Even though most maid cafes are located in Akihabara, Maid House Dear Cafe is one of those that is not. Located near Yokohama station, you can find it according to their website’s instructions:

Starting by the gates at the west exit of Yokohama station, exit the station, and take town street number 5 (editor’s note: just as you exit, take a left, and go straight through the mall in front of you. When you exit the mall, you’re in town street number 5). Go straight and cross the Vivre 21 bridge, pass through the Tokyu Hands store until you reach the Okano-cho intersection, cross it and go through the street between the Yokohama ramen store and the Three-F (スリーエフ) convenience store. Within 50 meters (editor’s note: on your left hand) you’ll find Dear Cafe ♪.

A maid cafe in Yokohama is quite interesting for me, as going there is easier, faster and cheaper than going to Akihabara. I went with a friend, and we found that they were doing an event that precise day. The cafe was full and we could not go in, but we were offered with the choice of giving them a name and a cell phone number so they would call us when a table was open (this is a normal feature in Japanese restaurants and cafes). We received our call around 20 minutes later and we went back into the cafe.

The actual cafe is medium-size, and can seat around 25 people in several tables for two, which can be easily converted in tables for four or six, and also a counter at the end. Predominant colors were white and brown. The place was quite organized, but still felt very comfortable.

They have a very large menu, full of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks, some food items, desserts, ice cream and many others. By far, this has been the maid cafe with the largest menu I’ve seen. Also, there are some special items (such as “Kimagure Curry” and “Kimagure Ice Cream”) which seem to change on a regular basis, because their actual descriptions in the menu are “Ask our staff about these”.

I didn’t see English menus, and to be honest, I don’t think they have them, but once again, that’s just my belief (Mainly based on the copious amounts of engrish in the Japanese menu ^^).

Right on top of each table, you’ll find the month’s events. Around half or more or the month’s days are events, which is much more that regular cafes. They have pajama events, cosplay events, omelet rice events, thank-you events (not so sure what these are about), staff birthday events and many more. They also have the whole year’s event calendar, and current events are also shown on their webpage.

One interesting feature they have is notebooks for clients to leave messages. Reading these notebooks is quite amusing, as you can see the type of people who go there. Some have very well drawn pictures, others have short messages, but the ones I found most interesting seem like essays, as they stretch almost an entire page. I wonder who goes to a maid cafe to write an essay.

In addition to that, there is also some manga available for you to read, but that’s also very common in maid cafes.

The staff girls were very pretty, each with their own costume. Since I went on a cosplay event day, each girl had a different dress, so I cannot comment on their usual maid costumes because I didn’t see them. Service is good as usual: they welcome you with “okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama” and show you to their table, they take your orders, and may come to start a small conversation with you. So I would say this is a very common maid cafe. However, roleplay is kept very low, and service seems pretty much the same as a regular cafe.

I noticed that the staff was quite small, as there were three girls who had to wait on the tables, take care of the register, counter, bring the orders and talk with the patrons. They may be a little understaffed, but I never had to wait to make an order. It just seems a little bit quieter and less busy than other maid cafes.

Food and drinks were quite good, and they had very generous servings, judging by watching what other people ordered. You have to order at least one drink per person, regardless of whatever else you order; so if you order an ice cream like I did, you also have to order something to drink. This is a little counterintuitive, as the ice cream was more expensive than the drinks, and in my opinion is a small nuisance. Keep this in mind when you go.

Prices are a little bit elevated, with drinks ranging from 525 to 1050 yen, and food around the 900 yen range. If you plan to eat there, I might recommend their lunch sets, which include some soup, salad and a drink, in addition to a plate between several choices, for the total sum of 1260 yen. Add in a dessert between several choices, and the set sums to 1560 yen. Remember that this is only available for lunch, so if you order the same in the evening, be ready to pay almost twice that price.

They also have a point card system which involves a board game: each time you go and order at least 1000 yen (as opposed to once every 1000 yen), you can roll a die and move in a game board you choose the first time you get your point card, and depending on your landing position, you may get prizes such as pictures and free drinks.

Not being located in tourist-happy Akihabara, I think that Dear Cafe is much more of a specialized place, serving more to regular clients than just people passing by. I say this because the time I went there, a large amount of the people in the cafe seemed to know each other, as well as the staff. For these people, going to the same place several times, with no doubt gives them a much more comfortable experience. Nevertheless, the first times (or only time, for all that matters) you go there, you may feel a little off, and kind of like being in somebody else’s party, as everybody, including the staff, is talking and laughing calling each other by name.

I liked Dear Cafe because of their large menu and copious amounts of events. I didn’t like the atmosphere of being the ugly duck in a place where everybody is a friend of everybody except you. If you’re in Yokohama and don’t want to/can’t go to Akihabara, or if you’re looking for a place where you can become a regular and well-known client, then going to Dear Cafe is probably a good choice. However, if you only have one chance of going to a maid cafe, I’d probably recommend you to go someplace else instead, where service is more oriented to first-time clients.

Some basic information about them:

• Name: メイドハウスディアカフェ (Maid House Dear Cafe)
• Location: Yokohama, Kanagawa
• Homepage: http://dear-cafe.jp/
• Address: 1-6-29 Okano-cho, Nishi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken. Second Floor.
• Opening hours: 12:00 to 22:30, last order at 21:30 for food and 22:00 for drinks.
• Rules: No table charge, a minimum of one drink is required. There seems to be no maximum staying time.