Kyoto Garden Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Gardens

Visited in January 2025. South Africa. Cape Town.

As ardent devotees of Japanese cuisine, we were, quite naturally, excited to discover this establishment. The menu featured several of our favourite ingredients, and coupled with the claim of a Japanese chef, we felt compelled to explore this culinary venture (though some negative reviews did give us pause). The restaurant itself is modestly sized, light-filled, and employs a design emphasizing natural wood elements, and notably, an open kitchen offering a clear view of the chef at work.

The Food:

The menu, while not extensive, offered a familiar repertoire of Japanese staples, including appetizers, rolls, nigiri, soups, and noodles. We decided to begin with fresh oysters and a selection of sashimi – dishes that, in our experience, often provide a reliable indication of both product quality and a chef's technical prowess. The oysters were pleasing, plump, and served simply with a wedge of lemon. Next, our nigiri arrived, featuring scallops, sea urchin roe (a personal delicacy), and yellowtail. The scallop was indeed fresh and exhibited a pleasant texture, though it lacked the distinct sweetness characteristic of deep-sea Japanese scallops. The yellowtail, disappointingly, proved rather flavorless, and the slice was far too thin, almost entirely obscured by the rice. The sea urchin roe, sadly, was of a noticeably inferior quality, and given the prices charged, this was unacceptable. The roe was excessively orange in color, lacking the sweet and creamy character typically associated with fine Japanese sea urchin roe (they source theirs from Portugal). For those with a genuine appreciation for this delicacy, this was an extremely disappointing experience. However, the most grievous failing of this restaurant was the quality of the rice itself. It was excessively sticky, bland, and tasteless – its quantity in the nigiri completely overwhelming the flavor of the other ingredients. This was truly puzzling, given that the chef is purportedly Japanese; having experienced authentic Japanese cuisine first-hand in Japan, this was frankly unacceptable.

Service:

The service was generally satisfactory. Our waitress was well-informed about the menu options and offered some helpful recommendations. In general, the service was prompt, and we found it to be quite comfortable.

Conclusion:

This restaurant is ultimately a disappointing imitation of genuine Japanese cuisine. The prices are quite excessive for the quality offered. While sourcing fresh ingredients directly from Japan may indeed present some logistical difficulties, the inability to prepare authentic Japanese rice is, frankly, inexcusable. I cannot help but suspect that the claim of a Japanese chef is merely a superficial marketing ploy. I would not, therefore, recommend this...

Booked dinner reservations for 2 for 19 July 2025 at 6pm. On the outside the restaurant looked closed but the lighting inside was dim. Only one waiter serving everyone. We made mention that we had a reservation for 6pm and were given the option of 2 tables to choose from. The waiter didn't check whether we had a reservation, it felt completely unorganised. To our surprise there was only one table with 3 people in this restaurant.

We ordered drinks and were shocked as to the glassware used. I ordered a glass of red wine which wasn't served in a red wine glass but rather a whiskey tumbler. The bonsai was served in a champagne flute and you could only taste the brut classique - no taste of the plum wine. The waiter did offer to add more plum wine, but we declined. Note that the waiter was also the barman. I did however the enjoy the red wine. I had the Kyoto Cosmo later on (which the waiter had requested to add something he forgot). The drink was disappointing as I couldn't taste anything in the drink. Not the raspberry or the alcohol. The waiter referred us to the Ginger Mizuwari which was a nice drink.

The waiter brought over some complimentary edamame beans while we waited for our starters.

The vibe inside felt tranquil. The decor looked nice. However we could hear the laughter and noise from the next door restaurant (might have been due to us having a window seat).

We ordered cerviche and prawn dumplings for starters. Note that they didn't have squid, abalone or clams/scallops available. I enjoyed the prawn dumplings. For the price of the cerviche, you wouldn't expect just three pieces of fish with lemon juice.

There was a wait on the mains. We ordered ramen noodles with wagyu and curry chicken. The mains were bland. We waited over 10 minutes for the bill and I even walked up to the bar section requesting to pay. The table with the 3 individuals actually had the manager at their table as their order was messed up.

When the waiter finally came with the bill he remembered that he needed to deduct the R400 reservation fee and also he had to check the system.

Safe to say, this was a one and done trip. Not sure whether they well known for their other dishes, but the service and dishes we received was not up to the standard that their website promoted. The menu is overpriced for the delivery received. The waiter was nice and apologized and checked up on us. We didn't want to complain as we set ourselves up...

Extremely disappointed . At these kind of prices one would expect value for money. This was meant to be our 30 year marriage celebration. Nothing to celebrate food wise. For starters my wife had the Ecstacy. Ecstaticallly poor , raw uncleaned prawn , chewy octopus and way overcooked more like steamed scallops . Not a sear or grill mark in sight. I had The Sea. If youre going to serve expensive seafood like scallops and prawns in a fish broth at least respect the ingredients. But lets move on. For main we both thought the Alaskan Night sounded interesting. Alas it was damn disappointing. 5 slivers of seared salmon; 2 bland tough scallops and a minute piece if Alaskan king crab in the shell , 2green beans 2 aspraragus sprigs and a lemon wedge. Thats it We ordered a bowl of rice with mushrooms and salmon caviar @R95 to fill the void. Dessert of sesame ice cream was on the house because of it being our anniversary. Vanilla ice cream mini balls covered in sesame seeds does not a desert make Thanks but that too failed to make this e6xperience a memorable one. So my 2 stars i award to the barman, mixed a darn good cocktail. Far too pretentious...