Cafe & Bar Cluster : The Bottom Line
Cafe & Bar Cluster is worth a visit if you’re in the area and you fancy doing a small bar crawl, but with Cuffy’s and also The Life also in the area, it’s hard to recommend Cafe & Bar Cluster over those two. One thing that it does do better though is have a selection of beers that can be bought to takeaway, or drink in-store at no extra cost it seems.
Cafe & Bar Cluster : The Full Write Up
This is the second time I’ve tried to get to Cafe & Bar Cluster though at this store, it was the first time and I succeeded. Why the confusion? Well Cluster used to have two branches in Kashiwa up until a couple of years ago, imaginatively titled Cluster and Cluster 2. However, they decided to shut up both stores, and then move to a new location during in May 2020, to a place much closer to the station and also slightly bigger it seems. The first time I tried to go to Cluster 1, the bar was full up and there was no chance of getting in soon, so it seems that Cafe & Bar Cluster is doing something right if they can move location AND expand.
Cafe & Bar Cluster is located less than a minute’s walk from JR Kashiwa station, in fact, it’s in the station building just across from The Life by Marche Baton, so it’s an ideal chance for you to combine some bars and have a little bar crawl around the area.
Cafe & Bar Cluster : Atmosphere & Interior
Cafe & Bar Cluster has a rather relaxed atmosphere – perhaps because of the shopping area it is located in, or with the clientele, but noone seemed to be in a rush to either finish up their beers, or get moving while we were there. There was some gentle background music going on but the main thing you notice about Cafe & Bar Cluster is the amount of alcohol inside. I know – it’s a bar, of course there is going to be alcohol. But there are bottle of spirits, beer labels, beer signs, and whisky plaques everywhere you look! It seems that every single spot in the bar is dedicated to the craft of alcohol making and it makes for some interesting talking points.
Though Cafe & Bar Cluster moved to a bigger location, it still retains a cosy interior with people packed in quite tightly. There is space for about 20 people inside, either at the counter or dotted along the seats at the wall, and the whole place is non-smoking. Moreover, there is no table charge. There is some standing space at the front of the bar, but technically, there is no outside drinking allowed at Cafe & Bar Cluster.
Cafe & Bar Cluster : Approach to Covid-19
When I went to Cafe & Bar Cluster, there was plenty of caution going on with regards to Covid-19, with alcohol spray, temperature checks, and maximum groups of 4 people allowed in. Due to the size of Cafe & Bar Cluster, there were also plastic dividing screens between groups of people to minimise the risk.
Cafe & Bar Cluster : Beer & Tap Information
Due to the size of Cafe & Bar Cluster, I couldn’t get a close up picture of the beer menu, but there is a TV that hangs up at the back of the bar which lists the beers on tap. Cafe & Bar Cluster has up to 12 taps of beer on, with a split between domestic and imports, and one macro lager on tap. The beers come in three sizes: Q (120 ml) for high alcohol beers from 600 yen, H (240 ml) from 750 yen, and P (480 ml) from 1100 yen. There wasn’t any beer flight on when I went nor a happy hour that encopasses the craft beer on tap. The prices did include tax.
Cafe & Bar Cluster does have a bottle shop at the front of the store too, where bottles can be bought to either drink in-store or takeaway. I didn’t notice any signs advertising a bottle charge for drinking in-store but I would be extremely surprised if there wasn’t one, so take that with a pinch of salt.
Cafe & Bar Cluster : Food Information
On the day I went to Cafe & Bar Cluster, I didn’t get the chance to eat, mainly because I had filled up on curry at Cuffy’s merely an hour before, so I wasn’t in the mood to eat anything else. However, we did have the chance to look over the menu and there was a variety of izakaya style foods on the menu, along with some smaller finger foods for order. The menu was all in Japanese though and none of the staff spoke English. The menu though was heavy on the meat so vegetarians may struggle to find much to eat here.
Cafe & Bar Cluster : Information
- Open : Daily 11:30 – 23:00 (L.O Food 22:00 Drink 22:3)
- Closed : N/A
- Happy Hour : N/A
- Phone : 04-7136-7294
- Homepage (in Japanese) : https://cluster-kashiwa.com/
- Social Media : Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
