Ramen Sen-no-Kaze Kyoto — Restaurant in Kyoto

This place refuses to allow patrons with children under the age of 7. Good for maintaining a cozy atmosphere but not suitable for families.

The reason stated is that the closed space makes it difficult to provide high chairs and that smaller children increase the risk of burning themselves whilst sitting in an adult sized chair. However, is it normal to serve ramen at a temperature that will burn?

I looked inside the space, there is a table there and we were not given the option to wait for it.

To be fair, my family and I were told by a person working there we would not be served and directed us to the sign on the front door that we should have seen, but I was honestly not expecting a rule like that to exist in the first place. We have been to 1-3 Michelin star restaurants and have not encountered this rule.

It is the proprietor’s right to decide how they want to provide their service and manage their space. However, after being in Japan for 3+ weeks, this is the first time I’ve seen such a rule and belies Kyoto’s reputation as being a tourist friendly city.

There are many other ramen restaurants in close proximity to choose from.

Overtourism is certainly becoming an issue in Japan and I think it is fair that Japanese people and business’ find their own way to manage this.

Whilst I also find ignorant tourists extremely annoying and actively tell them to get themselves in order, it is unfortunate that the few ruin it...

One of the most famous ramen for devotees and obsessives in Kyoto, the waiting line at night is ridiculous but the faithful hang in there until closing! The line, unfortunately for some, will be the thing most remembered. I wrote my name down at 7 and was only in at 10pm, luckily I had just eaten and it was second dinner. Others who arrived at the same time also waited the entire time, though some also went and came back as if they knew it would be another hour. Hot tip: If it's cold then be sure to rug up, a nearby vending machine with hot tea is a really good way to combat the cold as well. The list tells you to come back by 10pm so it's not unusual to wander and return later. Ok, if the line isn't going to put you off (really, if I knew I would've browsed somewhere and come back)- then next - the ramen. Noodles, great chew. Soup broth, never have I had such a deeply flavoured yet lighter cloudy tonkotsu, simply amazing. It becomes obvious why today's line was probably slower than usual, only two people looked after everything. One cooked and the other took care of seating and payment and taking orders and helping bus things around while dealing with part of kitchen duties too. Both were cool cat ladies who vibe with the jazz playing over the speakers. Calm and collected kitchen, just a nice change of pace. I recommend it, just be sure to find something to do while waiting for your number...

The ramen is indeed quite good, but the very long waiting time for a seat and not that friendly staff made it a not so great experience for me. When you arrive, you're faced with a machine for selecting your seats (how many people and whether you want to be together). Maybe we were very unlucky, but we had 8 groups of 1/2 people in front of us, and the estimated waiting time was 45 minutes, but actually turned out to be a very long 2.5 hours wait...! I went with some friends, and we tried a few different ramens for comparison. They're all very good, but not quite great. We all chose the option with gyozas, which turned out to be one of the best things here! The other absolutely delicious thing is the pork meat - I absolutely recommend ordering the extra slices, as this meat is tasty, perfectly seasoned and really tender. Other then that, the ramen comes with too much vegetables, the optional soy marinated hard boiled eggs are only reasonable, and the ramen broth feels like something is missing to make it great. The base price (¥900 to ¥1,000) is not that high, but the set menus and extras start adding up, making the meal not so cheap as it seemed. Overall, nice place, good food and I do recommend it, but don't rely on the estimated...