The Samurai of Sengoku Buyuden

The Shinjuku area's kind of a giant puzzle to me still, and yet you'll find it in many guidebooks about Tokyo. Yeah, it's a bustling district, but unless you know specifically what you want to do there, you might be in for a little bit of disappointment. Shinjuku doesn't cater to foreigners so well.
 So it might come as a little bit of a surprise that there would be a pretty sizeable themed restaurant in Shinjuku - with a samurai theme no less! But things aren't all as they seem, and strange as it might sound, Sengoku Buyuden isn't catered towards foreigners in the least bit. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it! Let me take you through.
 As soon as you enter the restaurant, the theme is stark. Family crests line the walls and lockers and even the uniforms of the staff, and it's pretty hard to miss the full-body replica armors on display. If anything, they're the pride of Sengoku Buyuden. You'll see staff handing out model swords to customers posing before the armor. At a glance, everything is as you would expect from a samurai estaurant. If you want, you can even grab one of those funny looking caps with the samurai hairdo and wear those for the duration of your dinner.

 Sengoku Buyuden actually does serve food outside of the standard "izakaya" type fair typical of other themed restaurants. A variety of typical Japanese dishes can be ordered, on top of the shop's personalized cocktails (some of which appear to have lights inside them, don't ask.) If you order an alcoholic beverage, the staff will even offer a toast to "winning the war" with you. It's all in good in fun.
Only an hour in did I notice the one peculiarity about Sengoku Buyuden  - most of the clientele were young women. And after a
closer look I realized that most of the staff were young, presentable looking men in samurai indoor garments. And then I awkwardly realized that this was the kind of place girls came to ogle at guys (maybe hoping to see their swords, if you know what I mean.)You can see why they're doing plenty good without having to worry about drawing in foreigners too.
 At any rate, though, I quite enjoyed the food, although the bill does come pretty steep if you include the initial table charge. Maybe you'll enjoy Sengoku Buyuden if you're a girl coming in with a bunch of other girls? The staff's nice enough, they don't seem to mind the flirting. But now that I know, I guess I'll kind of tiptoe away.