Izuu

I visit this place every time I visit Kyoto- so about 4 times now. Their mackerel sushi is the best I ever had. I had a summer special eel sushi and my partner had their set this time. They were super yummy too. Service was attentive.

Overall an amazing experience. Locals are common at lunch time with more foreign guests coming in the evening. The staff is extremely welcoming even with foreign tourists with small kids came to dine. One of the staff even lived in LA and speaks incredible English. This is shop specializes in sushi that is a local delicacy to Kyoto. The Sabazushi is a must and a unique dish you can’t miss.

We went in without a reservation at 4pm and there was nobody. The lady was wonderfully nice, taking the time to explain what every dish included and splitting the special tasting set so we could both each try a bit. She was very sweet. Food was okay, not necessarily anything terribly special from all the other stuff you can have in Kyoto. It was a good, tourist friendly introduction to Kyoto style sushi.

Really nice traditional sushi spot. I highly recommend the saba sushi the most! The eel was ok. Most of the sushi had a vinegary taste so if that's not your thing you might not be able to appreciate this ... The green tea served with the sushi was divine. Also the sushi chef spoke perfect English and showed us his California driver's license when he lived there... he's a funny man haha !

High end traditional sushi that is worth at least trying once! 🫶 They are huge and filling and are meant to be eaten as is (which a lot of forgeiners adjusted to western sushi might find daunting… but trust me, savor the flavor!) The chef was very nice and the staff speak english- overall amazing.

I went to this restaurant with high expectations as it is featured in the Michelin guide in the "bib gourmand" section. My expectations were exceeded, I would recommend this place to anyone visiting Kyoto.

I was looking forward to trying this local type of sushi however we were very underwhelmed with the quality & freshness. Ordered the mixed plate & could not finish even half. The rice in each piece is extremely thick, to the point of being very difficult to chew & swallow, and fish was not fresh. Perhaps it was an off day, but for the positive reviews & price, I left disappointed & couldn’t recommend.

Absolutely delicious fermented sushi. This place serves Kyoto style sushi and we had the famous mackerel and bamboo sushi in our lunch set. The fish miso soup was a pleasant surprise. Everything was stunning. Portion size was on the small size but it was worth it. Really calm cozy restaurant too

I was actually excited to try this spot but I was not all impressed with the sushi here. Maybe traditional Kyoto style sushi isn't my cup of tea. It is the pressed sushi topped with variety of ingredients on top. I noticed that it is a big more vinegary compared to the other sushi spots I had. Mackerel was the best piece. It is expensive so don't be shocked.

Izuu is a legendary spot for battera (pressed sushi, a specialty of the Osaka area). It's a very pricey spot, but if you're only going to try battera once, just suck it up and get Izuu. Note this is the main store and is CASH ONLY. If you'd rather pay by credit card, they have branches at the depachika (basement food store level) at the Daimaru on Shijo (near Nishiki Market) as well as the JR Isetan at Kyoto Station that both take credit cards, but with much less menu variety. Izuu is most well-known for its sabasugata (mackerel), and that's what you should get. It is pricey, at $22 for a 6pc roll, but the pieces are quite large (actually, if I have any criticism of Izuu, it's that the pieces are too large - I'd prefer somewhat smaller pieces that are easier to eat). Battera is traditionally high vinegar, and while it's certainly higher than the average level of vinegar you'd find at edomae sushi restaurants in Tokyo, it certainly isn't more than the high vinegar edomae spots, like Jiro or Harutaka - so I'm not really sure what some of the other reviewers are complaining about. It's mackerel, after all. They do have English menus and it was not difficult to order here in English. Staff were very friendly. I've included a picture of the storefront so it's easier to locate.

Established in 1781, this small sushi restaurant serves traditional sushi that you usually don't find at other places. They have an English menu for dine in and take out. Came here for lunch and it has 3 tables that can sit 4 people at each table. During the time that I was dining, several customers came in to order take out. The decorations in the restaurant made it seem like it was a place where you would mainly order sushi to go to take to celebratory occasions like a birthday, graduation, engagement, wedding, party, etc. Ordered the following: Kyoto sushi assortment - 2 pieces of Saba sushi, 2 pieces of Futomaki sushi, and 3 pieces of Hako sushi. Nice presentation. The Saba sushi had a tough band of seaweed that wrapped the mackerel and rice together. You are supposed to take off the seaweed band prior to eating the mackerel sushi, and it's optional if you want to eat the seaweed that requires lots of chewing. The mackerel was buttery and tender. The Futomaki sushi had sweet omelette, shiitake mushroom, dried gourd, and greens. Hako sushi had sweet omelette, sea bream, broiled fish, and shrimp....this particular sushi tasty a bit fishy. Out of the assortment, I enjoyed the Saba sushi the most. But, definitely not my favorite place for sushi since the rice tasted a bit too vinegary for all of the sushi and some of the sushi tasted fishy. Chirashi sushi - bowl of finely shredded omelette, squid, shrimp, and sea bream over rice. Also, beautiful presentation. I liked the chirashi more than the assortment as the rice wasn't as vinegary and the fish didn't taste as fishy. Osuimono - small bowl of clear soup with 2 square pieces of oden type of food. Tasted like dashi broth, nothing special. Probably one of the most expensive bowls of soup in the world as it was likely only 50 mL at most. Overall, this was a experience to try some types of sushi that I usually don't get to try. Didn't particularly enjoy the sushi that much for the steep price.

I believe Izuu is the singular dining experience in Kyoto. Walking in, the place struck me with how quiet it was. It was almost disturbing and every gesture I made felt loud. The menu is very straightforward about what you are getting. We ordered the sabasugata sushi (6 pieces for 2,430 yen) and the tai sushi (6 pieces for 2,916 yen). I was disheartened that such a steep price would get you only six pieces of sushi, so I waited with bated breath to see what I was getting. Holy shit. I never thought I'd see the day when I could unironically say, "I had 6 pieces of mackerel for dinner and I really enjoyed it." Description on menu - "SABASUGATA mackerel - SABA means Mackerel. We cook domestic mackerel. Especially, fine quality. This is commodity of Boast." Indeed. To start off our meals, we had Japanese green tea and osuimomo, which is a "clean" Japanese soup without miso. Those parts of the dinner primed our palates for what were to come next. When I think of sushi, I think of Tokyo style "edomae" nigiri. That's not how Kyoto do tho. Each piece was wrapped in a thin sheet of layer of kombu, and we were instructed to unwrap before eating. Sabazushi consists of about a three to one rice to fish ratio and was deliciously salty and vinegary. And dis sushi be THICC. The mackerel here was the richest mackerel I've ever had, with the fishiness much less pronounced from what I expected. It quite literally melted in my mouth in a way I was not expecting. I guess that's what you get from domestic mackerel. You probably won't get this shit anywhere else. The TAI sushi had a very simple, light flavor that complemented well with the vinegary rice. However, I believe the mackerel was the star of the show. The entire experience - the quiet of the room, the graciousness of the waitress, and the presentation of the food. It all screams minimalism, and it really lets the food do all the talking. As I am from the US, I am inexperienced with Kyoto-style sushi, so please take my review with a grain of salt. However, this place is a five in my books. I can't justify giving it any lower than that.

First things first, Kyoto style sushi is a different beast from the Edomae style most people living outside of Japan probably are used to. Relative to the Edomae style, Kyoto style sushi uses much more rice and vinegar, and wraps the sushi in pickled, seasoned kelp leaves to store and impart flavor. It's definitely a different flavor profile from Edomae sushi. Izuu is one of the more highly rated restaurants for Kyoto style sushi, and offers takeout - which was perfect for our exhausted young family. We tried the saba (horse mackerel), tai (sea bream), and futomaki (thick vegetarian roll). The tai and futomaki were forgettable, but the saba was fantastic! If you've done your research on the Kyoto food scene, you'll know that saba is one of the items the area is known for (along with eel and tofu), and this definitely was some of the best mackerel we've had! We had to try Kyoto style sushi at least once, so we don't necessarily regret trying Izuu. It's probably most fair to say that, outside of the fantastic saba sushi, Kyoto style sushi isn't our cup of tea. So come here for your obligatory taste of Kyoto style sushi but keep your expectations in check!

This place is pricey, food tastes alright. About 30 usd for 6 pieces of mackerel... They forgot my friends order... About 45 min of waiting we asked again about it and they said whoops sorry so we paid for my food and left to go elsewhere. I wouldn't recommend coming here.

We had a recommendation to go here for "Kyoto style sushi". We didn't know what that meant and hardly knew anything about the restaurant but knew we had to try it while in Kyoto! This "restaurant" is inside a big grocery store (?) under a department store mall(?). If you can imagine a marketplace in Italy/Spain/France but clean indoors, that's what this place is like. Finding the restaurant was a bit tricker. We found help to direct us to this small smart, and found that it was sushi bar format and that there was only about 6 seats. We can during lunch time and there wasn't really much selection at all - four pieces of mackerel, two pieces, 2 pieces and a small roll, or 2 pieces with a small roll and inari. Fortunately, we were fine just sampling this "Kyoto style sushi" and then exploring the gajillion other booths in the rest of the floor. So this sushi is actually some type of processed (vinegar? cooked?) mackerel, with a lot of rice added, then wrapped in a huge kelp seaweed. I think the seaweed is just to keep it moist as you actually peel it off before eating the rice+fish. Mackerel is a super flavorful fish so each bite was packed with fishy goodness and I truly enjoyed it. We found that other shops on the floor sold whole sticks of these things. So if you can't make it to the restaurant, definitely try it elsewhere!

Izuu isn't the easiest to find, but honestly, most things in Gion aren't. Fortunately, the menu is a no-brainer. Intro to Kyoto-style sushi, which is basically a sliced rice ball with fish. It's a delicious fishy rice ball, though. The mackerel is actually really good, though I personally prefer the more subtle Sea Bream. Even if you don't like mackerel, you should still give Izuu a try. It might even convince you otherwise! Heads up, btw: take the seaweed wrapper off before you eat the sushi! You're not supposed to eat the seaweed... It doesn't taste good in case you're wondering...

If you're looking to try "Kyoto-Style" sushi - which is pressed sushi usually with mackarel or eel - this is a good spot to do so. It can be easy to miss, so make sure you check out the sign that some of then users have posted to find the location in the Gion back alleys. Menu is limited however it had the aforementioned sushi style I was looking for so that wasn't an issue. Whatever you get make sure you try the mackerel as that flavor is quite unique to this area and wasn't something I saw elsewhere in my travels Place is cash only! So come prepared. Also make sure you take the wrapper off of the sushi rolls (staff was good about letting me know this...).

This is 4.5 stars rounded down. The staff is bet efficient and respectful. Had to wait about an hour to get a table of 5. The sushi here is a very different style than what you get in 'Murica. I'll let the picture speak fo themselves. The price tag is pretty high and some of the menu items are seasonal. However the taste is very unique and the experience was worth it.

Mackerel sushi was yum! Acquired taste but never tasted anything like it. Too much rice served w the sushi IMO.

Highly recommend this place for local Kyoto style sushi. I found this place through the blog Follow Me Foodie. Google it and the blog shares more about this style sushi. This location may be hard to find as there's no Roman name outside of it but if you enter the addres into Google Maps it should get you here without a problem. It's centrally located near the famous gion district. More about the restaurant: there is an English menu. Most people dining here are locals. You can order takeout! They wrap it up for you. It's super quiet inside, which was nice and serene. The mackerel (saba) is the thing to order. They take credit card.

This was my first time trying a different style of sushi, which in this case was sushi from Kyoto. I was not disappointed one bit. The fish and rice was wrapped in what looked like to be a thick seaweed. The seaweed was also soaked in a type of vinegar which gave the fish a very good flavor. I had six pieces of mackerel and the texture and flavor were out of this world. It was a coincident that we ate here but I'm so glad we did.

Very delicious sushi ever tried in Japan! A small restaurant with over 200 years history!

First of all they dont accept credit cards so dont be caught off guard. It is a very authentic looking restaurant wih an authentic atmosphere and the menu says in business since 1781 so you might be expecting something great but.. 1. Very little selection of fish 2.it is weird sushi wrapped in raw, undried thick seaweed. You also very little sushi. 3. It is quite expensive. The lowest cost dish which is a futomaki roll with no fish was about 2600 yen. Gion is a tourist trap so tourist beware.

This is amazing!! OMG, I never thought about the sushi could be such delicious!!! After the first bite, my tongue was explored because this is 美味しい!!! I highly recommend every visitor to come here and try, it's perfect!

Enjoyed the dinner and for about $25 USD left very full which I think is a pretty good deal for good sushi. Not an expert at kyoto style sushi so I guess take my 5/5 with a grain of salt -- but I do love food and eat a lot of it. Enjoyed the kyoto sampler and especially the mackerel very much. I thought the service was fine. I think maybe other reviewers just aren't really used to what sushi is supposed to be like? (esp on tripadvisor where there sounded to be some pretty ignorant folks)

Place provided original and iconic Kyoto dishes, but it might be that my taste is accustomed to western taste of sushi that I found the sasamaki and futomaki way too sour. Friendly English speaking staff and cozy atmosphere made the experience still pleasant.

As most people have mentioned it is not the easiest place to find but it is definitely worth the search. A very intimate dining location, can only fit about 15. The Kyoto style sushi was very different from anything I've had before, the mackerel was very good. You should remove the kelp from the sushi but is edible and as one of the diners told us a more acquired taste.