Kawa Cafe かわカフェ — Restaurant in Kyoto

Service and atmosphere: The French gentleman who hosted us in the front bar was very short with his words and came off as annoyed and rude. He told us it was 500 yen per person to sit on the terrace. We were okay with that and proceeded to head to the terrace to check in and be seated. We were looking forward to enjoying the terrace we saw from below on the river.

The service staff who sat us on the terrace told us it was 200 yen per person. The confusion between the front of house and terrace staff made me think we might have been getting scammed/tourist trapped. But we went in anyway without any questions. We were looking forward to the view. The final charge was 500 yen per person plus our drinks. The staff member was kind and patient with us as we dug for our change and bills to pay.

Like most places in Japan, this place is also CASH ONLY. Please be aware of this. There is NO easily seen signage stating so. There are a lot of resources out there for information on local customs and preferences. You can find them on them on Kyoto’s very own travel website. https://kyoto.travel/en/info/enjoy-respect-kyoto/l0fe8b0000000zwk-img/tripgraphic01.jpg

We got sat right against the rail and the view was decent. There was a lot of construction going on across the river. But if you ignore the construction it looks pretty decent. I’d imagine it would look great without the construction. If you adjust your view southeast, you can ignore the construction cranes and get a cute view of some quiet, lit up streets.

Beware of bugs. There will be a lot when the sun goes down if you sit on the terrace as you should expect. I would wear long sleeve garments for self protection.

Food and Drinks: The white wine was not very good. It was extremely alcohol forward. The chamomile tea was pretty standard. We were looking forward to eating here. But, we opted out of eating dinner here after the very poor first impressions.

Summary: I would not return or recommend this location to my friends due to the owner’s attitude and entitlement.

Edit: The owner replied to this review saying we spat in the river, that we are Chinese tourists, and a whole plethora of other imagined scenarios/descriptions. I don’t know where he got any of that from. I would love to see the CCTV footage of these claims because I can assure you that was not us since we are not Chinese. My wife is a white Canadian/American and I am an Asian American without any Chinese ancestors.

The staff member who sat us was kind. We had no ill words for him and only thanked him for his kindness. Okini!

Sir, if you read this I sincerely hope you seek out therapy to help manage your rage, megalomania, and narcissism. I wish you peace and tranquility for you and your family. The world isn’t out to destroy you and the culture you have adopted. I hope your interpretation of my review was a case of something lost in translation.

If you were to apologize I would be more than happy to return and give your cafe another chance because forgiveness and growth is cool. I’m sure we could learn a lot from each other.

I’m attaching his response to this so it can live forever on...

It is the first time we are writing a bad review for a bar/cafe in Japan. Because so far we have loved absolutely everything here! We are tourists from Italy, but we were there with our Japanese friend. We wanted to get drinks, but eventually we asked for some sandwiches as well. The waiter explained us that they had “menu sets” for food and drinks, so we asked if we could include sake in this set. Our Japanese friend talked to the waiter in Japanese (obviously) and the waiter said that sake was included. First of all, they brought us wrong sandwiches: we asked for two with ham and the other two with salmon, and they brought them all with ham. We said nothing because at the end it was ok for us. Then, they brought the ice cream while one of us was still finishing the sandwich.. and of course it melted. We noticed it again, but we did not want to complain. Then, when they were closing, they did not inform us, instead they just shut down the lights (we were not the only clients left in the cafe) The worst came at the payment: there comes the rudest owner of them all. He says the total, and I personally notice that it was more than expected. So we asked why is the price this high, and he told us about the cover charge, which was fine, but it was still a quite a high price even with that. So he showed us (arrogantly) the receipt with the “menu sets”, the cover charge and the sake that was not included in the set. So we asked why it was not included, and he (very rudely) brought us the menu and started pointing at it and raising his voice while saying that it was written there. We said that it was not fair, because the waiter told us a different thing, and at this point he brought out the worst of him: he said we accused him of being a liar he said we accused him of being a thief he told us to go to the waiter and tell him that he is an idiot (because it wasn’t the owners fault) he accused us to be “gaijin” which is a “bad” word used by Japanese to define foreigners (but he in fact is French) he told that our Japanese friend did not understand Japanese (which is ridiculous) instead of simply admitting that there might have been made a mistake he told that he will put a sign in the entrance saying “no foreigners” (so what he won’t be able to enter his own place?) he was shouting and constantly interrupting us (we were very calmly explaining him why we were upset) he also said he would show us the security camera recordings, but when we agreed he magically could not anymore

He also told us that he had the best reviews but as soon as I entered this page I saw that most of the reviews are actually very bad.

Our review won’t differ a lot from the others, the food was ok, the place is beautiful (and also the cat) but the owner is beyond rude, arrogant, offensive ...

A very comfy cafe right off the Kamogawa River.

Food: the food is quite good. The pizza is some of my favorite pizza I've gotten in Kyoto. I'm not a big fan of the pizza I've gotten in Japan, but this one is very tasty. The owner (who I think is french) might have something to do with that. I've had the sandwich and the pasta before and while both are good, I prefer the pizza. The food comes in sets, and they don't allow sharing, so keep that in mind. Each set is around ¥1600 which isn't a bad price for an entree, a drink, and a desert. The desert rotates, but some of the most common ones are an apple tart and vanilla ice cream, both of which were tasty.

Service: the service is very good. The lady at the front is incredibly sweet and attentive. The place gets a bad rap because of the owner, but he's a nice man. He has a European bluntness that is not common in Japan, nor is it generally liked. I have had several interactions with him, and he has always been nice to me. They also have rules (like buying a set / no sharing / cash only) that are more or less enforced, which is why people get upset. It's really not that big of a deal. Don't let that dissuade you from coming to this very good restaurant.

Atmosphere: the view is amazing and is it's main feature. The cafe looks right out onto the river for a stunning view of Kyoto that is good anytime of the year. The road across the river is bustling, but not too busy. Cyclists and pedestrians casually stroll along the river. Cranes fly by and land in the brush. It truly is a beautiful scene. During the summer (or whenever the weather is nice), the terrace is opened and you can sit outside and enjoy the river. It's one of my favorite cafes in Kyoto for this. There's also two stories, so there's usually always seating available even at it's busiest (although the terrace might fill up during the summer). They also have a cafe cat (Kawa-chan, no doubt the cafe's namesake) that wanders around and is incredibly cute and friendly. The other day he sat down in my bag basket underneath my seat and it was adorable.

Do note that this isn't exactly a typical cafe. You can't just order coffee and work on your laptop or something, so in that way it's more like a restaurant. Keep that in mind.

Final thoughts: this truly is a gem of Kyoto. A wonderful restaurant with a stunning view of the Kama-gawa river. You would be remiss not to give this...