The typical location for a geiko dinner are ochaya (tea houses), another important element of geiko districts. The ochaya provides just the tatami room where the dinner takes place, while the food and the geiko themselves are ordered from the outside. Ochaya are highly exclusive places due to their traditional way of doing business and will grant entry to trusted customers only.
Unlike a regular restaurant, an ochaya does not bill its guests at the end of the evening. Rather it adds the entire evening's expenses, including the costs for the room, food, geiko and taxi rides, to a running tab, and charges the customer's bank account once per month. Since this system is obviously based on a trust relation, new customers are only accepted if an existing customer serves as their guarantor.
A former ochaya in Kanazawa's Higashi Chaya district, the Shima Ochaya, has been opened to the public as a museum, allowing tourists to see a traditional ochaya from the inside, including the tatami rooms and exhibits of utensils, accessories and music instruments.