Kifune Ugenta — Attraction in Kyoto

This property is a bit of an odyssey, but I enjoyed it. To get the most out of it one should stay at lest two days. ||||Ugenta is an exercise in qualified very good. I really liked our room which was spread over two levels. The main living area was well structured and quite functional as was the bathroom. The upstairs desk area was a plus that allowed me to do some reading after waking up early without disturbing my still sleeping wife. However, the placement of the toilet, which was at the entrance to the room, was odd and awkward. We didn't like that at all.||||The upstairs outside bath was very enjoyable. I soaked twice, which is unusual for me. However, my wife was correct to note that the wood decking was worn and that staff should have put some towels upstairs. (This property is expensive so I agree with her that even exterior areas should be well maintained).||||Service was attentive and helpful, but our main server's English was limited. This was overcome somewhat by the manager's better English. ||||The kaiseki dinner was good, interesting, and nothing short of huge. However, the quality of cooking and probably better said, the style, is rustic and hearty, not highly refined. Not the best I have had, but solid. Breakfast (Japanese) was almost equally huge. Again, the style was hearty and rustic, although the tamago was possibly the best I've ever had.||||Scenery is country side road net to a stream, marred a bit by power line polls and lines. Rustic, not gorgeous.||||So why did I prefer this to Hoshinoya? Well, I preferred the structure of the room. I found it easier to use. I would not have wanted to stay in the Hoshinoya room for any more than the day I was there whereas I could happily have lived in the Ugenta from for several days. I appreciated the slightly more interesting range of English language books at Ugenta and the interesting furniture. Food was at the same quality level, but Ugenta was easier. It was served in my room and was less pretentious. Don't get me wrong, as an ex-chef I love cutting edge food, but if I have to choose between hearty and good and only partially successful attempts at fancy fusion, I'll go with the former. And that's Ugenta over Hoshinoya.||||A downside of this place is that there is essentially nothing around it. Nothing. So you come here and hang out for a couple of days...

This property is a bit of an odyssey, but I enjoyed it. To get the most out of it one should stay at lest two days. ||||Ugenta is an exercise in qualified very good. I really liked our room which was spread over two levels. The main living area was well structured and quite functional as was the bathroom. The upstairs desk area was a plus that allowed me to do some reading after waking up early without disturbing my still sleeping wife. However, the placement of the toilet, which was at the entrance to the room, was odd and awkward. We didn't like that at all.||||The upstairs outside bath was very enjoyable. I soaked twice, which is unusual for me. However, my wife was correct to note that the wood decking was worn and that staff should have put some towels upstairs. (This property is expensive so I agree with her that even exterior areas should be well maintained).||||Service was attentive and helpful, but our main server's English was limited. This was overcome somewhat by the manager's better English. ||||The kaiseki dinner was good, interesting, and nothing short of huge. However, the quality of cooking and probably better said, the style, is rustic and hearty, not highly refined. Not the best I have had, but solid. Breakfast (Japanese) was almost equally huge. Again, the style was hearty and rustic, although the tamago was possibly the best I've ever had.||||Scenery is country side road net to a stream, marred a bit by power line polls and lines. Rustic, not gorgeous.||||So why did I prefer this to Hoshinoya? Well, I preferred the structure of the room. I found it easier to use. I would not have wanted to stay in the Hoshinoya room for any more than the day I was there whereas I could happily have lived in the Ugenta from for several days. I appreciated the slightly more interesting range of English language books at Ugenta and the interesting furniture. Food was at the same quality level, but Ugenta was easier. It was served in my room and was less pretentious. Don't get me wrong, as an ex-chef I love cutting edge food, but if I have to choose between hearty and good and only partially successful attempts at fancy fusion, I'll go with the former. And that's Ugenta over Hoshinoya.||||A downside of this place is that there is essentially nothing around it. Nothing. So you come here and hang out for a couple of days...

After reading such rave reviews about Ugenta, we had great expectations when we booked both rooms at this Ryokan. We have already stayed at a number of Ryokans on this long trip, therefore we can easily make comparisons.||||It would be best to do this review in point form:||||1) Cleanliness - Ugenta is disappointing in one of the most important aspects of Japanese hospitality. When we lifted the box of Kleenex and the clock on a bench above the bed, there was not just dust, but dust-balls underneath. They seemed to not have dusted or cleaned the main tables in our rooms, crumbs were everywhere. The bathrooms were not cleaned to the standards of other Ryokans.||||2) Open-air onsen bath on roof-top: On all four days, the water was far too hot for us to get in, both in the Japanese and Western rooms.||||3) Insects - we found rather big dark flying insects in the western room almost every night.||||4) Water noise - there are short water-falls and a rapid stream right across the narrow street from the Ryokan. It is really quite loud and at night when everything should be quiet, we really noticed the noise.||||5) The staircase leading up to the roof top is not really all that stable and uncomfortable to walk on.||||6) The tabi socks they provided are of poor quality.||||7) We had to wait a long time for there to be hot water flowing through the hot taps in the bathrooms.||||OK, to be fair, dinner at Ugenta is excellent and the chef really put in a lot of effort. The attitude of the 2 ladies staff are wonderful but they are obviously over-worked, which may have contributed to the fact that rooms were not cleaned to the standards of other Ryokans.||||We discovered that guests do not have to stay at the Ryokan to have dinner there. Visitors can book private rooms (there seems to be a few) for their kaiseki dinners.||||I would not recommend guests to stay at this Ryokan, but just to visit the surrounding areas which are very interesting and...