Kyoto Gyukatsu Motomura Sanjo Kawaramachi Branch — Restaurant in Kyoto

Amazing Gyukatsu with a View – Worth the hype!!! by the Kamo River! 🐮🔥🌉

We came to Gyukatsu Motomura Sanjo Kawaramachi Branch on a Friday evening (June) around 6:45pm without a reservation — and were pleasantly surprised they accepted us 🙌 even though the restaurant usually requires reservations (📱+ ¥500 fee with credit card, with a different menu, just difference in side dishes).

The place was almost empty when we arrived, so we were lucky 🍀 to be seated at one of the few river-facing seats with a beautiful view of the Kamo River 🌊✨ Only 5 pairs of seats have this view — try to come early or reserve if you want it!

We ordered the 2-cutlet set (260g) 🥩 — super worth it 💯! You get your own personal grill 🔥 to sear the gyukatsu to your liking, and the set comes with rice 🍚 (one free refill — S/M/L), miso soup 🍲, cabbage 🥬, and tororo (grated yam) 😋. Two dipping sauces — shoyu and wasabi — both were delicious 😍.

But the real ⭐️ of the night? The service. Every staff member served with a genuine smile 😊, explained how to enjoy the meal, and made us feel so welcome 🙏. Truly Japanese hospitality at its finest.

Extra shoutout to the drinks 🥤 — our Pepsi was ice-cold and extra fizzy, served in chilled cups ❄️. Such a small touch, but really refreshing!

The restaurant was cool, clean 🧼, didn’t smell greasy at all, and played relaxing music 🎶 to complete the dining experience. Everything felt thoughtfully designed.

Highly recommend if you’re looking for good food, a great view, and warm service. Will definitely...

I do hope I'm writing the review at the correct location, but this branch was near the Sanjo-Ohashi Bridge.

Simply the best in service I've experienced in Japan this time. All, and I really meant ALL the staff who served us on 12th April were simply amazing; courteous and friendly that my peers felt so welcomed to their first experience of Gyukatsu Motomura.

The staff were so kind to go through each of the steps of how to dine - hopefully I heard correctly (14s, 7s each side for the rare parts of the beef cutlet on the small grill) and the sides/sauces you may use to enjoy the meal to its fullest. And mind you, this was in fluent English which is usually not the case in the other restaurants we've visited.

Staff who pass by would also constantly check in if you have enough tea/water to drink, if you would need a refill on your barley x rice - yes, they have a one time refill for each of their sets.

I've had this before in Tokyo back in 2017 and it was as good as I remembered, if not better.

Sending appreciation and thanks through this review, we really enjoyed our visit here in Kyoto and Gyukatsu Motomura made it definitely a whole lot more awesome. ✨ Confident that this branch...

Highly tiktok-able restaurants in Kyoto. There are many branches all over Japan. Did not want to wait for 1-2 hours in Fukuoka branch and came to this Kyoto branch. The waitress was friendly when we first sat down, explaining the menu. When the food came she was also eager to explain how we can enjoy the food. There is only one type of main, the other 2 on the next page are just option with drink. Their cold tea is good enough for a hot weather. Although suggested time to cook the beef is 1 min, I decide to try them with different timing per side with the meat side on the hot stone. 15 sec - blue, not too hot on the inside but soft 20 sec - medium rare, warm on the inside, still soft. 25 sec - medium well, hot on the inside soft but turning 'hard' 30 sec - too cooked for me. My favorite sauce is the yam, followed by soy. Wasabi is not bad too. The cabbage should have sauce too. It will taste better. Don't stop cooking for too long because the stome will turn char and black burnt beef will stick to your beef. Overall, it is a good meal. Highly recommended. See my picture for...