Japanese Haunted Prison Restaurant

When choosing a restaurant, most people search for price, types of dishes available, and ambiance. Rarely do people search for the scare factor. But the famous Japanese Izakaya Lock-Up is a haunted prison-themed restaurant that will have people screaming in their cells.

With three locations across Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, this restaurant is part haunted house amusement ride part dining experience. I visited the Tokyo location with my two Japanese female friends who were scared to even enter the restaurant. But once you work up the courage and enter, you will not be disappointed.

As you head to the entrance, the giant doors creak open and it feels like you are entering a haunted house on Halloween. Sounds, lighting, wind, and moving things in the dark really add to the ambiance.

The entire restaurant from the entrance, the eating space, bathrooms, and even the food and drinks are designed to mimic a haunted jailhouse. The entrance looks like a haunted mansion and stepping inside the dark and empty room, scary music, strange voices, and evil spirits welcome and direct you to the dining area. The hostess, dressed in a sexy cop costume, hand-cuffs and leads you to your prison cell.

The decor is very detailed, amazing, and dark just like you would expect in a prison of ghosts. With black lighting, strange marks, and etchings on the wall, cobwebs, and random severed heads; the restaurant is very visually stimulating. The guards serve food to the prisoners through a slot in the cell door. Even the bathrooms have supernatural occurrences. Beware of the stall as you may hear or see something you didn’t expect.

There are cells and little holes in the wall for small groups and couples as well as giant cells that can hold an entire party or gathering.

The menu features many bizarre and strange-looking drinks and foods all with a horror theme. There is an a-la-carte menu or all-you-can-drink-and-eat sets that provide the best variety and value so you can enjoy all the foods the creepy restaurant has to offer.

Some examples of the food are a bag of remains (fried potatoes), Friday the 13th Salad, Black Fried Chicken, and Bloodied Deviled Eggs (which contain one mystery egg that has extremely spicy death sauce).

The drinks and cocktails are also specially designed to resemble poison, syringes, bodily fluids, and other grotesque mixtures. Drinks can be purchased a la carte, or you can have an all-you-can-drink option which is good if you like cocktails and want to try a range of spooky and interesting-looking drinks.

All the wait staff dresses up in prison guard outfits, ghosts, or monster outfits, and once an hour the entire restaurant goes on “lockdown” as the ghosts and monsters riot along the corridors trying to enter the cells and scare the diners.

During your visit, you might also get a visit from a ghost or creature who will play a game with you. If you win the game, you get free drinks and food and other prizes. It's quite an entertaining restaurant.

Each group of diners gets its own cell which is a stone room with a table and a cell door. There are small cells for couples and families as well as big cells for parties and big groups and during the lockdown, the creatures make sure they have a chance to attack everyone.

If you are interested in enjoying all-you-can-drink alcohol and food sets then reservations are recommended and you should book early as the restaurant is very popular and fills up fast. Surprisingly, even for Christmas.

This article by me also appears here: https://medium.com/fml-or-bust/japanese-haunted-prison-restaurant-97927b9a15e5