Hachikian, Kyoto Takashimaya — Restaurant in Kyoto

Superb Oyakodon with a Side of Disappointment at Hachikian in Kyoto

During our recent trip to Kyoto, my friend and I decided to visit Hachikian in the Takashimaya Department Store to try their legendary Oyakodon. Despite the excitement, finding the place proved to be a challenge. Google Maps failed to mention that the restaurant is located within Takashimaya, let alone on the 7th floor. After navigating language barriers and seeking assistance from several people, we finally reached our destination.

Hachikian is a small establishment, which can make seating an issue, especially since many shoppers from the store choose to dine here. We arrived around 8:20 PM and faced a short 10-minute wait. I ordered the renowned Oyakodon, which has won the best rice dish award in Japan for two consecutive years. The dish was indeed tasty, smooth, and simple, living up to its reputation.

However, our dining experience was marred by the behavior of the server. My friend is a vegetarian and could not find anything suitable on the menu. Despite the restaurant beginning to empty out, the server insisted that my friend could only stay if he ordered something. I tried explaining the situation, but her demeanor remained unyielding and slightly rude, which was surprising given the general politeness of Japanese service staff. Ultimately, I had to order a beverage to ensure compliance with the "one order per person" rule, even though the restaurant was past its last order time.

While the Oyakodon at Hachikian is worth the visit, the experience was dampened by the server's inflexibility and lack of understanding towards my friend's dietary restrictions. It’s a reminder that even in places with renowned food, the overall experience can be affected by the quality of service. If you’re planning to visit, be prepared for potential seating issues and ensure that everyone in your party can order something...

A waitress took our order while we were waiting in line outside. She wrote it down in front of me. After getting seated, I left to go to the washroom (which took longer than expected), thinking everything was fine since we had already ordered. When I came back, my partner who didn't speak Japanese told me that they apparently did not have our order, making her need to reorder, which was a mess that took several long minutes. She ended up ordering the wrong thing. I don't get how this could've happened since the waitress very obviously wrote down our order already.

The set that came was not great. Very few pieces of meat came with it, and a small fried drumstick that was there was way overcooked--super dry and had barely any seasoning. The pickles were fine, but overall it was a disappointment, especially since this isn't even what we had ordered. It was expensive too at 3500 yen.

I asked the staff afterwards about the stuff we had ordered outside, but they simply said "oh, you would like to cancel it"?????

Overall the food was not good, and though all the staff were very friendly, the mess regarding the ordering made this a...

On the 7th floor of takashimaya mall there’s a section for restaurants. The picture of the restaurant on google reviews is incorrect so we got confused, it’s actually tucked away in the corner (labelled #3 on the mall map).

We went at 2ish for late lunch there was no wait. The menu was simple, they also provided a card for you to notify staff of any food allergies or other dietary restrictions.

The food was really good - I got the chicken katsu with miso and my bf got oyakodon set with a small duck udon. The heavy dishes were paired nicely with light flavourful soups I would definitely recommend.

ALSO when we left I didn’t realize that I actually dropped something and one of the staff members somehow tracked us down halfway across the mall to return the item!! So sweet and a testament of their great...