Vegan Ramen UZU Kyoto — Restaurant in Kyoto

DO NOT COME HERE ‼️ This was, without question, the most miserable dining experience of my life. This is a cash grab gimmick with low quality food desperately feeding off tourists trying to experience something unique and authentic. YOU WILL FIND NEITHER HERE. This place is genuinely awful. There is a reason they make you pay in advance.

Let’s start with the infamous ramen. This is the worst ramen I have ever had, for such strange reasons. It was the saltiest thing I think I've ever had. It’s an all-out assault on your taste buds. It’s like someone dissolved an industrial salt block into lukewarm broth and called it a recipe. My girlfriend and I barely managed three bites before stopping and asking for water. We weren’t alone—other diners were awkwardly pushing their bowls aside and ordering water as we all collectively dealt with our acute ramen-induced hypertension with confused looks. "Did we all get scammed? How does this place have good ratings?"

How do you screw up ramen this badly? Not a hypothetical question-- I would genuinely love an answer from the restaurant on this. This was an insult to ramen and I would consider the particular soy sauce ramen to be a culinary war crime. Absolutely disgusting cooking with no sense of balance. I've seen other reviews mention bugs in the food and I wouldn't be surprised. There is clearly ZERO quality control or refinement of what is being delivered to customers.

The dessert was a drab powdery soybean paste drowning in overly sweet syrup, paired with ice cream full of dry, unmixed clumps. It was comically bad. I kid you not it is the blandest, literally GRAY bean paste sitting in a bath of liquid sugar. Again, we are looking balance, and this missed the mark. This restaurant strongly represents contrast. Maybe you've had a great time in Tokyo or Kyoto and eaten some amazing meals. Now, you get to explore the other side of the coin and feel absolutely miserable while you ingest salt like one of those mountain-side goats.

The ambiance didn’t help either. The restaurant was unbearably hot - at least 80 F - which might be tolerable for five minutes in winter, but quickly turns into a sweaty, miserable sauna. And to top it off, there was a group of loud tourists yell-talking like they were at a frat party. On that note, I only saw other non-Japanese tourists there. It's clearly avoided by locals and understood for what it truly is.

Over $100 for two bowls of salt sludge, a sad dessert, and two mediocre drinks. After this culinary disaster, my girlfriend and I had to stop at 7-Eleven for food just to survive the night. Imagine paying $50 for dinner and ending up eating convenience store rice balls. Michelin starred... and exceptionally disappointing.

Do yourself a favor: skip Vegan Ramen Kyoto. Skip it twice. Burn the map it’s on. There are better vegan options, better ramen options, and better experiences to be had in Kyoto. Even McDonald’s would be a step up. This place is an insult to Kyoto, to ramen, and to the concept of eating. Save your money, your sanity, and...

Disappointing Experience — Poorly Communicated, Poorly Handled, and Lacking Basic Courtesy

We booked Vegan Ramen UZU Kyoto months in advance to celebrate our daughter’s first birthday. In our reservation, we clearly mentioned that we’d be bringing a baby and even requested a high chair. We were genuinely excited about the immersive dining experience and made a special effort to fit it into our Kyoto itinerary, hoping to make the occasion memorable.

Instead, we were turned away at the door the moment they saw we had a baby. Only then were we told about their policy prohibiting children under 6—a detail we may have missed in the fine print. That said, we had explicitly included this information in our reservation notes. If someone had simply read and responded to our message, this situation could have been avoided entirely. It’s unclear why the restaurant even provides a notes field if it doesn’t serve a purpose.

We politely asked if the reservation could be canceled given the misunderstanding, but were told we’d still be charged in full—adding insult to injury. When we asked to speak with a manager, the staff bluntly responded, “We are all managers here, and I can tell you that we can’t do anything.” We were then asked to step outside and left standing on the street, trying to resolve the situation with no empathy or accountability.

For a restaurant that caters to people with dietary restrictions, the minimum expectation is that they pay attention to whether they can accommodate guest needs. Travelers with food constraints already have limited choices, and the lack of care shown here was especially disappointing.

We ended up scrambling to find vegetarian food in the nearby Nishiki Market—hardly the birthday lunch we had envisioned for our daughter.

We acknowledge that we may have missed the fine print. But mistakes happen. What truly matters is how a business handles them. In this case, we were met with coldness, rigidity, and a complete lack of hospitality. It felt like the restaurant was coasting on its brand reputation, not actually invested in creating positive experiences for its guests.

In the end, we were charged 15,400 yen for a lunch we never had, and left feeling dismissed and unwelcome. If you’re looking for warmth, flexibility, or even just a place that reads your reservation notes, this is not it. Kyoto has many other restaurants that treat guests with care and consideration—choose one of...

I took my friend here recently because she just moved to Kyoto and she is vegetarian for religious reasons.

My other friend had said this place was nice, and I like vegan food even though I’m not completely vegetarian.

When we got there it was full and we told the waitress we were willing to wait. It was only 10 minutes so no big deal. She was actually very nice.

When we were welcomed in another woman said to me, “first time here?”. I said “yes,” and she handed me a paper that was ordering me to buy a certain amount of food or leave. First, why did she give that to me? My friend was speaking Japanese to her and she could have just politely communicated it to my friend who would have told me, if that was their policy. I thought it was really awkward to welcome us in and then stop me in that way. I kind of felt singled out.

I don’t know what impression I may have given her to make her feel like perhaps I couldn’t afford to buy their food. If I couldn’t I wouldn’t have gone to the restaurant 😂

Secondly, we ordered food with the same woman and I spoke in Japanese to her at that point. I have been living here for a number of years so I’m not terrible at the language and can do a few things. She seemed annoyed with that and kept deferring to my friend about what I was saying. I asked my friend if I had done something wrong or had bad pronunciation. She assured me I wasn’t unclear. I’m always trying to learn and improve.

We ordered food and told her we would probably order more food after we ate our ramen. When it came time, she said “last order finished”.

I worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years and I’ve traveled all over the world. This is the first time “last order” came and left me without any actual announcement from a waitress, both in Japan and everywhere else.

The restaurant was not closing still for over another hour.

Our bill was also pretty expensive. We ordered a bottle of wine. I would think that “up-selling” would be a priority.

My friend also stated she felt uncomfortable as well with how I was being treated so we agreed that even though the food was yummy, it’s not worth the price for the bad service.

I don’t go out much and I work from home because of the pandemic so this experience made me pretty disappointed.

Team Lab art as always...