Latest news with #HelloKittyCafe
Axios
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
Inside the Hello Kitty Cafe experience in Santa Clara
The first brick-and-mortar Hello Kitty Cafe to grace the Bay Area opened to much fanfare last month at Santa Clara's Westfield Valley Fair Mall. Why it matters: The cafe marks owner Sanrio's growing push into immersive food experiences, and I took a look around. State of play: When walking around the mall, it's hard to miss the cafe, decked out as it is in pink Hello Kitty decor. There's usually a line out the door, but it moved fast when I was there. The store itself doesn't offer as much merch as I'd expected since it's focused on food products, but does still showcase mugs, stickers and enamel pins in its displays. What to expect: The cafe menu includes a range of baked goods, drinks and seasonal specials like strawberry tarts. Pastries include cake and sugar cookies, while drinks cover the whole gamut from s'mores cold brew to milkshakes. I ordered the strawberry matcha mini donuts ($11), supercute dream drink ($9.5) and a sugar cookie ($5.5). Zoom in: The donuts are made fresh, which you can watch being made, and were perfectly fluffy, powdered with matcha and laced with strawberry drizzle. The sugar cookie — in the shape of a 10 to honor the cafe franchise's 10-year anniversary — was also sweet and buttery. My favorite was the drink, which consisted of raspberry, milk, whipped cream and a marshmallow paste. It was the right amount of tart, with a smooth, creamy consistency. The intrigue: I didn't get to try this, but you can also make a reservation for the cafe's Afternoon Tea and Evening Delights experiences, which include a tea service and 10 sweet and savory bites at $70 per guest.
San Francisco Chronicle
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Live out your '80s game show fantasies at this new Bay Area attraction
For 1,000 points: Which Bay Area mall has exploded into a retail, entertainment and foodie multiverse? If you guessed Westfield Valley Fair, you are correct. The mall located near the 280/880 interchange in Santa Clara has already welcomed Hello Kitty Cafe and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema movie theater this year alongside haute couture storefronts and bustling foodie havens like Ramen Nagi, Baekjeong and Eataly. With its 'Family Feud'-style podiums, giant spinning wheel, light show and in-person host, it's like stepping into a television set circa 1980 before the soaps come on. But unlike real game shows, there's no money or La-Z-Boy chairs to be won, just a leaderboard position for top performers and smug bragging rights for dominating the competition. During its soft launch earlier this month, the Great Big Game Show attracted curious mall walkers who got to sample three of its games. There was a physical building block challenge and a trivia game (Sample question: 'The Academy Awards are also known as … what?') to amass points. Then they spun the 'Wheel of Fortune'-like big wheel to add to their point stash or lose it all. A confetti cannon dispersed as the winner was announced. Kimberley Le of San Jose spotted the 'grand opening' signage on a prior visit and returned with her family to try it out. 'It's fun, especially for groups who like doing competitive things,' said Le. 'The host was really energetic. We already got tickets to come back." Opening the Great Big Game Show at Valley Fair was a logical choice, said Scott Sauers, the entertainment chain's marketing director who was working the check-in desk on this recent summer day. Its parent company owns and operates the Escape Game, which also has a spot at the mall, so the existing intel on local demographics and demand told them everything they needed to know. 'There's lots to do at Valley Fair — shopping, dining, entertainment. And we just think the Great Big Game Show fits in well,' Sauers said. Given the Silicon Valley locale, it's a prime option for a tech company 'off-site team building' activity sans trust-falls or awkward small talk with upper management. Sauers said the trivia portion can even be tailored with company-related questions. Or, if it's a special occasion like a marriage proposal, bachelor/ette or gender reveal party, they can host that too — complete with blue or pink confetti. Here's how to play: Reserve time online or by phone for one of four studios. Three studios can accommodate up to 14 people, while a smaller studio can fit eight. It costs $45.99 per person for an hour-long game session. Individual groups are matched together in a studio like Benihana. If you want a private game all to yourselves — say 2 parents vs. 2 kids — there's a 50% upcharge on the unused podium spots, so keep that in mind when booking. Up to eight different games from their collection of 18 are played with the hour, with a living, breathing host running the show. There are games of skill, chance and strategy. During 'Blaster Blitz,' for instance, players use Nerf guns to hit targets flashing on the screen. (Don't worry, the individual studios are behind the check-in lobby wall, so mall passerby can't see you fail.) My smarmy know-it-all self couldn't resist a test drive. I rushed through the physical 'Build It Up' building block challenge like a grumpy dad putting up a tent without instructions. I got cocky during the 'Blockchain' trivia game by buzzing in early before the host could finish the question. I amassed a razor-thin lead against my opponent but botched the landing, hitting the 'Lose It All' slot in the spinning wheel and never recovered. (Fail horn.) Overall, the Great Big Game Show was nicely paced, had a good variety of challenges, and the host was fun and upbeat. While city elites may scoff at heading to a Santa Clara suburban mall or Fisherman's Wharf — where another Great Big Game Show location sits — for escapist jollies, I can comfortably sip a Hello Kitty matcha latte in my new Celine hoodie while spinning a gigantic game show wheel before seeing 'The Naked Gun' remake — all under one roof. Who's the real winner now?
Business Insider
30-05-2025
- Business Insider
In my 20s, I dreamed of a wild weekend in Vegas. Instead, I went as a sober mom in my 30s.
In my younger years, I dreamt of hitting Sin City for a hedonistic weekend that could only be remembered via poorly scribbled notes written in an inebriated haze. Like many would-be writers, I longed to recreate Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing" firsthand. Las Vegas has a reputation, after all, for being the sort of place one goes to make endless mistakes in, hopefully, enjoyable ways. As a lower-income lush in my 20s, the trip never happened. Back then, it felt most important to invoke my inner Don Draper and sip Manhattans at local bars in my hometown of Miami or occasionally slip into harder habits. I was, what you might call, an experimental gal. This meant I never had much more than $100 to my name. The long and short of it is I had not only a drinking habit, but a drinking problem. Luckily, things change. I changed. The long and short of it is I got pregnant and quit drinking, lost the baby, and binged one final time. After I realized it wasn't going to fix my trauma, I stopped drinking. Now, roughly a decade later, I do, on rare occasions, nurse a low ABV beer during a meal out with friends, but for the most part, those days are long behind me, and I'm grateful for it. Over the years, I became a journalist, a wife, and a mother. I left Florida behind and built a new life in Colorado — hundreds of miles away from where I started, and from my best friend. No longer someone who was getting blackout drunk on the regular, I also finally had enough money to go on a girls' trip. So I asked my BFF to meet me in Vegas so we could paint the town red, in our own way. Booze-free days in Vegas As I arrived in Las Vegas a few hours before my friend did, and a few hours before check-in, I got into my own form of trouble. No, I didn't hit a bar. I picked up some goodies from the Hello Kitty Cafe, and then went and got a massage. When my friend finally arrived, we both checked into our shared room at the Park MGM — which is the only non-smoking hotel on the Strip. I had developed an aversion to the smell of cigs in recent years, and was pleased to find out they don't even allow smoking in the casino. I'll admit that seeing the glittering lights of the Strip at night and seeing all the folks dressed up for the clubs and casinos did give me a pang of FOMO. But that feeling went away once I woke up the next day sans hangover and ready for more adventures. While I immediately recognized Las Vegas' potential for being a blast on psychedelics, it was still plenty of fun without. We visited Wink World, rode the Haley's Comet zipline, and explored immersive art at Meow Wolf's Omega Mart. Drink-less nights in Vegas In the evenings, we found ways to have fun that didn't involve getting plastered while talking to strangers and making regrettable decisions. One night, we sat near the front row for "Kà," which is exactly the way you want to enjoy a Cirque du Soleil show, where people are flying over you. Another night, we went to the Neon Museum to check out their "boneyard" — a collection of retired neon signs, all lit up like they were in their prime. We even ventured into the casino and quickly played, and lost, a few bucks playing blackjack and roulette. But we still managed to make it back to our rooms with enough time to catch an episode of "SVU" and fall asleep without the aid of booze. Leaving town, my wallet didn't hurt, nor did my head. No regrettable calls made, no regrettable actions taken. If I'd gone to Vegas in my 20s, it's possible I might've had more fun in certain ways, but I likely wouldn't remember much of it. I felt good about the fact that nothing I did in Vegas had to stay in Vegas.
