Kanesho

Small quiet shop in Kyoto that serves delicious eel over rice. Prices are pretty affordable, environment feels very homey. Wasn’t busy when I went for lunch. I got the popular eel with omelette meal, and the egg was very fluffy with crispy perfectly cooked eel. The rice under had the sauce which was delicious.

The rice is mixed with sauce and sesame, which wasn’t what I expected. The sesame overpowers everything, so I can’t really taste the sauce with the rice. The only good thing is that the eel is nicely crispy. By the way, if you’re a cute guy, the waiter will treat you a lot better.

One of the best eel bowls I’ve had. Grilled just perfectly and the lady was very attentive and helpful throughout the process when we arrived before they opened. Seems like a family business? Father is the one that grills the eel I believe! The tea eel bowl was quite fragrant :)

Second time again in Kanesho. The taste is still delicious ! Worth for every calories in - take ! The authentic roasted eel in Kyoto. Very recommended to this restaurant. Eel with egg also the best dish. Hope you guys like it.

This is hard to find restaurant inside of the alley. However, this is something that you should not miss when you are in Kyoto. I ordered the grilled Eel rice bowl. They served me the rice bowl with a pot of tea on the side, in which I poured it over in my rice bowl. The eel had sweet-savory in flavor and had soft in texture. The strong flavor of the eel was balanced out because of subtle flavor of the tea. The service was outstanding! The whole experience was amazing. Food: Excellent Service: Excellent Ambiance: Excellent

Food: Good, but not impressive. We had the grilled eel with wasabi and soy sauce which was good. We also had the grilled unagi in a box with rice which was normal and nothing special. Ambience: the restaurant only is able to seat 8-10 people at any given time. There is no ambience to mention. 🔴 Service: service by the two waiters was good and efficient. When making the reservation, the restaurant was very particular in only accepting reservations for guests who provided proof of hotel bookings. 🟡 Location: located in a narrow alleyway that is easy to miss. 🔴

I don’t know what happened but we were extremely lucky that we got in without reservations. Seated at the counter and we were greeted by a nice lady, have our orders and were told to wait for 45 mins as the master starts working the eel on his chopping board. It was quite an experience having the opportunity to witness the entire process, and the outcome was nothing short from fabulous. The sauce was not overpowering and you could taste the quality of the eel, the sweetnesses and texture of the meat coupled with perfectly cooked rice, definitely worth that wait.

Best to call and make reservation since there are only 14 seats per sitting, i.e. 2 tables of 4 and 6 counter seats, at 5.30pm and 7pm. Walk-in chances are very low. Waited an hour before food was served but it was well worth it. The best unagi don we ever had, the eel is not as sweet as what we used to for those available in Singapore. The sliced omelette added texture to the dish. For those who can take spicy food, do add the red chilli powder which will enhance the whole experience 😋

We walked around the neighborhood which was very close to the machiya house we were staying at for close to 45 minutes looking for Kanesho from the map provided by Yelp. After stopping by a mochi shop, hair salon, and convenience store in the area, no one knew of this restaurant. The map placed Kanesho at the back of a city office building and we walked though and around the building with our gps telling us we were standing right on the restaurant site. It was until we stopped at a bicycle rental shop on Matsubara Street that the helpful young lady steered us to Shijo-dori several little alleyways above the Kamogawa River. When got to the restaurant it was almost opening time (12:00 noon) when a well coiffed older Japanese women came walking down the alley. When I gestured to the restaurant asking if this was Kanesho, she rudely shushed us away in Japanese using her hands to indicate we should leave. I guess the restaurant was closed before New Year's (this was December 26th) but the women's rude words and gestures sure seemed to be very un-Japanese. Throughout our travels in Japan over 3 decades we have never had this kind of rude treatment. There are so many fine casual unagi restaurants in the area. I would definitely recommend that people go elsewhere for their unagi fix. Not a good way for a business to end 2018 especially since they are in the hospitality industry. Shame on you Kanesho! Too bad there isn't a way to give negative stars...or maybe black marks. Yelpers, please help to correct the location of this restaurant. Initially I was so upset with the way the rude lady treated us I figured it didn't make sense trying to help others find their way to Kanesho

They only take like 9 customers at a time. After you're seated, they prepare the food after they take your order. Note that it takes about 40-50mins while he prepares your meal. Family run business. Excellent food.