Sushi And Tempura Gion Iwai Review Summary

If the food wasn’t exceptional, this would be a 1 star review. There’s a major problem with this restaurant, and it’s definitely not the food. The food here is absolutely incredible. The chefs are amazing, and I got the cheapest set menu and it was the perfect amount of food. Fantastic meal. Thats the only reason this rating is so high.

The problem is the service and the atmosphere. I’ve been in Japan for 2 months and this might be the worst service in Japan. All the servers are young and clearly don’t care about customers, the restaurant, or take any pride in their work. When we walked in, 2 servers made eye contact with us and rushed away. I had to chase down a server to let her know we had a reservation or we would be ignored. They left dirty dishes and finished drinks on the table, and never asked if we wanted another drink. When they served food, they literally threw the food down in front of you and ran off. For the price, this was the worst service I’ve ever seen. The girl who took our coats saw that we were ready to leave and literally ran out the door so she didn’t have to help us. The chef had to grab our jackets for us while he was working and kept apologizing. Fire your service staff and retrain the new crew.

The restaurant itself is terrible. The layout makes zero sense, the materials used for the floors, walls, and counters are cheap and falling apart. I usually don’t care, but you’re charging up to $200 a person with drinks. This place should look like an upscale restaurant, it’s literally fine dining, they even play the pretentious classical music while you dine on Ikea chairs sitting at a linoleum faux wood bar. The decor reminds me of a cheap sushi restaurant in the US. I think if the restaurant was nicer, the servers might take their job more seriously.

Again, this is Michelin quality food with incredibly talented chefs. The quality of ingredients is exceptional. You should definitely eat here. Everything else needs to be fixed or you won’t survive. There’s too many good restaurants in Kyoto to operate this way. The service and atmosphere are a major distraction from how good this food is.

One of the most disappointing dining experiences I’ve ever had anywhere. I was entirely misled by the Tabelog review which was quite flattering.

This establishment exists purely because of its location in the Gion district. The food was a huge letdown due to its use of poor quality ingredients, and equally poorly designed dishes and truely amateurish craftsmanship and service.

Nothing I experienced at this restaurant justified its price and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one tonight. At this price range in Japan you are spoilt for choices and I cannot recommend this restaurant to anybody.

This is the worst restaurant in Japan. Food quality is miserable, products are cheap, dishes are more terrible than you can imagine. We have payed for the most expensive set and were returning dishes almost untouched because they were unbearable. The only good thing this restaurant can do is close and the right thing to do for you is to never ever eat in this restaurant. If you see this review after month or years I am sure - nothing has changed and it is still horrible. Please don’t eat in this restaurant, don’t make our mistake!!!

The only thing worse than wasting money or time, is wasting both at this restaurant. Having eaten at many high end omakase establishments, I’ve never seen a sushi (master?) prepare the nigiri without any care only to have their apprentice clumsily position each piece on the dining plate. Astonishing hygiene from dirty uniforms to cross contamination with surroundings was deeply unpleasant.
If you want to appreciate why a classic omakase experience is so costly, then PLEASE come here. It is truly eye opening & humbling lesson.

The food was good, overpriced but good quality. Staff was very unprofessional, waiter picked up sushi that fell from the board with their hand and placed it back on the plate. One nigiri was missing which we pointed out to them and they never brought it. Then they left us for 30mins without even letting us know that the tasting is over or asking if we would like to have a drink or anything else. Definitely would not recommend it.