiting, but there were A LOT of people waiting. The line stretched past Luida’s Bar, past the place next to it, and down a flight of stairs underneath the building. Fortunately I was one of the last lucky people to get a spot in line underneath an awning (which meant I didn’t have to get soaked). Every single person in this line as far as I could tell had a DSi XL and a copy of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, and the few that noticed me seemed perplexed by my presence. I think one guy even took a picture of me with his phone; perhaps I looked unusual being the only foreigner in this long line of Dragon Quest fans.
In any case, at about 11:38, after approximately another hour of waiting in line and mooching off Square Enix Wi-Fi, a server comes out of the restaurant and begins a fluent Japanese barrage from the top of the stairs that I could only hear pieces of. This was partially because he was going so fast, and partially because the volume of the echo was louder than the actual speech from where I was standing. What I was able to catch is this. Basically we’ve been waiting in line for a SPOT to get into the restaurant at a specific time later in the day, not to get into the restaurant immediately. Apparently the sooner you line up, the better slot you can choose. So I get to the front of the line and get asked what time I want to come back (the bar was already at capacity for the first session). I asked what the soonest available was, and was told 13:00. It was 11:45 now. He hands me a ticket, and sends me on my way. I needed to find a place to get out of the rain.
Fortunately, there was a McDonalds just down the street, so I ordered a soda and played iPhone and DS games for an hour. Then I returned to the line for Luida’s Bar. I was first in line this time, and out of the rain. The server from before returns to the line after a few minutes and hands out the faux velvet-covered menus. I take a look and choose my order.
Hmm… let’s see.
Food:
Slime Nikuman (a meat bun in the shape of a slime).
Goddess Fruit (a frozen dessert made to look like a goddess fruit from Dragon Quest IX).
Medal Pizzas (small pizzas shaped like Dragon Quest medals).
Fried Crab Claws (self-explanatory).
Drinks:
Something blue and alcoholic and a non alcoholic “elf potion” in an actual potion-shaped bottle.
They eventually let us in. Dragon Quest music is blaring (for those curious, the theme being played on repeat was the music from the Inn in Stornway from Dragon Quest IX). Two waitresses in Dragon Quest cosplay outfits were getting everything ready and I received two deer-in-headlights OMG-DON’T-MAKE-ME-SPEAK-ENGLISH expressions from them as I was guided to my table. The bar was standing-room-only, quite literally, as there is no room for chairs. When the place fills up, it becomes near impossible to move around. You order food and drinks by marking them off on a small mini-menu similar to a sushi restaurant. The you take that mini-menu to the register to place your order. They also had a few touristy items such as bottles of red or white wine and Dragon Quest games for sale at the register, though everything was blatantly overpriced – the “Square-Enix Tax” at work.
I marked down my order and went to the register to pay, and then returned to my table to find one of the waitresses waiting for me. She asked me if I like Dragon Quest, to which I reply that most of the games people are playing now in Japan aren’t translated into English yet, which is a shame because I’d really like to play them in English because my kanji reading ability isn’t quite there yet. Dragon Quest VIII is my favorite game in the series, I tell her. She makes a comment about Jessica (the heroine in that game). We have a bit of small talk regarding why I’m in Japan. About a minute later, another waitress gets on a microphone.
“Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming to Luida’s Bar. Have any of you brought your Nintendo DS consoles?”
A few random cheers follow, and several people hold up their consoles.
“Well, feel free to link up with other players on Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 or Dragon Quest IX! Also, feel free to take all the pictures you like.”
The announcement stating that pictures were allowed was really nice, as most themed places in Japan don’t let you take pictures inside.
The food was delivered a few minutes later, in stages – first the appetizers, then the main course, then dessert courses. Since I ordered items from all three categories, I received something every 10 minutes or so. Most of the food was interesting-looking, but the taste was rather forgettable. The slime nikuman tasted like any other meat bun you can order for a couple hundred yen at any Family Mart in Tokyo, the Fried Crab Claws were rather greasy, and the Medal Pizzas would have been decent except for the fact they used ketchup instead of pizza sauce, which tasted really unusual to my Western palate. The one exception to this meal of mediocrity was the “Goddess Fruit” dessert (a.k.a. “Fygg” in English). This delicious combination of mango, mochi, and vanilla (I think it was mango and mochi, anyways) was tasty, had a unique texture, and was good enough to make me consider waiting in line to go back for more of them on my next trip to Tokyo. Four Fyggs to go, please!
However, for a place like this, fandom – not the quality of the food – is most important. One interesting observation is despite the fact the workers were quite friendly, most of the other patrons never looked up from their DSes during the entire 90 minutes, except to pay or eat. Weird. The otaku self-fulfilling stereotype at work, I guess.
Although the food leaves a bit to be desired, I do recommend any Square Enix fans in the Roppongi area make plans to check out Luida’s Bar. There really is no other place like it. However, a few words of warning: Most of the workers there cannot speak English, and the menu (and its corresponding ordering sheet) is in Japanese only. If the language hurdle can be overcome, there is no better place in Roppongi to refill your dwindling HP and go on a quest or two with like-minded adventurers. Just don’t eat too many Fyggs. Mmm… Fyggs….
