Tempura Endo Yasaka (North) — Restaurant in Kyoto

Amazing all around fine dining tempura experience. Top notch food, service, and atmosphere.

Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5 Cost to worth it rating: 5 ($49 for full set lunch including 11 pieces of tempura) Return worthiness: yes!!!!!

Highlights: Atmosphere: so cool from the ladies greeting you in kimonos to taking off your shoes to the private room with the tatami mat with the hole for you dangling feet to the cover to the garden view to the round cover so the oil doesn't splatter on you, it is a divine Japanese experience. Note there are several seating options from a standard counter to traditional tables. Food: every piece was fantastic! From veggies to shrimp toast to anago eel to seasonal vegetables--ours were carrots and a relative of broccoli, all were excellent bites. Batter was light and not greasy. Served one at a time for ultimate freshness. Accompaniments: comes with tempura sauce and daikon, green tea powder, and salt. The chef tells you which to use for which piece. Set menu: smallest cones with soup, salad, 11 tempura pieces, tendon rice bowl, and dessert. You can order extra pieces at the end if you'd like: either more of favorites or others you didn't get charged reasonably per piece. Drinks: had beer, wine, and sake and to my delight glasses of Bollinger champagne. Talk about a heavenly combination paired with tempura! Dessert: a refreshing grapefruit icey granita was a nice end to a fried meal. Staff: so accommodating and nice. I was concerned since it's a fancier place it may be uppity but it was not. After we got seated the lady immediately offered to take a pic--including a selfie with her and then the chef! Ability to reserve online: nice to have that option

Lowlights: When you make a reservation, it's not instant. You have to wait to hear back before it's confirmed. It's also pre-paid but can be canceled if you're late. Confusing as to which location and when you get there 2 across the street from each other.

Spectacular and would highly recommend for tempura fans looking for a...

★★☆☆☆ (for reception and hospitality)

I booked through TableCheck and received a confirmed reservation, which I even screenshotted. Upon arrival, the first thing the employee said when opening the door was, “Do you have a reservation?” — no greeting, no welcome. When we said yes, she shut the door and told us to wait, leaving us outside in the heat with a child.

After 10 minutes, she returned saying she couldn’t find our booking. I showed her the confirmation, and again she shut the door, leaving us in the heat. Another 15 minutes later, she came back with another employee, saying we hadn’t “completed” the reservation and needed to prepay and select the course. We agreed and asked if we could do four courses instead of five since our child wouldn’t be eating much. Once again, the door was shut, and we were left outside before being told no — because we were five people, we had to order five courses. We accepted, but were still kept outside in the hot and humid weather for a total of about 20–30 minutes before being let in.

Once inside, the food itself was excellent and the staff serving us were pleasant. However, when it came time to pay, I noticed the Japanese couple next to us paid at the end (not in advance), and they were given a gift on departure. We were not offered any gift, and there was no formal farewell — we simply left on our own.

The food deserves a much higher rating, but this review is based on the reception and hospitality we received, which unfortunately fell far below expectations. On our first day in Kyoto, it left us feeling unwelcome. Where I come from, guests are treated with even more warmth and respect than locals, as we show our best hospitality. I hope the restaurant addresses this issue, because it would be a shame for such good food to be overshadowed by poor treatment...

Probably the best tempura I've ever had.

We came for lunch as the lunch set meals were a much more affordable price compared to dinner.

The service here is outstanding, once you enter the beautiful Japanese-house style interior you are greeted by serving ladies and taken to your table.

Once here, you will be greeted with your chef who will cook the tempura right in front of you and explain the best way to taste each piece (salt, dipping sauce, as is, etc.). The serving ladies will come and offer drinks and clean away the dishes for the whole service.

Aside from the top class service, the food quality and ingredients used are much fancier than you would get at your more affordable location and as such are definitely some of the best tempura pieces you will ever have.

Having said this, you're paying somewhere around 7,700 - 11,000 Yen for the experience which is roughly 7-10 times more than you would be paying for some cheap tempura instead (cheap doesn't mean bad in Japan either - it's usually very good even at this price). So while it is better, it's not necessarily 7-10 times better than a cheaper location. You'd want to therefore factor this in when considering whether or not to try the experience. Be warned that you need to pay extra even just for water, so if you're coming here then you'll need to be prepared to spend.

Still, it's worth splurging out if you're on vacation and trying this at least once as the experience overall is fantastic and it's some of the best tempura you will ever have. You can make reservations online to make it easy - we did it through the...