Nijo Aritsune

Amazing “high-end” izakaya that really surprised me by how much izakaya food can be elevated into a luxury experience. Most of the food is prepared in front of you and grilled directly over a charcoal flame to perfection. You can’t go wrong with any dish, but I highly recommend the grilled dishes as it was a treat watching the chef carefully test each item to make sure the meat or fish was the correct temperature on the inside. Even the plum wine and lemon sour had a perfect alcohol to soda water ratio that blew me away at first sip. I only wish that I had more space in my tummy to try everything on the menu. 9.5/10.

Top notch ingredients, only enhanced by the skills of the chefs. Great selection of dishes, prepared on the spot before your eyes. The owner is friendly and very welcoming. You might want to know some Japanese, as the menu is hand written, but the chef will help you out.

Great food made even better by warm hospitality! We dined as a couple at the bar. While we don’t speak Japanese and there was no English menu, the kind staff helped us to navigate toward the exact dishes we wanted. Every dish was sublime from the meats and fish to the veggies. The head chef diligently monitors every dish that comes out of his kitchen, ensuring all items are cooked and seasoned to perfection. We got a great amount for the price. Highly recommended for anyone looking for an authentic, delicious experience.

Wow wow wow. We arrived for our 5:30p reservation on Thursday 12/18/2025. We had a gorgeous meal, we ended up ordering one small carafe each of six different sakes, the first four were unpasteurized. So lovely!

Very fresh ingredient, top notch service. There is English menu which makes it really easy to order. The grill fish is really great

very tasty, very good quality Omakase, good sake, nice service. Enjoyed it a lot!

Nice, intimate Izakaya. Amazing food, presentation and you get to watch the chef. Price on the higher end but worth it.

Fantastic high end izakaya and kids friendly. We were staying at the nearby Ritz Carlton and the hotel concierge helped book the restaurant for us and what a great recommendation! Not sure if they have an English menu but the staff also brought a number of the fresh ingredient if the day - Ise Ebi, grilled veggies of the day were great and we ordered few other items off the menu. Everything was great and for the 2 of us plus a kid it was about $200 total, which is decent considering what we had. The only thing about the place is that there’s no price on the menu - but it’s pretty normal in Kyoto and I think their price was fair. Highly recommended!!