Hello Dolly — Restaurant in Kyoto

We went to Hello Dolly on a Sunday night. It was unsurprisingly quiet.

The bar's atmosphere was fine, it's meant to look like an old jazz club and it does this quite well. Unfortunately there was no live band when we went on Sunday night, but would assume it's even better with a band.

The bar was being tended by two young looking chaps, who did not seem to be very experienced. Again perhaps these two were relegated to the slow shift.

For drinks we ordered a whisky on the rocks and a bloody Mary. The whisky was fine but the bloody Mary was terrible. It consisted of a shot of vodka and plain del Monte tomato juice - that's it. No spices, no pepper, no salt - just the acrid heavy taste of plain low quality tomato juice and vodka.

Would not recommend the bloody Mary. Might be a good place for jazz lovers on nights...

Have you ever been to a place where none of the employees want to work? Well look no further! We were sitting at a half empty bar and they kept sending people away saying that they were full or had reservations which were both lies. Some reviews say that they are racist but I doubt that, they are just extremely lazy. We were there for an hour and during that time they found a way to make 3 mistakes! One, not informing us that some beers are out of stock (ASAHI out of all beers which seemed extremely strange). Secondly they came back to tell us that neither our second drink is available for order. Finally we went to pay and the bill was wrong. Even at the end they definitely overcharged us but I just could not bother to tell them again. You could see it from the “head barman’s” face that they could...

Hello Dolly is one of the best places I've visited in Japan. The interior is old fashioned in a truly elegant way and the atmosphere is intimate and sophisticated. The host offers a wide range of the most refined jazz records and the staff is very attentive and professional.

There is a high variety of cocktails and spirits from all over the world. There is an admission fee (which is clearly stated by the staff before entering) but the experience is well worth the price, considering that drinks are fairly priced.

I reccommend you to visit Hello Dolly if you're looking for spending a nice evening in an elegant bar with great Jazz and...