Takezaki

Takezaki was an absolute highlight of our trip to Kyoto. It’s a intimate, elevated izakaya with only one chef, who is also the owner and who personally prepared and served each dish for us. He is incredibly talented, attentive, and made my birthday celebration feel truly special. We enjoyed a wonderful variety of dishes paired with excellent sake, each served in unique plates and cups that added to the experience. And each dish somehow managed to be even better than the previous one. After dinner, we had a lovely conversation with the chef-owner himself, a kind, thoughtful man whose passion for his craft shines through in every detail. This was more than just a meal, it was a memorable experience we’ll treasure.

Highly recommended! We had an amazing Kaiseki dinner here. We asked our hotel to help us make the reservation. Chef was the host, sommelier, and cook, and artist in his small intimate traditional 6-7 seat restaurant. The experience feels very authentic upscale Japanese. Chef helped translate for us to English and was the best host. He was super organized and gracious throughoit the multi course dinner. I opted for the optional Sake pairing and my Gf got amazing tea. Chef even provided reading and educational materials to us and the other (native Japanese) patrons to read and keep us entertained. Important to us we weren't excluded as westerners and had a wonderful time and left very happy and full.

A tiny Michelin 2 starred Kaiseki restaurant run by one single owner/chef - it has only 7 seats so booking in advance is required. There is a paid parking lot on the opposite side of the restaurant if you are driving. There is only Omakase course and the dishes are surprisingly delicious beyond their appearances. You should definitely pair your meal with Sake if you drink, so ask the chef for the pairing recommendations. He may not speak English well but he is keen to propose with Google Translate. Since it’s a one-man operation, it takes time for the next dishes to arrive especially with a full house but while waiting you can enjoy watching how he prepares the foods on the other side of the counter. The little backyard is cute, which you will certainly visit when you goto the bathroom or wanna stretch your body given the tiny space. Overall it worths a visit if atmosphere is not a priority with your dining

Phenomenal kaiseki experience. Amazing food and even better service. The chef really took his time to prepare and explain each dish making the experience enjoyable

The atmosphere was every calm and peaceful. The restaurant fits 6 people but today it was only the two of us. It was Christmas day and our chef gave us a Christmas hair clip as a gift. The food was amazing. Fresh fish dishes full in flavour. Our chef explained all dishes to us using google translate as his English was not good. He was very friendly and took photos of us and gave us a few books to look at to understand better the culture of sake and Japanese cruise. What a great experience for Christmas day!

We had a phenomenal kaiseki birthday dinner at Takezaki. The chef was lovely. He spoke almost no English but used google translate to tell us about each dish he made right in front of us and to answer any questions we had. He was so welcoming and stood at the front door as we were leaving waving good bye to us. It’s such a unique and intimate experience, unlike anything you would get outside of Japan. The food we had was out of the world - every dish was special, exceptionally fresh and seasonal. The sake pairings were on point. Every sake we had was delicious. I can’t recommend this restaurant enough. The chef cares so much about the food he’s serving, the creativity and craft of his cooking. He was just added to the Michelin guide and was very proud to show us as we were finishing up dinner but even more so was proud to highlight the fact that Kyoto had so many restaurants named. It’s expensive but well worth it and for the quality you could definitely pay much more.

Easily one of the best dining experiences of my life. Every dish at Takezaki is crafted with care and precision in an intimate tranquil atmosphere. Definitely the culinary highlight of our trip to Kyoto!

What an incredible experience! I had the good fortune of having omakase and every dish was so tasty and unique. Really an unbelievable meal. Be sure to make a reservation ahead of time.