The Bar
Visited 12/12/18 @ 6pm.
The Drink
Melon Ball Z. Silver tequila, Midori, honey, lime. $10.
If you like puns, have I got a bar for you. The Melon Ball Z is only one of many great puns on their drink list, its name referring to the
melon ball cocktail and of course Dragonball Z. I don't think I had ever had a melon ball before, which is made specifically to use the Midori, a Japanese melon liqueur that is even more specifically designed to taste like the
Japanese musk melon. Melon is pretty sweet already, melon liqueur is sweeter yet, and adding honey on top might seem like overkill, but you eventually end up with something that's fruity without being overly tropical, and sweet without making you wonder when your next dentist appointment is. The tequila was well, which was fine. I normally focus on the drink at hand, but I do have to give a shoutout to another drink they offer - the frozen Kirin Ichiban. Longtime readers know that I'm not wild about drinks that devolve into a race between brainfreeze and melting into mush, but even if it is somewhat gimmicky, it is a pleasant way to drink Ichiban, a
fake-imported Bud Light. There are flavor floaters you can get as well; the root beer flavor is best, then the vanilla, then last and least the ginger.
The Crew
Aaron, Kyle (not pictured).
Notes
The punned drinks are matched by the name of the bar itself, which takes a little unpacking. Domo Arigato means "thank you very much", and of course the phrase is famous as the title of the
ridiculous Styx song we all know and love. The "alley" part of the name refers to the layout of the entrance, which sits across a narrow alley-like passage separating it from
parent operation Ramen Tatsu-Ya, and "gato" is Spanish for cat, which refers to the hundreds upon hundreds of cheerfully-waving
Maneki Neko cats plastered in
every square inch of the atrium, which signify good luck in Japan and East Asia in general. This is the bar for cat lovers! Also lovers of Japanese culture in general, because in addition to the decor inside, they have an outdoor patio with the bar and a food truck kitchen, titled Kare Ban-Ban, that serves really great
Japanese-style curry, which is distinct from Indian/Thai/etc curries and unique as far as I can tell in Austin. Those who have been to Japan assure me that it's as close to authentic as you can get here, and the service is insanely fast. I highly recommend the spicy Texas Mud curry, which the frozen Kirin will nicely offset while you sip and snack under a big tree at one of the outdoor picnic tables. There are a handful of tables indoors, if you really really need to be surrounded by cats, but it's too annoying to have people walking in and out past you all the time. Better to relax under a big pecan tree at the kind of open air patio that's probably a lot rarer in Tokyo.
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