Gudetama Cafe — Restaurant in Buena Park

My account of the grand opening and its mismanagement: 11:30 AM, we arrive at the back of the huge line. I saw a similarly long line when the HK merch van came to Fresno. 12:30 PM, one of the employees came by and gave us all our raffle tickets. 2:30 PM, another two employees came by with raffle tickets for those who hadn't gotten one yet and realized the employee who first handed out the tickets messed up and was supposed to tell us to write our names and phone numbers on the ticket stubs, so they had to toss out all of the original tickets and hand out new ones. 2:46 PM, another two employees came by to give us BOGO coupons as an apology for the long wait and to tell us all to just come back tomorrow because the line was too long. He told us that they would be open again on Sunday from 11-8 and to just come back. A lot of people did end up leaving. My sister and I told him we had driven from Fresno and he looked at us sadly. He apologized again and went farther up the line. 4:40 PM, the manager tells us we were guaranteed not to get into the cafe today because they could only serve 200 more people and there were 380+ people still in line, but we’d be getting free Gudetama fans, then said that we could still wait in line for the chance to go in and while he couldn't make us leave, he strongly encouraged us to do so. He admitted that they were unprepared for so many people and overwhelmed. They finally got to us as I tell my sister, "Well, maybe we can still manage to get a picture with Gudetama.” He hands me my fan and tells me that Gudetama actually left at 3 PM. We barely overhear him tell people ahead of us that every guest who made it in was allowed to stay inside the cafe for an entire hour "to get the full experience." 5:00 PM, an employee is asked to stay at the end of the line and turn people away after giving them a Gudetama fan. We manage to overhear that they had only prepped enough food for AT MOST 450 guests. The RSVP list on their Facebook page had over 1,000 people already RSVP'd by April 30th and the sheer amount of engagement on their Instagram posts should have been enough of a clue as to how many people would attend this event. 6:20 PM. The raffles begin and it goes poorly. She never moved farther than about 20 feet from the cafe, so our section of the line didn't get to hear more than maybe two names clearly. A guy in front of us who kept acting like his name was called out, confusing her and making her have to repeat herself. We overhear the manager say the kitchen will be closing at 7 PM. 6:40 PM. We're now behind a group who made the rest of the night UNBEARABLE: a loudmouth claw game enthusiast and his posse. They do not stop being obnoxious and loud for the rest of the evening. An older lady continues to turn people away. 7:15 PM. An employee lets us know that they're sorry for the long wait, but they will be giving out the BOGO coupons again. People get mad; this is actually the third or fourth time they've tried to give out these coupons. She angrily asks us to form two lines: one for merch and one for food. 7:34 PM The line has not split in two. My sister asksOlder Lady where the line for merch is and she says there won't be one because they've run out of food. "I'm so sorry. We actually had to turn away someone who came here from Mexico City, so I understand your frustration." She looks like she wants to cry and I almost start crying too. An employee walks past and Claw Game Guy says he's starving, to which he replies "Yeah, I, um, haven't actually eaten anything since 8 AM." and excuses himself. Claw Game Guy makes rude and crass jokes about how lazy and stupid the employees are. 8:00 PM. Closing time, but they're still open. We're so close. We're literally feet from the door. Another employee hands us two small Gudetama stickers and informs us that unfortunately, there's no food to be served, no merch for us to buy, and the stickers are all they have left, BUT we are more than welcome to wait our turn to get private tours of the cafe to take pictures. We do not...

Got there for their grand opening at 8 am and the line was already wrapped around the building. Waited a total of 10+ hours just for food service to be closed and only merch purchases were available. During the entire wait, nobody told us that our spot in line would not be guaranteed for food service. Instead, the groups behind us and a few groups in front of us were given the information. I understand that opening day can be frustrating and unforeseen circumstances may occur, but do not selectively share information with some individuals and leave others in the dark. Whenever we attempted to get any type of updates during the duration of our wait we were hit with "Let me check and get back to you." and we never heard from them again. At around 7ish we overheard, who we are assuming is the manager whisper to a group a few groups away from us that they had to close their kitchen at 7 and they should've cut off the line earlier, but elected not to, however since they were waiting they are going to open a second register and allow for merchandise purchase only and the chance to look inside the cafe. They then took the selected few towards the front for merchandise purchase only and ignored the rest of us. It wasn't until I flagged down another staff and expressed our frustration of being left in the dark while only individuals he speaks to get the opportunity to go in. He apologized and said he'd get back to me. 20 minutes later they return with paper fans to hand out "to keep us happy". The manager then explains that they have to stop food services and that there is a CHANCE that we may not be able to get food, but we will be able to purchase merch. (No separate line was formed/made or redirected). He walked further down the line behind us and made the same announcement and individuals who were lined up in the back were able to go to the front and granted access to purchase merch before everybody else who was still in line waiting to go in. Then we were told we may not even be able to purchase merch anymore because they had to close. when we were inches from the front door. Two of their staff came out to apologize and hand out BOGO drink coupons that are valid until next week. Their management needs to work on organization and communication. THE WHOLE DAY WAS A MESS. The fact that they PURPOSELY let individuals believe that they were going to get in when they already knew it was not going to happen is ridiculous. The fact that the manager even said " Yeah we really should've cut it off over in the front there, but didn't" had me in...

I’ve been wanting to visit this cafe for a while now to see if it’s worth the hype so my family and I arrived 30 minutes before they opened to wait in line. We were 3rd in line and after a few minutes, there was maybe 20 or so people behind us. The cafe opened at 11am and we were welcomed in the lovely staff.

While looking over the menu, I noticed it was a bit difficult to order and look at the menu at the same time because they are placed on tv screens high above the register area. So, you kind of have to crank your neck up and look silly while trying to figure out and remember your orders. I ended up choosing the Chicken Katsu Egg Sandwich and the mango cream puff.

Once we finished ordering, we went and chose a seat in the huge seating area. There were a bunch of super cute decorative Gudetama scattered around the room, from a giant photo-op statue to a gudetama toast hanging from the ceiling, it was fun to look around. The restroom also has some decorations but it does suck that there’s only one unisex restroom for such a busy and big cafe.

Overall thoughts: Mango Cream Puff: this was the first item to be ready which does make sense since they are premade but it was a bit odd to get the dessert before the main entrees. Both my friend and I were a fan of the actual cream inside but the weird mango flavored white chocolate on top was off putting and we weren’t a fan of that. 5/10 Chicken Katsu Egg Sandwich: I loved the gudetama face hanging out on top of the egg, it made the experience entertaining. The chicken katsu itself was nice and crispy but honestly you are paying for the experience, not the food. The tater tots were alright but nothing special. 7.9/10 Creme Brûlée cold brew: honesty wayyy too sweet and doesn’t taste like crème brûlée at all 3/10 Sleepy Sliders: quite dry and flavorless, I wasn’t a fan of the patty. 2/10 Whatever Avocado Toast: Tasted like any basic avocado toast, I did like the sweet sauce on top but my friend wasn’t a fan of it. I also wish the quail eggs had faces. 6/10 Ambiance: The whole place was decorated really well on themed, there was a lot to see and take pictures of and it was nice that they had a small merch stall too. 9/10 Service: The staff here were extremely friendly, they are patient and very attentive. 11/10

Honestly, I do recommend checking out this place if you like themed cafes. The wait time isn’t too bad and the food is decent. There’s plenty of photo opportunities and it can be a fun place for a date or...