Ginsui — Restaurant in Kyoto

A must visit if you're in Kyoto! This 3rd generation family run sukiyaki restaurant was by far the best food we had in Kyoto during our one week stay here.

The service, atmosphere and of course food was all exceptional! As other reviews have highlighted, the owners are very friendly and welcoming towards foreigners, and can speak good, though limited, enough English to converse. We had the pleasure of being served by the owners wife and she was able to have a conversation with us about her daughter that visited my home city of Melbourne!

We ordered the domestic beef and special beef sets, both melted in your mouth with every chew, particularly the Japanese black Wagyu in the special beef set. The accompanying vegetables and sauce were equally as unforgettable and delicious!

You'll find it located by the nearby Kamogawa river, with the interior decorated in traditional Kyoto decor, including tatami mats, further adding to the calming atmosphere.

We look forward to visiting again...

I came to this restaurant with three friends. Two of us arrived first and let the host know we were a party of four, with the others just a few minutes behind, walking up the street. We were told they wouldn’t seat us until everyone had arrived, which we respected. But when my friends showed up less than five minutes later, other groups had been seated. When I followed up, I was told it would now be a 30-minute wait minimum. We had been honest and courteous, and it was literally a matter of 2-3 minutes, so it seemed clear that this restaurant has enough business not to care about providing a good experience. Their priority doesn’t seem to be providing good service to guests but just moving people through and keep turning tables.

For these reasons this isn’t a place I can recommend. The experience was negative as they seem interested in money exclusively. If you’re looking for basic courtesy and a bit of flexibility, I suggest you look...

This cozy, family-run sukiyaki place offers a warm and welcoming atmosphere. While they have many Japanese customers, they also warmly welcome foreigners, with a map at the entrance where visitors can place a sticker to show where they’re from. The hostess speaks some English, and we even had a pleasant chat while she prepared sukiyaki for us, making it feel like we were guests in her home. The restaurant is spacious inside, and they don’t host too many customers at once. However, this also means that if you don’t get in with the first wave of customers, you may have to wait for a while - which we did, and we don’t regret it at all.

We ordered duck and beef sukiyaki pots, along with extras like tofu, edamame, and rice. The duck sukiyaki came with udon noodles, so you likely won’t need to order rice. The prices were reasonable - our total came to about ¥7,000. Highly...