Fushimi Sake Village — Restaurant in Kyoto

It wasn't too terrible of an experience but it could have been a lot better. When I arrived there was a lot of empty seats available but I still had to wait 45 minutes which didn't quite make sense to me. However I respected that and left until the time arrived because perhaps there was something I wasn't quite aware of in regards to their scheduling system and seating availability as well as staffing issues, and they were willing to get me scheduled in for the same day anyway which was a Tuesday evening. So I appreciated them being flexible in that area. When I came back we were seated very quickly. However I had to wait over 20 minutes after the staff first interacted with me to interact with me again so I could place my order and admittedly after waiting 20 minutes with no one to talk to me made me consider going to another location so I could get served in a more timely manner for both food and drink since I'm used to receiving service quite quickly after I'm seated. Something that greatly concerned me is that I wanted to try the 18 sake set. However when I ordered it, I was told they were out. The person eventually explained that they were out of nine of the 18 sake which would make sense to say they were sold out of the sampler. At the same time, I did also witness them hand fully and freshly poured samplers to people that came in well after me, leading me to believe that perhaps they weren't sold out like I was told. But again maybe there's something I might not be aware of. However once I was served the sake glasses were poured as full as they could be to the drop. I was even spilling a little bit just trying to get it off of the tray which was saddening because I didn't want to waste anything. Still though the sake tasted very very good. I even got a nice little beer there as well. I ordered a larger portion of one sake to be hot and maybe I didn't quite understand the expectations I just felt that I didn't quite get the full amount that I ordered but again I could be wrong because I didn't put it in a measuring glass myself to verify. That hot sake was still quite tasty and I would definitely get it again. Prices were a little high for what they were but not the end of the world since this is clearly a tourist focused destination. There was some miscommunications with what was ordered and this is likely due to the staff member that was taking our order struggling a little bit with the English language. And I can't blame them for that because it's not reasonable for me to expect everyone to speak English like I do especially when I'm in a foreign country, Even more so when I'm in their country and my language isn't the predominant language. I had some very positive interactions with other staff who were very friendly and kind to me which made this a more positive experience. So perhaps some of my perspective stems from ignorance or cultural differences regarding expectations of services in a restaurant and bar environment. However they did ask for a Google review in some of their advertisements so I'm giving them honest feedback out of kindness and respect, not to criticize or disrespect. This place has a lot of great potential and I know it can be even better next time I come around because I will give it another shot one day. Until then there's quite a lot of room for growth based on my own experience and I hope they're able to reach a higher...

Not suitable for (large) groups!

Yesterday, I visited Fushimi Sake Village for the third time, this time with a group of 16.

I tried to make a reservation by phone, and an automatic answering machine told me to make a reservation online. Online, it says to contact them if there are more than 10 people. However, when I contacted them through their website, they didn't respond.

Last time, when I was with a group of 7, it was me, not the staff, who suggested seating after we initially got turned down. The large space in the back is only open until 19:00, I was told, but we were eventually offered a seat at the counter after I pointed it out myself.

This time, I decided to go early just to be sure.

Although there were enough seats throughout the entire village, for reasons I am still unaware of, you can only order from the entire menu from the sake shop seats but not from the seats at the different restaurants. Even though we were eventually all seated, we could not order sake or food from other restaurants from our seats next! to the sake counter. I even told the staff it was okay to seat us at different tables, but according to them, there were none available.

In both experiences, it felt like there was a simple solution; there was enough seating, but unexplainable rules made it impossible to enjoy the full menu. If you would have been more flexible, or offered a solution, all of the different restaurants could have profited.

The pettiness and unwillingness to adapt made us walk out and look for a sake tasting experience elsewhere. It seems like a sense of business is non-existent here.

This review is not to deter people from going here. If you are just one or two people, it is probably fine, and the sake tasting is a great experience. I just wanted the shops here to know that the weird setup of their food and sake village made our group of 16 walk out. Unless something changes, I will not be bringing people here anymore because it always leads to a hassle or...

While looking for a sake tasting place in Kyoto, we watched a video about a place in Fushimi that has a 18 sake tasting. My only knowledge of Fushimi is the famous shrine with all the Torii gates. Getting there isn't hard and I made it part of our morning trip to Fushimi Inari Shrine and then an early brunch at Fushimi Sakegura Koji. From the shrine, it is a short 22 minute ride on the Keihan line or Nara line (JR). The Keihan line has a lot less walking and would be my recommendation.

I recommend making a reservation as the counter space is limited and I believe the 18 sake tasting is only available at the counter. You can still order food although not every item is available. The food would be delivered to your seat and is very convenient. There are several mini-restaurants in the place serving a wide variety of Japanese cuisine including ramen, yakitori, and street foods. In total, there are 8 restaurants including Sakegura which is the sake tasting restaurant.

Sakegura focus on local sakes and the 18 tasting gives you a wide range. They have an English tasting sheet that explains all of the sake you are tasting including the brewery. It isn't the premium sakes on the tasting. I would recommend trying a few of the premium once you have finished the tasting. You can let the bartender know your preference and they will make recommendations. It was an eye-opener for me to be able to taste so many sakes and to discover new sake profiles that would be very difficult to try outside of Japan.

The servers when I was there spoke very limited English. While they can answer some questions and provide recommendations, I relied heavily on Google Translate to look at their recommendations and to understand some of the sake descriptions. This was not a problem as I'm quite used to...