Tanuki Kyoto Sushi — Restaurant in Central Core

tl;dr: The food is too expensive for what it is and the service is terrible.

I have been to this location multiple times and have never been especially impressed with the food but it's really the customer service that has encouraged me to write a review. I went with three friends last night and the waitress clearly did not care about actually providing anything beyond the bare minimum of customer service.

My friend made a mistake when she ordered "katsu curry", adding that she wanted the "beef one". Rather than clarify what my friend wanted, the waitress guessed and came back with Japanese beef curry. My friend was surprised and disappointed and said that this wasn't what she wanted, to which the waitress gave an apologetic smile and admitted that my friend had said both, so the waitress had just guessed and this is what my friend was going to have to eat. There was no real apology or attempt at decent customer service and for what the food was costing us, that was appalling.

I ended up buying the Japanese curry (our waitress had disappeared once she had made it clear that she wasn't going to try and fix the mistake, so I ordered from another waitress) so my friend would be able to have what she actually wanted. The rest of my interactions with our waitress continued to be poor, pretty much ruining the ambiance of the rest of the meal. She displayed about as much understanding of Japanese cuisine as she did customer service, which was not a whole lot.

Overall, Kyoto isn't a terrible restaurant but it certainly could use some improvement. The food is abysmally expensive for dinnertime and rather than showcasing fish in their sushi rolls, cheaper tempura crumbs are stuffed in the middle or rolled around the outside. There was also celery in the curry, something I've never seen in Japanese curry before and the flavor of the fish...

TL;DR: The food was inconsistent and service was extremely slow. Most of the food were not served and some staff were not friendly. Not worth the price.

Went there on a Friday night with a couple of friends to try their all-you-can-eat menu. I was especially excited to try their shabu shabu since not many japanese AYCE offer that. We sat down and ordered but it took about 30 minutes for the sashimi to arrive. We weren't given plates, wasabi and the soy sauce which was pretty unacceptable for a japanese restaurant. Not only that, the sashimi came in still frozen in the center and the tamago (sweet egg) was tasteless. We waited another 30 minutes for the sushi to arrive and the shabu-shabu pot was still nowhere in sight. Additionally, the sushi rice was pretty inconsistent as some of them were more mushy and sour and some of them were normal. We waited another 20 minutes for the rest of our order but it did not come. So, we decided to order a 2nd round and kindly told the staff that most of our previous orders did not arrive. The staff just said "ok" and it felt like he/she did not really acknowledge our comment. Luckily, most of the food arrived but they would either have more/less of what we ordered. For example, we ordered 5 tempura shrimps and 1 tempura salmon. 1 tempura shrimp and 2 tempura salmon were given. It was also sad to see that the dry ribs were being served to other customers but not us. In the end, towards the closing time, we still weren't served the shabu shabu and some of our orders were still missing. We decided to just leave it as that and pay. We were there for about 2 hours (30minutes eating: 1.5hours waiting) in the restaurant and overall it was a very unsatisfying experience. If you are wanting to try their AYCE experience, be prepared to wait or maybe go when they start the AYCE...

Food and service weren’t horrible but weren’t great. I am from out of town but I didn’t expect the quality and flavor to be drastically different/lacking from what I get a my local sushi spots. I guess I am used to a different standard for sushi even with moderate pricing. Unfortunately our experience at Tanuki Kyoto Sushi left a lot to be desired.

Price: For the quality and quantity you get it’s mediocre. Some things were not worth the money.

Food/flavor: The fish quality was ok, the only thing we enjoyed was the sashimi. Otherwise, the spicy salmon cone was way over spiced. It just tasted like they put two heaping tablespoons of chili sauce in a cone with tiny pieces of salmon. I couldn’t even taste the salmon, seaweed, or rice sadly because the sauce was super overwhelming. The rolls were too dense and the rice was cooked with too much water so it was not enjoyable to eat. Bean sprout salad was awful - tasted watery and cheap. And strangely, the California rolls did not have avocado in them. Teriyaki beef was thick cut and lacked flavor. Rice served with the teriyaki was ok. Spring rolls were tasty but not authentic and strange to have in a bento box. I guess it’s meant to replace the fact that you can’t order tempura, sushi/sashimi, and teriyaki in the same box (you get 2/3). Tempura was ok - not bad. Salad was typical - not amazing but not bad. Miso soup was good. Portions were typical.

Service: We went mid-afternoon on a Friday and waited 20 minutes for a table of 6. It was about 60% full in the restaurant at that time. We should have made reservations so that was partially our fault. Food came pretty quickly though.

Menu: Small selection, not much variety.

Unfortunately we won’t be returning as there are several other sushi restaurants that offer way better quality of food for...