It’s always time for tea at Hello Kitty Cafe, which opened its third Las Vegas location at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace on Thursday, September 10. There, Sanrio characters abound in the pink-drenched 3,400-square-foot space with Hello Kitty’s iconic
red bow emblazoned on the ceiling.
The cafe first popped up as a truck in 2015 at Fashion Show Mall before settling into an outdoor container situation at the Park in 2019. The Forum Shops locations will offer daily afternoon tea, a first for Las Vegas; a much larger pastry menu with an in-house chef making colorful sweets; and, of course, plenty of sugary beverages to delight Hello Kitty fans. The menu also includes snacky bites such as sliders stamped with Hello Kitty’s bow, flatbreads, chicken tenders, and even shrimp cocktail complete with bow-shaped radish.
Diners are welcomed by illuminated faces of Sanrio characters like Keroppi and Pochacco on the walls, while colorful neon signs and Hello Kitty–themed wallpaper provide social media fodder. Afternoon tea, which costs $95 per person and requires reservations, features numerous small bites and sandwiches arranged on golden Hello Kitty-eared stands. There’s also every conceivable coffee or tea drink: cinnamon sugar lattes, chocolate cookie cold brew, pistachio matcha lattes, and iced strawberry milk. Sweets include soft serve-filled taiyaki, macarons, doughnuts, cookies, cream puffs, and ube cupcakes. Expect a crop of compelling merchandise to take home such as apparel, totes, plushies, and mugs.
Thematic dining like Hello Kitty Cafe has proliferated across the country in the past decade, ranging from immersive experiences like the Museum of Ice Cream to ones catering to niche audiences like One Piece Cafe in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pizzeria in Santa Monica. In Las Vegas, where everything is basically a theme, and every establishment needs a visual spectacle, it makes sense for Hello Kitty Cafe to occupy a prime retail location inside Caesars Palace.
Hello Kitty Cafe is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., closing at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It’s located at 3500 Las Vegas Boulevard S., Las Vegas, NV 89109. Reservations for afternoon tea are available on Tock.
