Washoku Sato Oishibashi Branch — Restaurant in Kyoto

My friend and I decided to give this family chain restaurant at the Kujo branch. Amazingly, it turned out to be better than expected. The correct rating for this place should be 3.5 or 3.7. Depending on what you order, I think it could score a 4.

This restaurant specialises in affordable beef shabu shabu and sukiyaki. And while they have other items on the menu, I advise you to not waste time, effort and money on anything other than the shabu shabu and sukiyaki and drinks.

My friend ordered a small sukiyaki and I ordered a katsudon set that came with cold soba. While my set was ok or maybe eve slightly better than ok, it couldn't hold a candle to my friend's sukiyaki. The sukiyaki was surprisingly not too sweet, the meat was tasty and the other ingredients were fresh. We also ordered royal milk tea ice cream but you would do well to give it a pass. It was hard and didn't have the richness of milk in it. The milk tea they used either didn't lend itself well to being made into an ice cream and/or it was just too thin.

My advise is, if you are hungry and have a slight budget constraint, you don't have to hesitate - just walk right in for a meal. Just stick to shabu shabu or sukiyaki and...

Staff is always friendly. I don't speak Japanese but as long as you can answer how many are eating you'll be OK. After they seat you they explain where everything is (in Japanese). The menu is in tablet format and you can change it to English. The food is very affordable and always really good. It's a family restaurant and I haven't had an evening where it was 100% quiet but again, a family restaurant and the prompt and friendly service always make up for it. Even during peak hours during Golden Week the staff was friendly and prompt. A waitress helped me put myself in the waiting queue since the place was packed. Didn't wait that...

Okay restaurant for hotpot. I came here at 6:30pm on Saturday and restaurant was pretty full. I got table right away luckily so no waiting. Order food by tablets. They do regular a la cart and all you can eat. The buffet price seems too high. I got single hotpot and pork cutlet. Food took about 10-15 minutes to be ready. Hotpot was good, pork cutlet was pricey compared to the amount of food was served. It was pretty loud in the restaurant as there was a big group of students talking and laughing and walking around...