Tarokichi — Restaurant in Kyoto

I had food at this place 2 nights in a row. Both nights the service and food for me was very good however I am writing this review because of the treatment that potential customers received while I was there. I also personally experienced the same treatment when I attempted to eat there on a 3rd night in a row.

On nights 1&2 I noticed the staff refuse man customers using one of the 2 following statements:

The restaurant was full (when it was half empty) That reservations were needed.

Both statements are in-fact a blatant lie.

For some reason I don’t fully understand and don’t want to believe is an issue with westerners/tourists this happened frequently over the first 2 nights during my time there. Groups of 2 or even up as high as groups of 6 came to the half empty restaurant and were refused with the same excuses. On one occasion there were 3 people in the restaurant including me and a group of 6 was refused and told the restaurant was “full”. I personally experienced this on my 3rd and final night when I went back to eat there and was told reservations only/it was full. When clearly it wasn’t.

I don’t understand their “picking and choosing” but it’s a culture I’ve witnessed in many restaurants in Kyoto and I don’t think it’s respectful to the customers. My money was clearly good enough for them the first 2 nights but by night 3 they weren’t willing to treat me with respect.

I regret giving them a penny and will recommend others don’t encourage such...

They forgot our order!!!!! We arrived around 20:45, they told us to wait 10 minutes. We did so, got in, ordered food and drinks, got the drinks and started waiting... then a new group came, ordered, and got the food before us. At that moment we had been waiting for one hour so I asked what was going on. First they said they needed more time. Then I said about the other group and the girl that took our order came and said she forgot it!!!!!! They apologised but you could see they couldnt care less. The restaurant wasnt even packed, they were just not paying any attention to us. We paid for the drinks (as I didnt want to get in a discussion about it, although they did not deserved to get paid 1100 yens for a beer and a glass of wine when forgetting about our order) and left. If I had seen they were really sorry and had offered a small dish immediately as an apology I d be ok with it because everyone can make mistakes, but their attitude was terrible. First time I see this in Japan, I always took them for very...

Best Yakitori in Gion 2018. Each night, our humble neighbour only do 1 thing, chicken yakitori and they humbly "yaki-tori" it as one of the best in Kyoto, was told second to none, since no one else could do that "one thing" to perfection like they did.

Recommended to try Yakitori Set, Grilled Rice Ball and really goes well with Yebisu Beer. You wouldn't go wrong with the perfect match and yakitori pairing as the locals say.

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Okanjo onegai shimasu. As we leave, we tell the manager we really enjoy the dinner and will be back for the yaki-riceball tomorrow. Manager said, off-on-Sunday and looking forward to see us again on...