Lock Up: Horror-Themed Restaurant

Of all the "theme" restaurants we've been to, Lock Up in Shibuya is by far the most memorable.

While most Japanese theme-bars/ clubs/ restaurants run high on concept but lack follow-through in either the food or the theme, I'm happy to report that this place is the exception. I'll get to the food, later. First, the atmosphere, which is the whole reason for going.

 I'd heard that some of the Lock Ups like the one in Ikebukuro were rather weak, but that the Shibuya one was better. I'll verify the others in the future. It took some time and effort to find it, wandering around Shibuya, following a map devoid of any useful landmarks or orientation points; it basically indicated that the place was in the basement of a building somewhere among a bunch of buildings. Not helpful. But once we'd located it (beneath the best Village Vanguard we've seen so far), we made our way carefully down a stairwell lined with cheesy cave-type texturing and adorned with mildly scary thins. But by the time we reached the bottom, we were all genuinely reluctant to even open the door (the duty fell on me, of course).

From here I'll have to be a bit vague to avoid spoilers, something I've never had to worry about before with restaurant reviews.

Beyond the entrance we were treated to a fairly good little haunted house that had a few things that effectively put us on edge. Then we waited briefly to be seated in a very weird hall.

The staff shackled me and led us to our "cell." It was all very Count of Monte Cristo down in the dungeons. The layout was surreal and disorienting, and the decor was as good as any professional haunted house I've been through Stateside. Cut-stone-esque walls; wrought-iron bars and cages; paranoid little nooks and crannies; and a good mix of funk and old-school heavy metal echoing through the background. The best part is a periodic event - but that's all I dare say (spoilers). Furthermore, I wasn't asked to leave for repeatedly messing with the other patrons, poking my head through holes, yelling for help, frightening fellow diners.

They did a good job on the interior, but the food? Not bad. Quality-wise, on a par with the average chain-izakaya. The portions are small, but they get bonus points for presentation. About a quarter of the drinks and dishes are given the horror-treatment. Cyclopean spaghetti, eyeballs in beakers, mad scientist test-tube cocktails, rising-from-the-grave-zombie fingers, and such. With set-menus and cocktails we averaged about 3,500 yen per person. A la carte runs higher and takes longer, of course.

This is a great place to take a date, a family, visitors, or a party. You go here to have a scare, a few laughs, some photo ops, and food and libations. Kids are welcome, but any kids younger than about eight would probably be too scared to have a good time; they really make an effort to scare the hell outta you. My eleven year old loved it. There's nothing particularly grotesque or perverse, but the atmos-fear-factor is pretty high.

Best way to find it is to follow the map, head out past the 109 bldg. toward Tokyu Hands, and home-in on Village Vanguard. From there, descend. If you go, please leave a post here and let me know what you thought.

The Lock Up