Kobe Beef KISSHOKICHI Main Store — Restaurant in Kobe

After doing our shopping nearby, we came by for our dinner. It was around 7pm when we arrived and the restaurant at the side of the small lane was already quite full house.

The restaurant was well-decorated and had received many awards and credentials for selling Kobe beef.

We were led to a private room by the friendly staff who was conversant in English. The ambience of the restaurant was cosy and homely, like that of a traditional Japanese home.

After browsing through the menu, we ordered the kobe beef sets and each set came with the soup and bread, salad, rice, miso soup and the beef. We also ordered red wine to go along with the beef.

This was not the first time we have had Kobe beef except that it was the BBQ version then but this time, the beef was already cooked. Trust me, the beef were tasty, fresh and juicy, well marinated (mainly pepper and salt). Very yummy! The other dishes were nice too.

Services were good as staff were efficient, polite and friendly.

Value for money? It's good value considering it's quality though its a little steep (about Singapore dollars $280-300). But...

Walked in with no booking and showed into a nice private room.

We were trying to find the lunch set here previously reviewed by many, but it was not there on the menu. The waiter also had no idea when I showed her pictures of other reviews.

There is certainly no steak set you can get for any less than 5400 yen (being the cheapest meat for 120g) with free basic appetisers included.

We went with ordering two different meats, which itself was around 5,000 to 7,500 yen each.

The steaks were utterly disappointing. First of all they do not show you the steaks, you are presented with cooked only. There is barely any marbling visible. Steaks were cooked rare which is appropriate for high end beef, however it was SO CHEWY. Quite unbelievable for the amount of money we paid. This is on par with supermarket steaks we buy at home.

Perhaps if we paid 15,000 yen each for meat we may have gotten a better product. If you are looking to spend that much then perhaps this is the place for you. But for anyone wanting to spend below 50-10,000 yen each this is not the place for you.

I would never...

My husband and I stopped here for dinner one random Sunday evening. We had one of the best dinners of our entire 2 week trip that night. We were able to be seated without a reservation, but I did note that one of the special course seemed to be sold out without a reservation. They've got a good online system for it, and recommend checking it before heading over so you aren't disappointed.

Everything was well-crafted, from the simple salad to the Kobe steak sushi they cooked at our table with a blowtorch. Definitely get a piece or two if that to try. I did a simple filet, and my husband tried the chateaubriand. Both were excellent, though I admit the fancier one was a bit lost on my palatte.

The seating area is up a flight of stairs, and you'll be asked to leave your shoes in some cubbies before you go up.

Service was prompt, kind and we were able to easily order even with our very limited Japanese.

The door is subtle, and tucked a bit down an alleyway but Google maps was able to navigate us...