東山 Touzan — Restaurant in Kyoto

We reserved the Kaiseki experience called Gion Course for 18,000 JPY. The dinner experience consists of 5 dishes. Everything was good, but nothing was remarkable. It is what you expect in a low-tier, simple 5-star hotel. You dine in front of a traditional Japanese garden, which is quite interesting. The most annoying thing is the huge number of North American guests who do not respect proper Japanese etiquette and talk as loudly as possible while dining. This ruins the proposed fine dining experience for other guests, and you can clearly see that the waitresses get really uncomfortable with this. It was lovely that they had a special edition of Nicolas Feuillatte champagne with sakuras printed on the bottle and on the champagne glass. The sushi was really simple and clearly made for guests who do not properly enjoy traditional Japanese sushi. I know that a Kaiseki experience is supposed to be a well-balanced meal, but we ended up hungry and had to finish our evening at an Izakaya in Gion. The staff is really attentive and friendly, like you would expected from the Japanese etiquette. Would recommend if you are on a budget, in a rush, or staying at the Hyatt Regency and too lazy to go out. Beware of...

WOW!! My friends and I went to Touzan for their afternoon tea recently. I made a reservation and they sat us in their private seating area. We didn’t get a view of the garden, but we got an amazing afternoon tea and tasting experience. We were guests of the hotel, so I wouldn’t have know abt this unless we were staying. I highly recommend making a visit, it is a peaceful respite from the busy streets of Kyoto. It is not the cheapest, but for all the food, different teas, and amazing service, it’s worth it.

Gen Yamada (I can’t remember his name) was so knowledgeable and friendly. We agreed it was the best afternoon tea experience, and I’ve been to fancy ones like the Peninsula HK. The food was amazing but my favorite part was trying all the Ippodo teas. I learned so much!

The food was intricate and delicious. I’ve never had hojicha scones! The strawberries came out w liquid nitrogen. It was so beautiful...

We came for the lunch course which consisted of 8 courses. The food was very good, well presented, and the atmosphere was relaxed. However, what I can't praise highly enough was the service. Half way through lunch we realized we were going to be late to our next appt and we asked how many courses were left (there were 3). Apprehending my anxiety, our server brought out the rest of the dishes all at once, called us a cab to our next destination and walked us through a back door to get us up faster and sent us on our way. I was incredibly grateful. The only thing I felt any disappointment about was that I had to rush through the end of such a fine meal, but that was due to my poor scheduling and I was accommodated above and beyond my...