Sir Thomas Lipton - Sanjo Main Shop — Restaurant in Kyoto

Seeing the below 4.0 average rating we almost passed on it, but the cakes in the window looked so delicious that we decided to risk it. And I'm glad we did. The food was delicious, the cakes were served after we were done with the main course and were extremely good. The tea was a bit on the bland side for my taste and may have been a bit expensive. But the service was great and the food was tasty.

After the fact I read a bunch of the reviews about the place - just to understand how come the rating is not close to 5. And it turns out the major complaint people have is the fact that they are forced to order a drink with any cake, and the drink is relatively expensive. Well - that is true, but it doesn't justify the 1-star ratings these people give to the place. Consider it a "tip", which you would have paid in the US or Europe and enjoy the food, the cake, and the experience. You're on vacation, enjoy it, don't count...

The only thing I enjoy from this place is it's strawberry shortcake. Although it's a bit pricey but it tastes okay and my daughters devoured it. What I hate the most is we're forced to order one drink for one cake. At first I ordered two cakes then the waiter told me I have to order drink. I order juice then she told me again that I have to order 2 drinks because I ordered two cakes. I can't hide my loud disappointment when I heard this. The drinks are very expensive in my opinion, it's just ridiculous so I ended up with just 1 cake and 1 drink. The milk tea wasn't tasty so more disappointment there. The waiter that took my order is the senior one and she wasn't nice either. Instead of giving my cake directly on to my table, she gave it to another young waiter who stood next to my table. I couldn't help but thinking that she avoided me after I cancel half of my order. Won't go back...

We came here to fulfill our after dinner sweet tooth desire and ordered the yuzu and the strawberry with pistachio cakes. If you order a pastry here you have to order a drink as well as to their service policy. We both ordered a standard tea to go along with that.

The tea was normal, the cakes were of decent standard but nothing out of the ordinary nor special. The service however is amazing, real fine-dining with beautiful attention to detail. We were some of the last guests to leave and the way they were cleaning things thoroughly, wiping everything down and polishing was quite nice to see. I haven't encountered many places who serve the same fine-dining standard I used to manage, with a real good ambience between the staff. For this reason they deserve the 4 stars. Yet, if I was only reviewing their products I would have given them a 3, since it's...