Kyo Matcha — Restaurant in Rockville

The slightly bitter Matcha soft service ice cream is perfectly balanced out by the sweet Vanilla swirl, and the crushed Oreo topping is divine! Skip the cone and just get the cup, it'll save you a mess! Plus

While you'll get plenty of ice cream in the cone, the ice cream topples over the cheap lightweight cone and creates a sticky mess! A thick housemade crispy waffle cone would do the trick and be sturdy enough to hold all the ice cream while elevating the flavor with a nice crunch. The cheap store bought chocolate cone tasted like cardboard and did nothing to elevate the flavor, a travesty! The staff member who brought out my ice cream cone foresee a delightful mess and gave me a cup, which came in handy. If you know the cone isn't going to work, why still sell it? Either don't replace it with a sturdy waffle cone or just sell ice cream a in a cup.

The housemade waffle cone at Cafe Matcha Maiko at Tyson's is delicious, but the matcha soft serve is more bitter and prefer Kyoto's. Wish I could get best of both worlds - soft serve at Kyoto's Matcha and waffle cone at Matcha Maiko.

The lack of Covid guidelines for social distancing is dismal and disappointing. There's a large outdated menu plastered on the window front with a new menu in super small font featured inside to draw more people in I guess. To order, you have to enter through a double set of doors in a very narrow corridor. There's no signage on the floor or the walls to indicate the 6 feet apart. It's not enforced by the staff either. The customers behind me were LESS than a FOOT away. I was incredibly uncomfortable and rushed through my order. I had a bit of trouble communicating with the staff member and didn't get a firm response on whether the waffle cone was housemade and naively just went with it.

Overall I enjoyed the Matcha Vanilla swirl with crushed Oreos and well worth the trek from McLean. Kyoto Matcha has a lot of potential and would love to bump it up to 5 stars after it gets a waffle maker and enforces Covid...

November 2022 edit: every time we have come here in the past year, there is very noticeable shrinkflation. The prices are going up and the products get smaller. At this point it feels really skimpy. My partner got the matcha mix soft serve which is half of what it used to be. He also got it with oreo topping - they used to fill the bottom of the cup with crushed oreo but this time there was none on the bottom and iust a sprinkle on the top. I got a hojicha latte float which is $7.50. I requested hojicha ice cream because they advertise it on the signs in the restaurant. However they did not have hojicha ice cream available. There was a tag on the order screen which said two other items were unavailable but didn't say anything about the hojicha ice cream... with the prices now and the amount they give you, it's not worth it to come here anymore. It is just insanely expensive and doesn't give you the satisfaction it used to.

Great soft serve and desserts. I am usually never disappointed when I come here. I was excited to try the dessert sampler as this time I couldn't decide what I wanted to get. It came with 5 items: matcha/milk mix soft serve in a chocolate cone - perfect amount if you are hesitant to get ice cream because it's cold outside but still want it. (Not the soft serve in plastic cup pictured - that is a full order) one dream of sakura - great two mini cream puffs - one vanilla and one matcha - great one mini square of matcha cheesecake - great two macarons. This is my only complaint. The photo on the menu shows two matcha macarons, so that's what I expected - what I got was two pink macarons and I am not sure what flavor they were as they were hard, cold, and just tasted of thick buttercream - maybe strawberry flavor but I don't know because it wasn't very strong.

Everything else was good but the macarons just left a "meh" taste in my mouth and made the dessert sampler not...

Chic Stylish Japanese Dessert Shop !

I took my Japanese friend to visit this shop a week ago. The location is awesome, near metro station, so many restaurants around and there is even an ice skating arena built up in front of the store. So you can burn out some calories if you ever feel guilty after devouring the delicious soft serve Matcha ice cream.

The vibe of the shop is chill, laid - back and cozy. Ideal for couple or friends' hanging-out. Decorated with Japanese cherry blossom and furnished with wooden bench, it could really make you feel like living in Japan.

We had Matcha soft serve ice cream, Matcha latte and Matcha tiramisu.

Starting from Matcha soft serve ice cream, it is light but creamy, you’ll notice vegetal notes, a pleasant, but not astringent bitterness, nuttiness, and a smooth sweetness. While aftertaste give you a bit of hit from the Matcha that will linger in your month for a while. I would say they definitely didn't go too hard on Matcha, which is perfect for me, the sweetness and bitterness is balanced out without one overpowering another.

Matcha latte is made of whole milk, has quite a bit of foam on the top, which could be frothed better. I am a fan of Matcha latte made of oat milk, (or any plant-based milk)since the animal fat will somehow becomes too presented in the drinks where you wish you could appreciate the vegetal notes from the Matcha.

Matcha tiramisu has a cute presentation. Holding them in a traditional bamboo box is an original brilliant idea! This dessert is decent, creamy and made fresh. As a baker myself, it is lacking some texture and a hint of marsala wine. The ladyfingers were buried under a think layer of mascarpone cheese, all the way the bottom, making me have to dig hard to find the Matcha infused sponge cakes.

Overall, the shop is definitely recommend if you are a Matcha Lover or dessert lover or you just want to chill with friends...