ByBrad Japhe,
Senior Contributor.
Tokyo is home to some of the greatest hotel bars on earth. So if you’re going to compete in a landscape like this, you had better come correct. The Old Imperial Bar—a polished jewel beset along the edge of the Imperial Hotel’s sprawling mezzanine—might just supersede all else in the city. It holds a number of key facets to help assert the claim, including perfectly-constructed cocktails, impeccable hospitality, and transportive decor.
The first two are non-negotiable within any worthwhile Japanese watering hole. But that third element can be overlooked by some venues, particularly in more modern hotels that eschew personality in favor of sterility. Not here. In fact, personality might be the Old Imperial Bar’s greatest single asset.
Stepping into the space is to step back in time. The weight of the modern world is left at the door as you embrace an interior lined with burnt brick, red leather and mahogany. The dim lighting helps blur the barriers between yesteryear and today. Little of what you feel is facsimile; it was constructed in the early 1970s and next to nothing has changed in the years since.
