Hello Kitty Cafe: LAS VEGAS

With the new Cafe debuting at a new location, I decided months ago to book a flight out there to Las Vegas for my birthday.

I wouldn't have made any plans to visit this shipping container, unless there is something special that they have exclusive to this location. Without real Sanrio art food, it was just another shipping container with a Hello Kitty art wall for selfies.

I think they knew it, too, because they stepped up their game for this new location. 

Next to NYNY casino and Beerhaus

LOCATION: MGM's The Park Vegas
CITY: Las Vegas, NV
TYPE: Metal shipping container
Specialties: Sanrio art desserts
Debut: July 12, 2019
Duration: 2019 TBA

The shipping container is as neon pink as shown in the many pictures taken and posted on Instagram. And, just as many female visitors (during the weekends), dragging along family members and their male partners. Not a lot of fan boys out here. 

When the Las Vegas Cafe teased fans with real authentic art food, I literally screamed in excitement. I was like -- FINALLY!!

I know this marketing strategy is their last resort because the other shipping containers, kiosks, and mini cafes did not do so well in long term status. The evidence are in the closing of their other temporary locations.

I don't know why it took them this long to bring out real honest to god art food. Surely, it was no brainer that the Sanrio fans were waiting for it. I still say stingy and stubborn because they wanted to stay on the "casual art" campaign.

When your desserts and drinks are nothing to rave about, then they bring out the real gems because they want to stay in business. Remember, they don't care about the fans. They only care about the money. It's a fact.

If they truly thought about the fans, they would have brought out the real art food since the very start of this whole Cafe business.

I visited, took video & picture selfies, and ordered all my favorite Sanrio character art food creations. Well, desserts to be frank. I came to splurge like a Sanrio Collector would do so on special occasions. 

Before I started to taste everything, I have to mention that I have crossed off something major on my Bucket List of things to accomplish. I have accomplished in finding my FIRST ever Keroppi art food and documenting it!

The Keroppi macaron and donut were both so cute and brag worthy! I was literally on cloud nine in my fascination with having these Sanrio desserts right in front of me to enjoy.

If you have a sweet tooth, then you would enjoy everything that I bought. As for me, I do enjoy sweets, but only to a certain degree. After the first bite of the Keroppi donut, I had to give it away to my brother. It was just too sweet for me. It had an inside green cream filling that was a bit of an overkill on my tastebuds.

The sugar cookie was yummy and surprisingly, not stale at all. Unfortunately, the macarons are just average in taste. There was no crisp to them. It's a good sweet dessert to have and brag.

And, I saved the best for last...

The strawberry pastry is the best overall in the selections provided. At the first bite, it was pure heaven. It was very crunchy and the sweet flavors were all there to jump out at you. I felt a little bad at destroying it, but I had fun documenting my first two bites into it. 

My first ever Hello Kitty pastry down for the count on my Sanrio Bucket list.

Just a bit of a warning though, it gets a bit too much of the strawberry jelly at the end. You'll need lots of napkins to remove the excess jelly in order to finish it. This was one of the items that I did not share with my brother.  >.<


As I ended my trip with a smile, I won't be officially giving this shipping container a review star rating because it's not an official brick-and-mortar location. If this location gets a "permanent" residency, then I'll be back to do an official review. Hopefully, it'll come with a bar and tea service as well. 

Hello Kitty Cafe in Las Vegas!!

It's official. The Hello Kitty Cafe in Las Vegas is opening on July 12 at MGM's The Park Vegas, next to NYNY Las Vegas casino and Beerhaus.

Cr: Via Foodbeast, courtesy Andy Nguyen

Definitely, I have to go visit this shipping container for that Keroppi donut and Hello Kitty shaped pastry. If they didn't have these two items to perk my interest, I would have never made plans to travel to that container. I have to put those two items on Instagram! It's a ritual for this fan: spend the money, squeal and giggle like a fan, and lastly, brag to all. Seriously, that's a fun day for me.

Now, let's talk about the color on that shipping container. I had to cover my eyes for a second to that harsh neon pink color. My first thought was whhhhyyyyy? Why do they always choose this awful color for their shipping container?

And let me point this out---   is the color even more neon than the container at Irvine?! Say it isn't so. 

For the ones who share my similar dislike for neon pink, I have to break your hearts. It is much more neon than before in Irvine -- based off the picture. I'll confirm it once I see it in person. 

I have to wonder if they think the average amount of Americans like the neon pink color. Or is this a grab-for-attention marketing strategy?

When Hello Kitty Cafe opened as a shipping container, they did the same thing but with a less neon pink color. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I seriously questioned the sanity and taste of American girls these days. Then, the container was closed and Hello Kitty Grand Cafe was revealed.

Now, Irvine's brick and mortar Hello Kitty Cafe was a surprise to the fandom. We were not expecting it at all. I didn't understand Sanrio and their shipping containers. They had given all their Hello Kitty fans in America with so much hope and then, to open it's doors as a shipping container. Pure disappointment.

It has come to full circle. Note that Hello Kitty Grand Cafe's front entrance does not have any harsh neon pink color anywhere. Instead, it has an impressive design of a very pretty light pink building with gold tints to the windows and bow door handles. The store front design finishes off with a flirty purple and white awning that creates a more classy feel than what we are used to-- coming from Sanrio.

Back to present day, Hello Kitty has landed in Las Vegas. Looks like there may be a pattern here if we put Irvine's location as an example to follow. The news on the block is that this specific Cafe has permanent residency in the city. 

Like Irvine, there may be a "permanent" Cafe in the works, but I think they're all part of a trial experiment to check out the location and if it will generate any profits. There's always a gimmick for Hello Kitty Cafe when they first debut a new location.

For Irvine, it was the very first one in SoCal. It drew fans to the location because it was the first of it's kind, a character cafe that was not connected to a theme park. For San Jose, it was that silver mug. Next month, it's going to be that Keroppi donut and Hello Kitty shaped pastry in Las Vegas. Who knows what else is exclusive to the new location.

The Las Vegas location has indeed come out strong to entice fans to this shipping container. They have been stingy with character shaped food. Let's be real here. They are stingy. It's the opposite in Disneyland where you can find many character shaped themed food creations in both parks. Unlike Sanrio, at least they give what fans desire the most.

Has anyone noticed that they took away the character themed mini cakes at the front part of Hello Kitty Grand Cafe? It's now exclusive to the tea service and the traveling trucks. You only have three Hello Kitty shaped cookies. One or two normal looking cake with only a 3D bow as a topping. Those other sweets with a Hello Kitty face that is not attached to the dessert does not count as an art creation! The rest are normal and ordinary desserts. 

From past other locations opened and closed within a year, it shows that Hello Kitty Cafe does not have a strong following to bring in crowds after feedback has been known that they don't serve quality baked sweets. They get stale. They're not fresh. They are a gimmick. Most importantly, Sanrio doesn't care that it's not made with quality. All they want is our money and we, fans, give it.

See you, Collectors, in Las Vegas! Meowy for now.  >.<

Let's all try this...

We all say: Hello...

You say: Kitty.

Get it? Marco Polo game. Haha!

Hello Kitty Gift Snacks Box

From this month's haul that was shipped from Japan was this very cute Hello Kitty gift box of adorable snacks. As a Collector, I just had to share my first ever Hello Kitty pudding AND bread food.

Even with the Hello Kitty Cafe just being an hour away from Los Angeles, there is a limited source of kittified food. Some of their pastries and desserts do not have that quality art food design that we see daily on Instagram.

So for the Collectors searching for the best of the best, we find alternatives. For the first time, Sanrio Japan online has sold a gift box shaped with Hello Kitty sweets. Sure, not every item has a Hello Kitty art design, but it's more quality art than I have ever seen provided. 

So very cute!!

When I first lifted the cover top, I was in awe because it was a surreal experience. I was very excited to try everything. I loved all the cute packaging, but I knew most of it will end up in the trash and the wrapped chocolates will be gifted to other Collectors. It's what we do when we find cute kittified food -- we share!

Logan tried the dark bread snack and I tried the lighter version. It had a bare hint of a sweet taste to the snack, but I don't think it was a cake at all. It was nice and great for documenting on most of my social media accounts.

The whole cost of the gift box was so worth every penny. All these photos documented will last a lifetime because I can look back and remember the experience of finding Hello Kitty food.

These two wrappers will be my first to be placed in my future Scrapbooking plans. Yes, it's me being an obsessed fan girl here celebrating my love for the character in a big hoarding way. Shh! I don't think I'm the only one going overboard with our obsessions. 

It may tone down for me if I can find more quality Sanriofied art food on a regular basis than these days of scarcity.

The chocolate wrappings are too cute for words, but the sweets inside the packaging is just a normal piece of chocolate. On the first bite of the chocolate, you taste some bitterness to it and then, you get to the sweet filling inside. Chocolates are definitely addicting and better shared!

And, I saved the best for last! 

The Hello Kitty pudding was the best dessert out of the whole gift box. It was amazing and well documented for sure before I destroyed it. I was in awe with it's shape of the ears and bow. The character mold was nicely done. The whiskers, the eyes, the nose, the shape, the color -- all were closely examined with fascination!! 

Another amazing moment documented in my journey as a Sanrio Collector and it won't be the last. Happy Sanrio Hunting!

Gimmicks: Theme Restaurants

The Good, the Bad...

When I go to restaurants or even into cafes, I expect to get my money's worth. I expect to fill my stomach with good food. With my favorite restaurants, I always end up leaving satisfied. Mostly because of the talented chefs behind the counter, who actually care about their craft and the reputation that comes with it.

It's what you'd normally expect for the many average restaurants out there in the world. I never try a new restaurant or cafe without looking up their customer feedbacks. A good restaurant rating usually gives people the confidence to try something new. I look up the feedbacks because I don't want to waste my time eating at a bad restaurant who doesn't really care about you, but only your money. With bad food, there's a more likely chance that the service might be bad as well.

When a restaurant or cafe has no diners, the place usually ends up closing down. The exception to this rule is if the place is a theme restaurant, but it seems that theme cafes are getting away with it because they have one thing that the average cafe restaurant doesn't have... a gimmick.

 Pic Provided by IG

Paying a Gawker Fee

Before I got into collecting Sanrio, I have never heard of theme cafe restaurants because there was none from where I live in Los Angeles. The idea of a cafe restaurant based around a character like Hello Kitty or Barbie was very different from the norm. By using a pop culture icon, these cafe restaurants are able to draw in tourists to their place of business. Many curious diners are more interested in the themed decor than if the food is good or not. These theme cafe restaurants hope to use the popular character obsession to feed their pockets rather than caring about their craft and reputation in the food industry. 

 Pic Provided by IG

By going to these theme cafe restaurants, you're basically paying an entrance fee to see the decor and use their very cute themed dinnerware. When one steps into a theme restaurant, one would think that the food art creations would be as impressive as the matching decor. If you've never been to a theme cafe, think again. If theme restaurant owners are in the food business for genuine reasons, then they would have invested in creating food art to impress the fans. 

Seeing that the food isn't their top priority, when will die hard fans ever get a theme restaurant where the gourmet pastry chefs truly cared about your taste buds and the art of creating masterpieces?

For now, you can only rely on individual bakers for great looking food character creations.