Pigalle One Paragraph Review
It’s really hard for us to recommend Pigalle really. While the beers on tap are varied and the prices included tax, they are expensive for the amount of beer you get, considering Shibuya is two stops along and has far more bars that are cheaper and give you more beer for your money. It does have a nice chilled atmosphere and is also non-smoking too. If there is a rare beer on tap that you want to try and nowhere else has it, then pop along, else move along to Shibuya.
No panoramic shot needed today with this place.
Pigalle Full Review
It’s not often that we travel west of Shibuya and out on the Den-en-toshi line, but after a long day at work and stuck in the Sangenjaya area, Pigalle popped up on our craft beer map of Japan as the closest place and off we went. It’s not the easiest place to find as it was hidden in a back alley and the front of the store is tiny but once you have found it, we doubt you will have trouble again.
Pigalle European Bar Pub, to give it its full name, opened in June 2010 and their modus operandi since has been to bring together Japanese and international craft beer in a cozy atmosphere. They also regard themselves to be Tokyo’s smallest bottle bar as well, and with five seats and a small standing area, they’re probably right in that respect. When we went on a Thursday night, there was a couple sat next to the fridge and a man sitting at the counter, with the side “shelf” occupied by us. Later on, other people did come in and sat down at the counter though with ten people in the bar, it felt full up and almost claustrophobic.
Beers are Pigalle vary from around the world though there tends to be a minimum of two domestic craft beer on tap at any one time. Beers come in one size, which seemed to be about 300ml, with prices varying from ¥950 to ¥1100. Thankfully the prices include tax as any more than that would have left me leaving the beer on the counter and walking out. It’s simply too expensive for the amount of beer you get and with that amount of head. The bottle situation wasn’t much better with the idea being you take them out rather than drink in. When we picked out a cider, which was ¥750 a bottle, to drink inside, the owner said it would cost us ¥1,500 in total to drink it in the bar. Pigalle isn’t the only place to charge a bottle opening fee, Baird Bashamichi Taproom does it as well, but it was one of the most expensive places we’ve come across.
5 comments
I love Pigalle and the folks that run it but yes, its hard to justify popping by as it isn’t the cheapest place in town.
They don’t always have something I’d be happy spending 1,000yen plus on, either.
The place is quirky and interesting and unique and worth a visit at least once, IMO.
Thank you. I am also a railfan, and this bar would be something I can recommend to visiting international railfans (who would have their jaws drop upon seeing the Tokyu Setagaya Line).
I will make a point of instructing them to select the hot dog, but if they were from Chicago, to tell the staff the hold the ketchup.
Yes, hold the ketchup next time.
The tram line is one of the last remaining ones in Tokyo. A shame really.
I had the worst experience here.
I live in the area so would often come here just to grab one or two of their very expensive brews, and they have always been somewhat standoffish. This past time, I was chatting with the bartender in Japanese, and was with a friend from out of town. I would relay back to my friend in English just to give him a summary of what the bartender and I were chatting about, at which point the bartender very angrily yelled at me, “are you drunk?” in Japanese. He went outside. My friend, having no clue about why the bartender was upset, nor what the bartender said, asked me what happened, and I explained to him that the bartender was angry because he thought we were drunk (we had a few drinks and were definitely tipsy, but weren’t particularly loud or rude, and the bar was empty so we weren’t causing any trouble to any other customers). The bartender’s wife, overhearing us speaking English, angrily said to me “are you talking about my husband in English because you don’t think we understand English?” All of a sudden, the bartender and his wife were angry with us, and kicked us out, following us to the door.
Never going there again.
Kenji,
Thanks for the comment.
It’s worrying that your comment is not the first time we’ve heard that from the store. I’ve personally been twice but neither time was I subjected to that level of criticism, though I was told to keep the conversation down.
Still, if you don’t like the place then it’s best to do as you say, don’t go there again. There are plenty of other places you can go to and we’d love to help you find some new bars.