Marukyu Koyamaen - Nishinotoin / Sabo Moto-an — Restaurant in Kyoto

Came to this branch after coming from the Kyoto Takashimaya store. I had bought one can from Takashiyama for myself and came here to get another as a gift for my friend (there is currently a one can per person limit at each store). Unfortunately it was one of the worst customer service experiences I’ve ever had in any country.

The worker serving me came across as passive aggressive and rude. She kept trying to get me to buy matcha suited for lattes after I had said I make matcha with milk sometimes. She then spotted my bag from the Takashiyama store and asked what I bought there (which is a bit intrusive?). I said it was a can of the Wako matcha and she then replied that it’s too weak for matcha lattes. She then said in a rude tone, “You already bought one why do you even need another one?” I said this was a gift for a friend back home and she harshly replied that the matcha can’t be kept for too long, needs to be refrigerated etc. (which I already knew).

She then had the audacity to ask, “Does your friend even know how to make matcha?? Without the whisk and bowl she cannot make it” and I kept repeating my friend has all the utensils needed to make matcha. In fact, my friend drinks matcha daily so she definitely knows what she’s doing. She also kept asking what I make my matcha with and I kept repeating water, but for some reason she was still stuck on the fact I use milk sometimes and kept speaking over me saying I need matcha suited for lattes.

It honestly felt like she was trying to prevent me from buying any matcha. She didn’t even explain the different types of matcha and just kept trying to get me to buy other things instead. I know there’s a matcha shortage currently but this isn’t how you should treat your customers. I felt very uncomfortable to the point I almost didn’t want to buy it at all. I quickly got my partner to pay so we could leave the store.

If you read the other reviews, it’s not hard to guess who this review is about and I’m shocked to see other people had the same experience as me. If you’ve made it this far into the review, go to the Takashiyama store - the staff there are lovely and are happy to answer any questions you have. It’s a shame because we travelled quite a distance to come to this store but the service was abysmal. If it weren’t for me buying one can for my friend, I...

To be honest, we were a bit afraid to visit the store as foreigners after reading all the reviews here, but being huge fans of the Marukyu Koyamaen matcha teas and having only experienced good things in their other branches, we decided to go anyway.

I am not sure what happened with the other guests, but we regret being worried about nothing. We were kindly greeted when we arrived around 11am and were handed a sheet with the available tees. As we knew that social media took a hit on stock of many products, we asked for a recommendation and bought a 40g can of the recommended product. We then kindly asked for a seat in the attached cafe, which has around 10 seats, so its a small cafe. After a short waiting time which got prolonged because of some "influencers" having to take 200 photos of a tea and a biscuit, we were kindly seated with a menu card and some words of explanation from the extraordinary friendly staff. We ordered a biscuit role and the Baumkuchen which all were ABSOLUTELY amazing - a piece of food art, not as sweet as many other confectionery we tried in Japan, and with a perfect taste of matcha. We ate it together with a matcha and a herbal tea, which were delicious as well. The staff explained every item in detail and took their time to kindly answer some additional questions we had.

After having experienced tourists at the other location some days before, who were running and pushing locals away trying to get in line faster to get tea they never even tasted because social media told them to, I can only suggest that the error might not only be with the staff but also with the visitors. If you, like us, are a fan of matcha tea and sweets and open to recommendations which go further than what Tiktok and Instagram tells you, pay them a visit a bit after the opening time to avoid the Smombies and you'll be...

I was really scared of coming since I read a lot of bad reviews about the older staff attitude towards foreigners and etc, however when I was there the service was nice actually. We came as a couple, Asian and Caucasian, spoke well Japanese. We did not receive any discrimination at all. So we went there on a rainy Saturday around 12:30, the cafe was quite empty (I think there was no one when we went), and in the shop there were a few cans of matcha available to purchase. I purchased a can of Aoarashi matcha and a stainless steel strainer. So when you go to the shop, you can say what you want first, then go spend some time in the cafe, and then pay cafe and shopping altogether. I highly recommend you to say what you want before you sit in the cafe so they can keep the stock for you because when I left the place at around 1 or so, almost everything was gone except Aoarashi matcha. I also wanted to buy a can sieve but the small one was not available and only the 100g big sieve was available. The older lady staff explained that if you want to use it at home, a normal strainer with handle is better (as shown in picture, fyi this is not a Japanese product, made in China written on the back of the product, the staff also clearly explained this) since you can wash them. The can strainer is not made of stainless steel, so if you wash it, it can be rusty over time (very high maintenance). Plus if you only use it to drink at home, the big can sieve is unnecessary as it is used for big parties if you want to serve 20-30 people at once. Overall, it was a great experience in this cafe, the seats were relaxing. Oh and the roll cake was so good too! Downside is, it's far from JR Kyoto or Hankyu Kawaramachi station so you need to take the subway...