Club Romantico
Show up fashionably early at this limited-time Ginza disco

Photos Courtesy of Romantico

If it’s Friday night and you feel like letting your freak flag fly, Club Romantico in Ginza is a good place to hoist it. Billed as a nightclub and disco, it has a vibe that leans heavily toward the latter. With its big, black dance floor, blood-red walls and not one but three disco balls, Romantico is liable to transform even the straightest-laced salaryman into a dancing queen for the night.

By the time we slipped past the velvet ropes on a recent Saturday night, people were already getting down. On the dance floor, fellas busted out the Justin Timberlake moves they’d been practicing all week while cliques of ladies swirled about in tight knots playing defense. We started with drinks because, alas, as A always precedes B, drinks must come before dancing.

Club Romantico’s tab system is a little different than most. Instead of paying cash at the bar, drinkers must first buy tickets from a machine near the bathroom and then trade them in. One thousand yen buys four tickets, and you can purchase as many as twenty at once. (In true Japanese fashion, buying in bulk won’t save you money.) Three tickets buy a beer and two tickets buy a glass of wine. Cocktails cost between three and four tickets, and a bottle of water will run you two.

After the beret-clad bartender served our drinks, we set up shop at one of the tall, silver tables at the edge of the dance floor. Club Romantico’s layout is largely open, giving it a comfortable and spacious feel. From where I stood, I counted two white sport coats, one sailor’s cap, any number of popped collars and a minimum of two buttons undone on every shirt.

Besides the bar and dancefloor, Club Romantico has two additional areas: an elevated VIP area directly behind the DJ booth and a large dining area. Although not what you might expect from a disco club, Club Romantico serves pasta and wood fired pizza in addition to drinks and disco music. (Seriously. The brick oven is directly behind the bar.) Food costs between six and 14 tickets.

The typical patron at Club Romantico is late-30s and single. As the hour got later, Night Fever took hold of most, and people migrated to the dance floor to celebrate and have a good time. Disco balls sent shattered points of light dancing across the red and black walls and showered dancers shaking their groove thing. Even those who were playing coy at the edge of the floor earlier were now dancing and moving to the groove. Disco does that to a person. Blame it on the Boogie.

Club Romantico’s closing time, however, can not be blamed on the Boogie. The club closes at midnight, leaving dancers no choice but to stop before they get enough. The midnight limit belies Club Romantico’s admission cost: ¥4,000/¥5,000 for men and ¥3,000/¥4,000 for women, which includes six tickets. Not bad for all night, but midnight? Well, at least we made the last train.

We left Club Romantico feeling somewhat unfulfilled. Like ABBA sang, “You turn ’em on, leave them burning, and then you’re gone.” But perhaps that’s what disco is all about.

B1 Komatsu Annex Bldg, 6-8-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku. Tel: 03-3571-8201. Open Mon-Sat 6pm-midnight. Nearest stn: Ginza. Men must be over 23, women over 20. Dress code: no shorts, sandals, etc. http://wonderland.to

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