NESCAFÉ Harajuku — Restaurant in Tokyo

This is a review on a repeatedly racial harassement by a Nescafe staff member and the aftermath of my incident.

First of all I want to make clear that I have been a regular customer when coming from abroad for business trips in Tokyo, I was always spending my time working in this cafe over the last two years. The design, the food and overall ambient of the cafe is very nice and I appreciated the overall service I was able to enjoy.

However my recent encounter in this cafe by a waitress and the aftermath dealing by the Nestle Japan Management from CNC Corporation（シーエヌシー株式会社）was more than disappointing.

On one day I went to the Nescafe twice (once for lunch and one time for a business meeting in the evening).

When I went for lunch I asked a waitress (Ms. T.) to please give me the menu and also replace my water. Even though I spoke to her in Japanese and directly addressed her, she simply just said "Yes" and went on serving other customers. I was assuming she was busy with other tasks and kept on waiting for more than ten minutes. After that I went down to the counter and reminded her that I still haven't received the menu and water. Instead of responding to me, she was simply addressing me to one of her staff and pointed on the menu. I was confused and instead of being served the menu (like every other customer was) I took the menu and ordered my food.

Assuming she was busy and a new staff, I did not want to complain about it and thought it was just to her being busy. The same das in the early evening I came back to Nescafe again, because I had a very important business meeting scheduled there. The same waitress (Mr. T) was still there and this time the same thing happened again. However it was just too obvious to be considered a mistake by her or that she has overseen me. After I sat down and waited for the order like any other customer, she kept n serving new customers that entered after me the cafe and taking orders from other people. I repeatedly called her to please bring me my menu and water, but even though she looked directly at me, she just ignored me and walked away. I do not want to make any accusations, yet I was the only foreign looking customer at both of these situations during the day and I even spoke to her all the time in Japanese. Therefore I cannot get any other conclusion than having been treated on purpose on a racially biased way.

After more than 15 minutes passed, I was fed up and decided to complain to the cafe manager, who was very kind, understanding and happy to assist me with my concerns. Finally after seeing me complaining and addressing her directly, she started paying attention to me. But I did not feel anymore comfortable staying at this cafe. I had to reschedule my whole business meeting and had unnessecary trouble caused.

The worst thing was the aftermath where I tried to contact the management company of Nescafe Japan called CNC Corporation（シーエヌシー株式会社）The people in charge of Nescafe did not respond to my calls and just after sending an official complaint they send a very brief apology without any further explanation or mentioning of the racial abuse.

I know that Japanese hospitality and kindness is world renowned, but the lack of follow up management of my complain, plus the bad correspondence in the aftermath made me very dissapointed in their service. I do not want to blame any specific person, but want to leave my honest review for other customers so that they do not have to go through the same abusive experience I had...

Honestly, I am a little disappointed. I’m a high school student in Tokyo, and ever since I moved to Harajuku I had always wanted to come to this cafe. The atmosphere just seemed nice. One day I went to this cafe to study with my friends. The waiter brought us to a seat with small round table but the table didn’t have enough space for us to open textbooks and stuff so I politely asked if we can move to a seat with a larger table. There were many empty tables but the waiter said no. I asked her why but she did not explain anything to me. Other people sitting on the seat with large tables were looked like a business men taking a break and all of them were just drinking a cup of coffee, so they didn’t even need a large table. After seeing that I thought perhaps the waiter was saying this because we are high school students. Otherwise why on earth were we not allowed to use a larger table? She couldn’t even explain the reason. After we sat down I ordered an orange juice but it tasted really...

Whether you're hanging out with friends or having a quick lunch with colleagues, this cozy restaurant boasts of great decor, superb service and good food at reasonable price. The vibe is quite relaxing, the staff very friendly, and the beautiful interiors create that unique restaurant you would recommend to friends and even entertain some tourists who appreciate quality and design. There is a perfect blend of modern touch with the huge screen and the presence of Pepper, the robot, and Japanese aesthetics visible on the use of wooden furniture and fixtures. Here are some pictures I took on 12/26/2019 when I came to lunch with my sister. So...