Kyoto Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Basalt

the place looked nice, but the employees were quite odd. there was one very nice lady, but the rest of the folks were either rude or just very disrespectful. to begin, i ordered the chicken katsu and i made it CLEAR to the server so she wouldn’t bring out the wrong thing. she “understood” and then proceeded to have someone (the nice lady) bring out something that i didn’t ask for. i politely said that it was the wrong thing and then the lady who took my order came to me and tried to argue with me that the other order was what i asked for. i said “no, i got the chicken katsu” in the nicest way i could. she then rolled her eyes in front of me and went back to her counter and just sat there angrily the entire time my family and i were there (it made us very uncomfortable). at the end a man brought out our check and it was for the wrong table. he then proceeded to give us the correct check and they said they were going to charge us 3% for using a credit card. that was whatever, but we decided not to tip because of the extremely poor service that was provided to us. the man then asked us to tip him after seeing that we didn’t. we pretty much got forced to tip for a poor service. overall just a bad experience with the staff, but the food...

First off, loved everything I ate. I typically go for a few nigiri and then add a simple sushi roll. I love feeling light after eating a full meal and nigiri and (plain) sushi rolls are the best for this. Everything tasted fresh, was well presented, and I was truly a very very happy camper.

One additional comment though, when I asked to start off first with the miso soup and tuna roll, my server responded “That’s it?” as if she didn’t hear me say “to start” and therefor wasn’t enough food ordered for her liking. I reiterated “to start” and she said “Oh, okay” but like, even if that’s all I wanted, just put it in without a snarky comment phrased as a question? Rubbed me the wrong way but everyone else though, the sushi chefs (super warm and smiley), food runner, and an another server or possibly a manager were all very amiable and checked on me throughout which was very kind of them.

I occasionally visit Aspen for work and stay at the Element so knowing I have somewhere to eat delicious sushi that’s merely a stroll away definitely gives me something to look forward to...

ALLERGIES!!!! I went here for dinner with two friends. We very clearly stated that my friend has a LIFE-THREATENING allergy to sesame. We asked if there was anything on the menu that did not contain sesame seeds or oil. Not even cross-contamination. They ASSURED us that the spicy tuna roll didn't. It came, and low and behold, it was COVERED in sesame seeds! We sent it back and reiterated the problem. They brought it back without seaweed but still with sesame seeds! We said AGAIN he had a LIFE-THREATENING ALLERGY TO SESAME. We once again asked if ther was ANYTHING on the menu AT ALL he could eat. They then reassured us MULTIPLE TIMES that the avocado roll had absoulutely NO SESAME. He ate the roll and then, guess what? He started experiencing an ALLERGIC REACTION!!! The staff could have KILLED HIM if I didn't live so close and administer anti-allergy meds! We had to put him in recovery/rescue position and worried we would have to call an ambulance! The staff need to understand the REAL DANGER of allergies! NEVER...