BEER PUB CAMDEN Ikebukuro East Exit — Restaurant in Tokyo

My second visit after one year. Generally the atmosphere and bar service is good and it's a nice escape from the crowds of central Ikebukuro, but there are a couple things that annoy me with this place.

I visited at lunchtime, but the lunch menu only has burgers available. I already had plans to have BBQ for dinner, so the only option for me was a side of quite expensive "fries" at ¥650. I was disappointed to be given a small bowl of undercooked soggy wedges with only ketchup. I actually prefer wedges over fries, but they were so bad. It felt like I was being punished for not ordering a burger and that the chef couldn't be bothered with just a side. I'm sure the burgers are probably good, but based on the effortless wedges I regret ordering any food at all and will not bother to order food here next time.

I also find it weird that the bar unofficially brands itself as Brewdog (logo/colours). Brewdog is proudly Scottish, yet the bar is named Camden as in London. The beers on tap during my visit were majority American IPAs with just a couple of Japanese. There were no British beers on tap besides Brewdog, which the bar lists as Japanese (presumably it's brewed domestically now). There's also the low-end craft beer brand Camden Town in the UK, which is a direct rival of Brewdog, so the bar branding makes zero sense to me. However, Brewdog has signed the wall behind the main bar, so I guess they don't care. Probably more concerned with golden can lawsuits and selling out.

Finally, the bar offers a 5% discount from the total bill if you pay in cash. It's common to find cash only places in Japan, but it is uncommon to find places that do accept other payment forms whilst offering a discount for cash. It's confusing to me why it applies here. The average credit card transaction fee for businesses in Japan is 1.5-3.5%. PayPay is 1.5-2%. So a 5% discount is probably not to avoid this. It might just be a marketing strategy, and of course I took advantage of it, but it still has the smell of some kind of tax dodge.

Having now written my thoughts out, I probably won't return here for a...

It's a very cool place! There is a huge list of foreign and domestic craft beers. Sours, small batches from microbreweries, things of that nature. I spotted a couple of Australian ones on the list and even a poster advertising Brewdog!

I think perhaps we came here too late at night because the joint was not jumping and they were looking to close soon.

To enjoy time in the bar, it is required that each member of your party must purchase at least one drink. That's a pretty standard practice around the country, so don't be offended if the staff seem very insistent on taking your order, it's just the rules of the establishment.

I'd like to come visit here again- at the start of the night haha.

Thankyou to the staff for serving 3 drunk foreigners an hour before closing time. I'm sorry I did not finish my cocktail, the "Kitty" (some sort of red wine based item and I chose it at random). My own fault for not asking what it contained before I...

Nice and clean almost non-smoking place (there is a smoking corner close to the window and right under the air evacuation system). The decoration is cosy with red bricks. Good choice of beers, tap and bottles, but quite expensive (around 1500 yen for a old rodenback). Happy Hour from 5PM to 7PM on weekdays, before 5PM on weekends. Counter, tables and sofa available. I was there on 2015 St Patrick's day, NO event at all. I saw empty Mikkeller bottles, sold out Mikkeller on the menu, Mikkeller goodies, but I could never see (and not drink, of course) any actual...