Ōjō — Restaurant in Tokyo

I went here is morning around 10AM and the waitress in eyeglasses who served me was very accommodating. She greeted me sincerely with a smile and told me I can choose my own seat. I ordered a morning set toast with Iced Coffee and I was extremely surprised that the store included a bottle of alcohol gel for me to use! It’s very hygienic and considerate for them to include this very essential thing to strive for cleanliness! Most restaurants and cafés don’t think thought of this idea.

The only thing I wish they could add would be an English menu just in case a foreign tourists will visit the coffee shop. I know going to shops like this might not be very famous among foreign tourists yet but just in case such menu might be a good help. Secondly, I wanted to have a second helping of Iced Coffee but it’s way too expensive which is almost the same price as a morning set. I just wish that they could have made it cheaper for customers who ordered and wanted to add more drinks after the first order. So, I ended up ordering another morning set which is cheaper than a drink refills. I didn’t regret it, though! The toast was amazing! :-)

Overall, the staff were great but in terms of second drink pricing, it’s a little expensive.

The second staff who was not wearing eyeglasses was also kind and cheerful.

Their washroom and toilet was also spic-and-span! Going to retro cafés gave me anxiety of using the toilet due to bad experience but this café’s toilet somehow change my perception that not all retro cafés have less-maintained toilets.

Smoking is not allowed inside the coffee shop but customers are free to smoke outside the shop’s ash tray.

The shop is located near JR Ueno And few minutes walk from JR...

This cafe boasts a strong Showa-era ambiance. While the presence of an outdoor cigar tray might appeal to smokers, it IS important to be mindful of potential secondhand smoke, especially if you have any respiratory sensitivities! Ōjō is popular among people who love to take food porn, often resulting in long queues. It's crucial to confirm both closing and last order times to ensure you have ample time to wait, which can easily exceed an hour. Moreover, the employees and customers inside the cafe do not consider how many people wait outside; some customers go back and forth to the cafe for smoking casually, seemingly oblivious to the waiting people. Due to the lengthy queue, we were only able to order drinks, which were unfortunately and surprisingly mediocre. The overall experience was underwhelming, and I believe the time spent waiting could have been better utilized exploring other cafes with more appealing food and drink options in the area. You can visit here if you want to try dipping yourself a bit into the queue...

I got a chocolate parfait but it turned out it wasn’t a parfait at all, it was just a huge glass of vanilla ice cream with a few pieces of orange, which I personally didn’t really like. Although it is not always a bad thing that something you ordered turns out to be different from what you had expected, this was merely a disappointment because if you say parfait (especially in Japan), what you’d expect is a nice combination of ice cream, whipped cream, fruit and corn cereal. I’m not saying the parfait was not good but I would say they should change the name, like “huge vanilla ice cream” or something.

Also, I didn’t get water when I asked to refill my glass…I know they’re busy but I saw the employee refill for other...