Charcoal Grill Koteppan — Restaurant in Kyoto

This was the single worst meal I've had in the dozen times I've visited Japan. Three of us ended up with salmonella, and we're certain it's from here because the four of us were staying in three cities and only met up that night. When we walked out and saw the Torikizoku (basic yakitori chain), we regretted not going there instead for half the price. Foreigners beware. If you insist on this place, never order their course.

We noticed a burnt smell outside when we arrived, instead of the usual appetizing charcoal grill aroma. We made a reservation for four for their 150min all-you-can-drink (nomihoudai) course, and were told to squeeze into the corner four stools at the counter. Why would a group going for nomihoudai want to sit in a row, unable to kanpai or share food? As others have mentioned, there was also too much smoke.

Hoping it was just a bad start, we started ordering drinks. The first two rounds took 20 minutes each. That's insane when 7/8 drinks were lemon sours, plus they forgot one of them. Ordering more in advance didn't work either, because they didn't have enough tumblers and the girl kept collecting ours to wash them before making more. This entire time, pretty much nobody welcomed us to the store or talked to us.

As for the food, we got their more expensive course, but got mostly innards and had maybe two "regular" skewers. Gizzard, heart, liver, skin, sashimi, and soft bone karaage. These can be great when done well, but they were mediocre and the liver was gamey. We ordered momo (thigh) and seseri (neck) separate from the course because of the lack of meat, but they were just okay. We would've ordered others, but things like quail eggs were sold out already 5 hours before closing.

Skip to the last part of the meal - at this point we had dirty plates stacked at the window because they never came over to clear plates. While we waited for the zosui (rice soup), the young guy brings out a bowl of ice-cream for some reason? When he realized we still had the zosui left, he was just like "oh well it's fine?" to the chef. This was the same kid complaining about work to the chef in front of customers. I couldn't help but say "you're kidding right?" in Japanese, and the chef got them to take the ice-cream back. Well the zosui shows up and it's like two pots of it, too much for the end of the meal. We were too tired and disappointed, so we gave up on dessert and asked for the bill.

This was by far the least welcoming and most disappointing meal in Japan. Even food courts are more welcoming, and at least they don't complain in front of you because they think you can't understand Japanese. I don't write bad reviews often, but they definitely deserved this one.

p.s. the yaki-onigiri on the grill was pitch black on the top... hope they didn't serve...

Randomly found this spot since some other spots were booked up. Made a reservation online and so glad we did!

Walked in, asked if we had reservations- saw that we did, sat us at the bar and they handed us a QR code and we started ordering. Then more and more people came in-all Japanese.

The skewers were so good! Chicken thigh, gizzard, heart, meatballs, fried oysters, fried cartilage, eggplant, there was so much good food. The salad was great, I had two sakes, partner had lemon sour it was $3 a lemon sour! 🤣

It was a one man on the coals- he was amazing- the smoke didn’t bother him at all!

Definitely plan on...

Hungry and popped by for a quick fix since there’s no queue and had 2 seats available at 7pm. Out of my surprise with so many tourists dining here, the yakitori was really good and of high quality. Charcoal bbq gave a distinctive flavour, wish we have ordered more. Place is tiny and a little squeeze, QR code to place order from your mobile phone with English version and pay at entrance before you leave. Reasonable prices. Credit...