Shabu-Shabu Tajimaya - Kyoto-Yodobashi — Restaurant in Kyoto

OVERVIEW We ate here as a family of four and all loved it. We chose a cheaper all you can eat meat option, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, but there are also premium options available. We also paid an extra 300yen per person for unlimited drinks which included soft drinks and coffee/tea options from a machine. LOCATION This restaurant is near Kyoto train station on an upper level of the Yodobashi Camera centre (not just cameras but everything you can think of to buy). BROTH We had a choice of six different broths (from spicy to mild) and the pot held two. We were happy with both choices which included a seasonal broth of chicken stock with lemon. We did not choose spicy options and found both to be delicious. TIMINGS The sitting for dinner is 90 minutes with last meat orders at 75 minutes but you can then continue to eat from the vegetable buffet and ice cream. It pays to go early. We arrived at 18:15 and were seated immediately but friends who arrived at 18:35 had to wait 5-10 minutes for a table. By the time we were halfway through our meal the queue was as long as the restaurant. FOOD & SERVICE We were given two plates of meat to start: one small pork and one large beef. Our meat option did contain a lot of fat but it melted into the broth and tasted great. More expensive options looked to be less fatty. To order more meat, we pressed a button and someone arrived within less than a minute to take our order. There is a big emphasis on avoiding waste (brilliant!) so we would not request more meat until we finished a plate and this was not problem as the meat either arrived immediately or within five minutes depending on how busy they were. We definitely ate our moneys worth! The broth looked to be half filled when we first received it but the staff topped it up half way through. We ate mostly beef but also tried the pork and dark meat chicken. Both were very good. We also ate a lot of veg and noodles which you could get as you desired. Rice was also available. My 13 year olds favourite part was the all you can eat Hagen daaz ice cream. There were eight flavours and we each had favourites from cookies and cream or chocolate to...

After returning to Kyoto station from a day of visitation, we came by here for our dinner before heading back to Osaka.

It was 6.30pm and the restaurant was already very crowded but we managed to get a table at the end corner of the restaurant.

The restaurant offered all you can eat buffet with a fixed set menu for sukiyaki and shabu shabu, which you can order beef, pork or chicken. So we got beef and pork set menu (they would be served to you by the staff and can be reorder again), and that included the buffet counter which you could help yourself with the various types of veggies and mushrooms, noodles, rice, pickles and condiments. Drinks (hot and cold drinks including juice) and ice creams were inclusive in the buffet spread too.

It would be perfect if they could also offer some fresh cut fruits.

As for the soupbase, you could choose any 2 from the available 6. If not remembered wrongly, we got the pork ribs and yuzhu soup. They were very nice, flavourful and yet not salty.

Overall, the foods were fresh and nice. And as mentioned earlier, you could reorder the beef and pork when you had finished your earlier set and the staff would bring them over to you. Portions were generous.

Staff were generally efficient and friendly in helping to serve food and also in clearing the used plates.

The prices for the beef and pork were around 3000 and 2500 yen respectively. But do take note that there's a time limit for the buffet, up to 120mins and last order was 15mins before the time was "up".

Overall, it was a good and...

Please don’t go. Please. This place is despicable, absolutely despicable. Usually I don’t give reviews, especially long ones like this, but this restaurant is bad on a whole new level. Service was okay, but this is Japan, okay service is the least a restaurant can offer. The restaurant itself is filled with fatty and even a somewhat rotten, odour. The images are good and the raw meat looks nice, but the meat itself cooked (sukiyaki) is just so fat and the essence of the great marbling you can expect to get with wagyu, the perfect equilibrium between fat and lean meat, it’s just gone. Instead you’re left with a piece of meat with marbling in between two chunks of pure fat. The fact that it’s all you can eat, is even worse: meat, especially wagyu or Kobe, should be slowly enjoyed, not forcefully shoved down with a time limit. You can literally feel the fat blocking your veins with every bite. Oh yeah, by the way, the images on the menu and the posters are most probably taken from google, as the meat does not look like them at all. If this way a super cheap place, this could have been tolerated, but at this price, it’s unacceptable, just to call it wagyu, it’s just disgraceful. Also, expect not feeling well after shoving beef fat down your throat :). If you want to eat great wagyu or yakiniku, there are so many better options, try searching online, Japan web magazine is my personal favourite. If you’re willing to spend more, Misono Kyoto is great. Want to spend less? Try...