Square Enix Opens Its First US Cafe This Weekend

Back in April, I wrote about Square Enix’s first permanent Cafe & Shop coming to the United States, and at the time I said that as someone based in Southern California, the Los Angeles location immediately caught my eye. Well, it’s finally here. The Square Enix Cafe & Shop Los Angeles starts with a soft opening on Saturday, June 13, followed by a grand opening on Saturday, June 20.

The June 13 soft opening runs a limited menu of themed drinks, entrees, and desserts inspired by franchises like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and NieR:Automata. The full menu lineup arrives with the grand opening on June 20. Reservations for both the soft-opening period and the grand opening are available now through the official Square Enix Cafe & Shop Los Angeles website.

Alongside the cafe is an adjoining merchandise shop, and you can browse it without making a dining reservation or buying anything from the cafe itself. The shop carries official Square Enix merchandise, including exclusive items like the L.A. Chocobo and L.A. Slime T-shirts, which feature commemorative artwork made to mark the first permanent Square Enix Cafe & Shop in the U.S.

The Los Angeles location sits at 316 E 1st Street in Little Tokyo and is operated by J-Pop Culture Cafe Inc., a subsidiary of Little Akihabara Holdings, which focuses on recreating authentic Japanese-style themed cafes for American audiences. Operating hours, along with reservation and walk-in details, are listed on the official site.

When these cafes were first announced, I mentioned that I’d visited the Eorzea Cafe in Osaka back in 2022 and was looking forward to making a stop at the Los Angeles location once it opened. Now I might finally get the chance.