Our apartment – 2016 NSFW

It's been not only a long time since I've posted here, but it has been a long time since I shared photos of my place. The last time you guys saw where I lived I was still living at home with my parents. It was back in 2012, so easily 4 years ago you saw my collection. Now you can see not only has my… [more]

Our apartment – 2016 NSFW Our apartment - 2016 NSFW

[Alter] – Melty Review

So since I've moved into my new apartment I still hadn't set up my photography studio. Seems work has me busier than I thought I would ever be, however I took some time this past weekend to set up my studio so I could take some photos of my latest purchase, Alter's 1/8th Melty from Shining Hearts. Now… [more]

[Alter] – Melty Review [Alter] - Melty Review

[Orchid Seed] – Yuki Review NSFW

Pre-ordered this figure the moment she was released for pre-order. I needed for for multiple reasons, she's sexy/half naked, plus while she's not Sora she reminds me of Sora from Yosuga no Sora! But she's Yuki from Maid Yome and she's pretty amazing. The only issue is her adorable mouth really looks… [more]

[Orchid Seed] – Yuki Review NSFW [Orchid Seed] - Yuki Review NSFW

Nendoroid Storage Container

I recently went on a trip to a magical place, The Container Store. Ok it's not really magical, but I happen to have discovered a love for organizing my home. I tend to prefer Ikea and Daiso but we went to The Container Store on a whim and I discovered this lovely storage container! I've been needing… [more]

Nendoroid Storage Container Nendoroid Storage Container

Animaid Cafe, while a good idea, very lackluster…


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On the way to the Animaid Café we were super excited! We had planned to dress up in Ouran Cosplay with our matching yellow dresses! Even thought we knew this was their first ever event we had high hopes for this event and were just so excited for this! Also see Kawaiiclare’s Review here and Fancy India’s review here.


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We arrived in style in my brother’s new Sebring Convertible. As you can see on KawaiiClare’s crazy wind blown hair!


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Oh noes it’s me…


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Dancing to Mony Mony in the car.


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Fancy India super excited about getting inside!


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Now i do have a few complaints, the moment we pulled up and realized it was taking place inside of a trailer we had a bad taste in our mouths. Also once we saw that the venue was so small and that seating was only set up for groups of two we were left in a shock of where were we going to sit!


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Sitting around waiting for them to at least two tables next to each other so we could at least kind of sit close to each other. We waited a good hour for them to find a seat. Not at all acceptable since they kept sitting other people. They should have waited to seat other people and seated us since not only did we purchase advance tickets and were “guaranteed seating” we were a larger group of 4.


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The Banner says Welcome Home Goshujin-sama. Yet i didn’t hear it inside not even once. I tuly expected them to call us Goshujin-sama while there.


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They did do a few dances, here they did the Hare Hare Yukai, which hey called “the Haruhi Dance” Honestly why not just say Hare Hare Yukai? Sounds at least much more professional to me.


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Giving my brother the evil eye while looking at the menu. Sorry if many of the pictures are badly focused, my brother still doesn’t know how to properly handle my camera…


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Oh a nice flower pot!


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KawaiiClare and Fancy India looking at the menu figuring out what they want to eat.


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Maybe I should take this flowerpot home with me?


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Even though we requested a male host on our advance ticket we got a female maid. While she was nice she wasn’t a great waitress and didn’t know what was on their menu. But she was very polite with us and that made up for it. She had such a great attitude about the whole setup that it made up for.


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KawaiiClare ordered the Okonomiyaki, she said it wasn’t that great.


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Fancy India and myself got the Gyoza, also not that great and really felt much more like an appetizer and not a entrée.


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We left the moment we finished eating since we were very disappointed. We did give them some advice and let them know what we felt about the café. While it was a nice idea it was badly organized and i do have to give credit where credit is due. The maids and hosts were all very nice and quite cheery and they did the best they could but it was just wasn’t really all that great. Too many things left a sour taste in out mouth and we were so disappointed in it. Hopefully if they do it again they try and make the menu a little better and maybe not try and have only Asian type food. While they want to keep with the anime theme it would have been better if they instead made it more café style food. Also if they promise things to the advance ticket purchasers then follow through on your promises. We were promised to sit with our selected host, received and autographed picture of them and to not have to wait for our seats. But instead we sat with someone we did not choose, we did not receive any picture and we waited for almost over and hour to sit and eat. Also they should consider that people will come with their friends and that not everyone will come in groups of 1 or 2. While round tables are nice but it would have been better to have square tables to be able to put them together and have space for groups. Last i’d also look for a new venue. Having it in a trailer park looked absolutely terrible. Hopefully they fix some of these issues and maybe we might go again, but for now we doubt we’ll be willing to shell out $20 for mediocre food and bad entertainment.

you can also check out Kawaiiclare’s Review here and Fancy India’s review here.

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29 Responses to “Animaid Cafe, while a good idea, very lackluster…”

  1. OTOhime says:

    Sorry it wasn’t that great D: Seemed like a cool idea too. I sure hope it gets better in the future!

  2. Mike C says:

    Wow. sorry to hear that it didn’t go as well as you hoped. I agree: It’s a very cool idea. It just needs the right execution, or it comes across as very ‘blah’. *shrug*

    Just wanted to mention, Claire is looking *super-cute* in her pictures! (the second to last one is just…beautiful) Love it! ^_^

  3. Dancing Queen says:

    @Mike C:
    let me make sure, you mean Claire right? cause that’s Claire but her picture is third from the bottom. Second to last one is Fancy India.

  4. Lol I’m not cute. I’m sure he means Fancy India.

    malcontentcontents last blog post..ALA 2009.

  5. FancyIndia says:

    Dancing Queen, I am disappointed in you. It’s KawaiiClare, not Claire. She’s gonna be made when she sees her name is spelled wrong 😛 Just kidding.
    The pictures all came out pretty cute. I really like the one where you are hiding behind the menu.

  6. Dancing Queen says:

    @Malcontentcontnt:
    nah you is be totally cute too!

    @FancyIndia:
    ohshi! gotta fix that!

  7. Aww. That looks like fun.. ish. I guess.

    Kairu Ishimarus last blog post..“Tweet, Tweet!”

  8. louki says:

    Why do you complain ? You got the chance to eat in the same place that Ichuha Sasuke,

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3396860522_726cca3a3a_o.jpg (behind KawaiiClare)

    This is priceless 😉

    loukis last blog post..News #69

  9. Leon says:

    Dear Miss,

    As a host, I must apologize for not being able to serve you. I was otherwise detained by matters related to the kitchen. I love cooking and that made me responsible for making sure the kitchen ran as smoothly as it could and to solve problems as they arose (although I didn’t cook any of your food).

    I’m only making excuses for myself. I don’t think anyone else needs one.

    That said, this was an event put on by fans, for fans. I am not a restaurant manager, a professional butler, a waiter, or a short-order cook. And yet for one day I was all four of them.
    Even though you didn’t see me, and I didn’t see you, I took on four jobs to serve you. So did everyone else.

    As far as food goes, believe it or not, (Japanese!) Maid Cafe’s serve food that they think appeals to their customers. Since we’re Japanese-themed, we thought to serve commonly found food from (Japanese) maid cafes. We actually had someone who was in Japan go and observe a variety of maid cafes, and that helped shape our decisions on food.
    Obviously there are some people who were not satisfied with the menu options available, and we are already considering the menu for the next event, which is yet to be determined.

    Nothing is final, but in my personal opinion, we probably won’t serve tacos, steaks, chili, hashbrowns… you get the idea, right?

    Also, another aside (aside means the others aren’t supposed to hear this), Someone had to put their personal money on the line for this event. Especially in a crisis like this, it shows this person is really dedicated. Even though this is not a business, it still works like a family-owned one. If we can expect a larger turnout, we can spend more money making things look nicer, rent out a larger space, etc. etc.
    (aside continues here) One of the appeals of the venue was the kitchen. It has a griddle and burners, which were being used for the entire 7 hours we were operating. I didn’t like how it was in a trailer park either, but this was a run to test the waters. Please keep in mind that we had to turn a fridge, sink, stove, and oven into a restaurant. At the next location we might actually have to rent kitchen equipment.

    Finally, also like a small, family-owned business, we all care about Animaid Cafe and are constantly looking for ways to improve ourselves, the Cafe itself, and customer satisfaction.

    I and we thank you for your support and would appreciate comments and suggestions at [email protected] so we can accommodate your needs in the future.

  10. Dancing Queen says:

    @Louki:
    very true, i guess it’s an honor to dine with naurto characters ^_^

    @Leon:
    You know i really appreciate you responding and not with just excuses or even harassment. We understood wholeheartedly that it wasn’t going to be the most professional experience and that most likely no one really had any restaurant skills. We understand that something like this is going to have to take a large chunk of someone’s money and everyone’s time. The food while i do agree how in japan they of course serve Japanese food and you are going with a Japaneses theme, you have to consider we are in the US and while i know plenty of people were eager to have Japanese food, it still doesn’t suit everyone’s pallet but then those are just fine details. I would recommend highly looking for a different venue, maybe bigger since you already have people who came the first time and with some improvements and more promotional announcements i bet you could have much more people come the next time you do it as well. Even for a “Famliy-Owned” business you still have to test waters and i understand but also consider if you promise people something make sure you fulfill your promises to people so they are certain to get what they paid for. Also i know that you all much have tried to make a profit since tickets were $20. But remember also with family owned business you don’t make make a profit but try and break even first. Then once you have a base clientele you can raise prices bit by bit based on item popularity to make a profit. $20 for us still felt far too much for the small amount of food we got and the small amount of entertainment.

  11. yumyu says:

    In my area (Toronto)there was a similar cafe, also with maids called, I Maid Cafe. The service wasn’t that great and the food was mediocre. The place didn’t last long and had to close.

    yumyus last blog post..Drift

  12. Leon says:

    Dear Dancing Queen,

    I have recommended and am entirely confident that any profit gained from this event will be spent on the next event.

    Please consider that not only does your money buy you food and entertainment, it also buys about 20 people serving you in costume for 11 hours, including a one hour break. I’m sure owners of maid dresses and gothic-lolita outfits would not enjoy having things spilled on them, nor would owners of nice shoes, yet accidents happen, and they had no chance to stop. I am not suggesting that any of your money was spent on outfits or cleaning, everyone is responsible for their own clothing. My point is that we’re doing this for you.

    There are also other small details such as chair, table, audio rentals (etc. etc.) to worry about. Believe it or not, we actually had to pay to rent the trailer park clubhouse too. I’m sorry if this sounds like an excuse to you, but I want you to be confident that your money was spent on and will be spent on making the maid cafe better.

    As stated before, comments/suggestions are welcome.

  13. KELLY says:

    UGH I WISH I WENT.
    i want to volunteer so badly!

    KELLYs last blog post..Sleepwalking and ‘Good-Bye’ to Anime

  14. Night says:

    Hello, Dancing Queen. Thank you for attending our event and I apologize that we didn’t meet your expectations. I would just like to take the time to address the issues you have stated and correct any misunderstandings you may have had about our event.

    As you said, this was our first time running an event like this and I agree that not everything was done as it probably should have been done, but we assure you we tried our best. A lot of us have had no experience with anything like this as we all volunteered to be a part of this. But we will take this event as a learning experience and make any future events we plan better than this event was.

    First, I want to address any misunderstandings you had of our event. It’s true that the event was held in an area of a Mobile Home Park but we never hid the fact of where the event was to anyone, so I’m sorry if you expected something bigger or fancier. It was the best venue we could find that fit our budget.

    As for being seated with the host of your choice, we never stated on our site that you would be seated with the host you chose for your Advance Ticket. We stated that you would receive a signed picture and ticket. Regarding the signed pictures, I’m sorry you didn’t receive them at the event. In the mixup and rush of it all, they were forgotten. We will be mailing these out to everyone as soon as we are able to.

    We had smaller, round tables at the event for our guests to be seated at to give the café a more personal feeling. Most of our guests came in by themselves, in doubles, or did not mind sitting at tables 3-4 feet apart from each other. Not many groups of 4+ came to the event, but when it did happen we accommodated you and them by pulling tables together if they wished, so it was not as if we ignored your concerned looks when we sat you at different tables. We took things in on a case by case basis and handled it to the best of our abilities.

    As Leon stated, this was an event run by fans, for fans. It was funded personally by myself and Kchan. Advance Ticket sales helped, but the majority of the event’s costs were taken directly out of our pockets. We set a budget and ended up exceeding it by nearly double its original amount so the event could have the things it needed. But we didn’t have unlimited funds for the event so we had to make due with what we had. We spent countless hours planning and saved as much as we could for the event so we care about how well it was run and we take pride in how well it turned out, all things considered.

    The pricing of the event was decided after asking many people what they thought of prices after letting them know what we were offering in terms of entertainment. Once we set a price, most people were surprised to hear we were giving a 3-course meal and drink for free after paying for the entrance fee. As we were not sure how many people would be interested in attending an event like this, we priced it based on what we and others would be willing to pay.

    I’m sorry you felt the need to leave the event as soon as you finished eating. There was plenty of entertainment and live performances for you and everyone to enjoy, most of it was just scheduled for later in the day when we expected it to slow down enough so we could pull our maids from their posts temporarily to entertain our guests. Many of the other guests enjoyed the Mune Mune Kyun Kyun dance, Motteke! Sailor Fuku dance, and other various performances. One of our lucky guests even won a 4-Day badge to the upcoming Anime Expo 2009 (that we must thank JoeW for again!) in our interactive Moe Moe Jan Ken Pon. I do not recall calling the Hare Hare Yukai dance the ‘Haruhi dance’ as that’s not how I usually call it, but if I did, I apologize.

    For any of the things you had to go through, things we may have missed or other things we did not recall to do, we truly apologize and we will make sure these mishaps get addressed and fixed for future events.

    Even for all of the negative comments, I thank you for taking the time to write up a review as we are able to take your opinion into account as we plan our next event. I hope I was able to address all of your concerns. If you have any other comments or questions, please email us at [email protected].

    Thank you.

    – Night (AniMaid Café Co-Manager)

  15. Shinky says:

    Wow! It seems so fun organizing such events. We don’t get stuffs like this in our town. >.<”

    Shinkys last blog post..An Introduction of my LX3.

  16. Night says:

    I apologize for the double post, please delete my second post if you wish.

    The page errored out while loading.

  17. Dancing Queen says:

    @yumyu:
    yeah well this wasn’t a full cafe but more of an event, still hopefully the next one will be much better

    @Leon:
    well then maybe we’ll try and make it to the next one and hopefully the small issues we had will be fixed

    @KELLY:
    i bet if you asked they would have let you!

    @Night:
    i hope you don’t misinterpret my review as harsh criticism but instead of more things that we’d like to point out that could be fixed for next time. I’m very glad you have read this and hopefully you will take into consideration the issues we had at the maid cafe and improve upon them the next time

    @Shinky:
    why i do sound like i’m complaining i do have to admit that it’s cool that in So-Cal we have enough fans that something like this could be organized

    @AniMaid Café:
    double comment, ok i get it again since it seems you have read this and will most likely pass it on to the other people who helped you organize this i hope you may be able to find things to improve upon to make this even bigger and better! I hope no one was hurt by my review but i don’t like to sugar coat things and i think with you knowing how we truly felt about certain issues it’s easier to fix upon things than if i lied and said it was great. Another suggestion would maybe see if you can get more staff to help our such as volunteers to be not so much servers but be like busboys and such so you could use your hosts to keep customers happy

    @Night:
    no problem i’ll leave it anyways

  18. Night says:

    AniMaid Café = Me. Please delete the double post if you can.

    We certainly will take all comments into consideration when planning for the next event. I just wanted to take the time to explain our stance on the situation as a whole.

    We did have some of our staff set aside as bus boys to help our maids and hosts out, but the huge rush in the beginning of the day really made it hard on us. We pulled whoever we could to help out. After the rush, things went a lot smoother and we got back into our normal planned routine. We will definitely take the beginning rush into account for future events.

    Thanks again.

  19. Blowfish says:

    This looks a bit like one of those School Festival Cafes.It isnt really organized and people didnt really know what to do and how to do it.
    This is pretty normal since its their first time experience.

    Im really astonished that they popped up on your blog this fast,stayed polite and try to use this experience for the better.

    Blowfishs last blog post..Giving back some Love!

  20. lovelyduckie says:

    I plan on having my first Maid Cafe experience be in Japan 🙂 . Someday very soon!

    lovelyduckies last blog post..Bootlegs – How Many Times Have You been Tricked?

  21. Dancing Queen says:

    @Night:
    i really do appreciate you taking everything into consideration, and for being extra polite about it as well. this really does show to not only myself but my readers how much you care for this event and hope to make it better next time aronud

    @Blowfish:
    they did comment pretty fast, but then i did have it posted on DC as well so that might have garnered their attention as well

    @Lovelyduckie:
    i’d go to one in japan, but then i have no funds to even think of going to japan any time soon :'(

  22. jyuichi says:

    The Amateur Cameko (cosplay photographer I follow on blogger) seems to have liked your outfits 🙂

    http://amateurcameko.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-i-remember-from-animaid-cafe-event.html

    jyuichis last blog post..Mac音ナナ : Vocaloid-esque mac "program"

  23. Dancing Queen says:

    @jyuichi:
    that’s pretty cool, he should have asked for our picture! it would have made our day for sure!

  24. moritheil says:

    Hmmm. Gyoza has always seemed like an appetizer to me, so maybe it’s got more to do with the dish than the cafe. Aside from that, the rest of your complaints seem spot-on.

    I think part of the problem with trying to make an authentic experience of a themed cafe in another country is the extreme difficulty of finding enough people who are culturally fluent and want to take up the job. I don’t have any practical solutions to this (“people should watch MOAR anime!”) and I’m sure you’re already aware of it, but for the casual readers of this post, it is something to keep in mind.

  25. Marc says:

    Well I wasn’t expecting much as it was their first event and how well it would be received was the wild card (If you went for the full Japanese maid cafe experience, it might turn off a lot of Western fans, so a maid cafe has to be adapted to what us fans on this side of the Pacific would expect).

    Marcs last blog post..What I Remember From The AniMaid Cafe Event…

  26. Otaku Dan says:

    at least you have a maid cafe, in the city I live in anime is not a big thing and I don’t see a maid cafe opening for a very long time.

    Otaku Dans last blog post..Random Thoughts

  27. phossil says:

    I have handle some cameras and let me tell you even when they are in “automatic” sometimes i get struck with the buttons… >_<

    phossils last blog post..Earth Hour

  28. DJ Tama says:

    Apparently, I get hit for putting the camera in Automatic mode… Nonetheless, I’m not used to dealing with a camera without a proper flash that can spread the light. I had to deal with the slight de-illumination of the room and that caused the camera to delay the shutter (by as much as 2 seconds).

    If you want to blame anyone about the quality of pics, blame DQ for not letting me go auto. :)~ I don’t have the same old steady hands I used to…

    I have to say I’m surprised at the comments and the back-and-forth conversation here. It would be an event worth going to in the future because this past one set a bar for this type of venue. The only direction you can go from here is up. How far up is the question. I’m definitely willing to give it another chance.

    Side note to Animaid if they read this again, heres a magic word to help things along… “Parking…” (I have a fairly expensive automobile and the adjacent neighborhood I had to park at was not really ideal… made me uncomfortable…)

  29. fotaku says:

    Thank you for the post. After visiting a maid cafe in Japan I was always curious if it’d actually be able to work in America. >_<;

    If you ever get a chance save your pennies and go to one in Japan! It’s definitely worth it. 😀

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