Penguin Bar Ikebukuro

Forget it! The Penguin Bar was disappointing. We showed up at 730PM on a Thursday night and was told there was an hour waiting list (make a reservation! …If for some reason you still want to go after reading my review). There is an 800yen fee and a 2 hour time limit. Drinks are 600 yen +. They have food on the menu as well– pizza, salads, finger foods. The pizza was horrible. It was horrible for American pizza standards, it was horrible for Japanese pizza standards. I would rather eat Little Caesars.
Drinks: We had the moscow mule and fuzzy navel. Last time I checked both of those drinks had alcohol in them… Our drinks were WEAK.
PENGUINS: There were three penguins in a small, small enclosure with barely any water to swim in. No toys, no stimulation. Watching them made me sad :(The website mentions being able to feed the penguins however we were told the penguins were full went we asked. The penguin enclosure is not behind the bar, like I imagined. It is off to the side of the bar/​tables. You will be seated between 3ft-​40ft away from the penguins. Unless you are seated at the front table, you won’t have a very clear view.

We were honestly quite disappointed with this establishment.
Since there was a $ 8 (800 yen) cover charge, we expected the bar to be really nice, but it turned out to be sub-​par. There were 3 penguins in the very back of the restaurant, locked up in a fairly small area. There was barely any swimming space and the majority of the tables were situated quite far away from the tank. We just felt bad for the penguins since they seemed really bored and there was definitely not enough space for them. The food and drinks were all quite overpriced and in the end, we paid around $ 24 (2400 yen) each for a drink, snacks (fries/​onion rings/​calamari) and the cover charge.
The best part about our experience were the origami penguin towels.

When my friend and I saw «the bar in which penguins are present», we were immediately intrigued. I was a little apprehensive about going to a bar that capitalized on exotic animals but a bit of searching calmed my anxieties and we decided to go anyway. I really wish I didn’t, because I walked away feeling pretty bad about the experience.
The penguin exhibit just makes you feel sad. There were three or four penguins total in a boring 7×5 (my estimate) enclosure that had no toys and a not-​very deep pond for them to swim in. The penguins mostly just sat around. Sometimes patrons would tease them by pretending they had food and tapping the glass. Also I know the glass wasn’t very sound proof and I’m sure they were exposed to the noisy atmosphere because I saw one of them get startled by a dropped plate.
On top of that, the waiter was really rude, the drinks were over priced, and there was a $ 8 cover charge.
I am not saying that the bar treated the animals inhumanely, but I definitely would not recommend this to my friends.

I happened to come to the Penguin Bar at the suggestion of a friend. Located in the general vicinity of the Ikebukuro station, the bar was easy to find. We were greeted by a waiter and promptly seated at the bar. I wish we could’ve gotten to sit closer to the penguins but I’m sure those seats are highly in demand. Nevertheless, the waiters actually encourage you to take pictures. Our waiter, Waku, was awesome! He shop spoke English well enough to have a pleasant conversation. Seeing the penguins were nice but having a nice conversation with the waiter made the trip even more memorable. We ordered the original Penguin drink which was a blended drink. It tasted good but not enough alcohol to really get you buzzed. Great atmosphere, friendly staff, cute penguins. Highly recommended!