ITADAKIZEN KYOTO — Restaurant in Kyoto

Unfortunately this was the worst food experience of our entire trip to Kyoto. First off the service was so subpar, it's like they didn't get trained properly and have had no restaurant experience before. For example, the waitress brought the sake but didn't pour it and brought massive sake cups. The service was very sparse and was never available for additional orders. We never got serving plates or shoyu for dipping until we asked, which was frustrating to try to eat without. For the food, several of the dishes were poor to borderline disgusting including the pumpkin soup and the sticky vegetables. Some of the items were good like the sushi, the bibimbop, and the springrolls, but were not exceptional, and were often missing dipping sauces for example. Finally, multiple dishes we ordered were never delivered and we were kicked out before we could even eat all of our food, even though we spent most of our time waiting to order. I will caveat that I think the value was very good. I think with 8 dishes, 3 cups of sake, and 3 other drinks, we only...

Overall 5/5

Food 5/5 Service 5/5 Design/atmosphere 5/5 Cleanliness 5/5 Location 3/5

My stay in this restaurant will be one of my nicest memories. Truly intimate zen experience, with fantastic food.

I came here because of the vegan and plant-based mentions and the restaurant did not disappoint. Sadly, only cash was accepted and I was tight so I ordered only half of what I wanted to try (everything sounded so amazing).

I had the fried rice (the first bite felt like a heavenly homecoming, I was speechless), the fried soy bean paste (the mixture of soy sauce, ginger paste, scallions and delicately chopped topping turned this into a true delicacy!) the olive soy ramen (what a hearty, pleasant and flavourful meal nutritious with raw toppings)

The hostess was amazingly kind and gentle, the music was unique for a restaurant and more akin to a zen temple or meditation Center. I came by myself and I loved the setting as it brought me closer to the restaurant and the food and kept me me from the phone.

Thank you so much, hope to see...

The restaurant does have a sign saying no photos, which we respected so don't have any here.

We have eaten at their London branch on several occasions which we love, so we're excited to try the Tokyo branch.

The interior is beautiful, very different to London. Dark wood, and a single table as "communal" eating.

Service was quite slow - our drinks unfortunately were forgotten about so we had to chase, however they were nice.

The potatoes cooked lightly in a tempura batter were really interesting and not like anything I've had before but very tasty. The tofu was perfectly cooked and seasoned.

The bimbimbap was very fresh but a little bland. Enjoyable but nothing spectacular. The seasonal ramen was very delicate, the mushrooms were beautiful and tasty, but there was just something missing to elevate it to other ramen we've had.

Very enjoyable, probably the most expensive meal we had on our trip but still good value (about £30 for two people including alcoholic drinks which is what you'd pay for one in London!).

Book ahead and it...