Lad's Dining, Shibuya ラッツダインイング、渋谷

Lad’s Dining, a bar in Shibuya aimed at lads funnily enough, is just the kind of place I thought I’d loathe. A basement bar, I’ve been told it’s somewhat like a “sports bar” although I’m not entirely sure what that means, snugly nestled between Café Pronto and Loft. They have a gloriously happy “happy hour” between 5 and 7pm every evening, complete with all-you-can eat miniature trash cans of popcorn (presumably to make customers thirsty and hopefully line their stomachs enough to stop them decorating the floor) and young girls working the bar and patrons simultaneously.

It’s kind of like a cheap, contemporary take on the mizu-shobai. Horny, thirsty, lonely gaijin in search of kicks in central Shibuya, having their egos massaged to ensure they stay on their bar stalls emptying their wallets while sneaking furtive glances at the pert, t-shirt clad bar girls. Or so I thought at any rate.

To be fair, it's not all that bad. Not great, but is has it’s moments – although that can depend very much on the company you keep I suppose. Décor is simple; rectangular bar with stalls all around, a couple of high tables to the rear of the space. Various alcohol-related posters and advertisements adorn the walls, a couple of TVs provide MTV or movies and the bar is stacked with an array of tempting spirits.

The atmosphere ranges from dead to lively, often being dependent on the clientele – a mix of thirsty foreigners, young Japanese couples and wide-eyed tourists – and their number. I’ve not tried the food, although they do have some typical bar/pub fare. They have games too. One, takoyaki roulette, is fun. You and your drinking buddies challenge the staff to a game, they provide a plateful of takoyaki among which is one that is laden with spices so as to be %*!^@±! hot (in fact they are not very hot at all…). Whichever unfortunate member of a team gets the hot one, and can’t take it, looses the game for their team, who then have to cover the cost of a round of drinks for the opposing team. Another “game” simply involves rolling dice at ¥500 a throw, and winning a drink with the corresponding number from the game-menu. It’s a game of chance, where at worst you end up having paid ¥500 for a glass of water and at best receive 17 year old Hibiki whiskey. Of course this game usually ends up with participants consuming a terrifyingly potent mix of beverages. Messy.

Anyway, to get to the point, it’s cheap and cheerful and usually fun. During happy hour draft beer is ¥280 and kaku-highball ¥180. The highlight of the place is probably the mega kaku-highball, which is truly immense. It’s very popular with burly New Jersey-types (see photo), or so I’m led to believe… They also have a bunny girl bar on the other side of Shibuya, behind Mark City, although I’ve been told the bunny girls are far from spritely and best avoided. There’s also a Lad’s Dining in Shinjuku – the girls rotate between the bars, perhaps to stop customers becoming too attached to a particular nee-chan?  

Tel: 03-5728-6201