Maid Cafe

Hey guys, first off thanks for taking the time to answer my question!
Being a 18 year old Australian guy, who is an avid manga/anime fan and currently researching visiting Japan;
I have come across information about these Maid Cafes in Japan.
And being the 18 year old Australian guy, who is an avid manga/anime fan and currently researching visiting Japan, the idea of cute Japanese girls in maid outfits all lined up serving lunch sounds pretty amazing and a really fun way to spend an afternoon!
So my question for you guys is have you been to a Maid Cafe, and what was your experience like? All stories appreciated!
Thanks guys :)

Three words,

Expensive, weird and interesting.... and expensive.

During my 11 week vacation in Japan,I was able to go to 2 different Maid Cafes(though I had 2 others in my list I really wanted to but couldn't find them;one location I kept on missing and the other I finally got the location but had little time left because my vacation was finished next day.)

The first cafe I went to was in Osaka,Maid Dreamin and it was fun,unusual and not cheap. In the end,it cost me 7200 yen but I got some nice souvenirs to take back home.

Second cafe was in Akihabara called Pink Cafe,where,though there were also maids,a lot of the place had a lot of a pink theme. I was able to play Jenga with a maid and lost but mentioned to the maid,whether I won or lost,it didn't matter much,a fun time is what mattered the most! (If I won,I would have received a free photo from her.)

Anyhow,going to Japan,a Maid cafe is something everyone should at least go for part of culture experience of Japan,as its part of their culture now and its fun too! Expensive yes but fun as well,going once isn't going to break you,lol.

I've never been to one, no interest. My being female may have something to do with it, but I do know Akiba is loaded with them. When I was there seems there was one on each corner, girls in maid outfits handing out flyers.

Personally, I'm curious of the rarer Butler cafes. lol

I am curious as to how common (or uncommon) it is for females to go to Maid Cafes. I am a female and love dressing up (yes, sometimes even as a maid). I always thought the idea of a Maid Cafe was cute, but from photos I have seen, it appears only males go.

I am curious as to how common (or uncommon) it is for females to go to Maid Cafes. I am a female and love dressing up (yes, sometimes even as a maid). I always thought the idea of a Maid Cafe was cute, but from photos I have seen, it appears only males go.

I'm sure women go too, but it's just aimed more so at guys.

I went to one called "@home (at home)" in Akihabara. It's one of the most popular ones. They're not that weird at all...

You can go for lunch and order a drink and omelette-rice. It costs maybe 700 yen for drink, 1000-1500 yen for the food, and like 600 yen for entry. You're limited to a 1 hour stay. A polaroid photo with a maid costs like 600 yen. There are "combo menus" that help you save a few bucks. You can expect to be out of pocket about $20-30 for an hour.

A single girl going in might seem a little off. Most people there are middle-aged guys, but I did see a family there and maybe 2 couples. The maids are pretty busy serving food and it's fun to watch their costumes. When they serve food, they'll draw cute pictures for you or perform a small spell/blessing on your food. If you pay some extra, you can play a game like rock-paper-scissor or some other game with them. I think they're quite used to foreigners since I saw a lot of English writing around. Nothing really odd goes on here, it's just really cute and quite unique.

My experience was weird. My friend and I went to a maid cafe in akihabra. We chose one randomly from the streets.
I'm chinese and my friend was western. As soon as we entered the cafe everyone stared at us and it was only middle age men (that's their market anyways). We field really uncomfortable.
We sat down and the maid didn't serve us at all. After 10mins my friend and I decided to leave...
My expereince was bad.. but maybe we chose a bad cafe.
I've never been to a maid cafe since. I had better experience going to host club instead

I went with my friend and had a good time.

The food was average and very expensive.

It was a lively atmosphere with a lot of people including many girls who were brought as dates or friends.

We were served by several maids and one or two maids came by our table to talk to us and make us feel good.

I wouldn't say it was anything special besides the fact that the maid dresses were somewhat interesting.

I forgot to mention... the cafe was in Akihabara.

Also, it was expensive despite the fact that my friend had a coupon.

From a female perspective:

When I was in Osaka I was with a Japanese friend, she randomly pointed out a maid cafe and asked if I wanted to go.

Now in Osaka I always found cafe's were busy or even full at the time I was visiting (Christmas/New Years) so when we walked into the maid cafe, very nervously haha, we were surprised to find it almost empty. That was +1.

Next was the service, they called us princess and gave us a bell to ring when we were ready to order, that's another +1 haha

The food was expensive but tasted good and the coffee was fantastic! +5 (good coffee is always bonus points)

They were really excited about a foreigner so asked lots of questions and when I asked for a photo with the Christmas themed maids, they took one and wrote lots of sweet things on it for me.

It was an awesome experience and I highly recommend giving it a go.

I'm a guy and was once forced to go by a few female friends.
It was....quite horrible. Very very awkward.
You have these cute young girls over acting in such a cute and servile manner.... Its just....I hate overly attentive staff even at a conventional shop/cafe/restaurant/whatever, for that to be the whole point of the place, especially when the girl is obviously putting on such cutesyness and pretending to like her customers. It just left me very very uncomfortable.
She also used weird girly Japanese that I didn't understand. That side of things was quite an interesting learning experience- one of my friends was Japanese so she translated cutesey girl to regular j-go for me!

It was fun.

You need to try it.

I've gone to a couple, always with my girlfriend of the time. It wasn;t unusual to see couples or groups of people, both male and femaile.

My favorite one, which I couldn;t find last year was a place called Witch/cat Cafe where they dressed as witches with cat ears and tails. Decent food and service and it was pretty cheap. Not much more then a normal Cafe.

Another one I went, I forget the name, was much much more expensive. Food was regular cafe food but the Maids all sang some Karoke and referred to us as Master and Princess (Goshiji-sama [sp?] Hime-sama). We got a polariod each and also a professional signed photo of a girl of our choice.

I think it cost about $160 all up as there was a two order minimum per table so on top of Omurice we got a parfait each. I felt kind of ripped off, but I still have the photos.

In context you pay about the same for a place like Ninja Akasaka which is real Gormet food with 5 courses including lobster tofu, sushi, shuriken breadsticks in a restaraunt that looks like a hidden ninja village and you are aited on by ninjas. It was better value.

@home is definatley a reccomendation worth taking, but you will likely have to line up for a seat so take a 3DS or Vita