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Monk Kyoto Reviews
An awesome wood-fired experience in Kyoto
This place has made wood fired pizza a luxury. A cozy place with probably 10 seats and a great ambiance for a wonderful meal. The pizzas were awesome with some unique local ingredients shining bright. The selection of wines were good and the service was impeccable. I love pizzas and the ones here at at the top of the best I have had worldwide.
Charming Christmas Dinner
My family traveled to Japan to celebrate our daughterโs thirtieth birthday. Getting a reservation at Monk was one of her few requests. I was thrilled to snag a reservation for Christmas dinner! The restaurant is incredibly cozy and our meal was delightful from start to finish. Philosopherโs Path is serene and a nice break from some of the more highly trafficked areas in Kyoto. Reservations are very difficult to get but more than worth the effort!
Some shortcomings
This place was enjoyable, the pizza was amazing, however the other courses are a little tasteless. The experience, restaurant space, and staff are all very lovely, we just found the food a little underwhelming for the price point.
Good experience. Worth the price point?? Probably not.
Great experience. Glad I went. Would I go again. Probably not. The pizza was GREAT..!! Everything else lacked flavour and texture. Their booking system is also rather strange. You have to pay the full amount as a โdepositโ then pay again on the night. So just be sure that youโre fine without the โdepositโ until it clears some days/weeks later. Iโve sent a email as it still has not cleared. Still to hear back. Oh and be sure to request downstairs so you can soak up the great atmosphere with the fire. Upstairs was nice. Just not as good as downstairs.
Serene pizza off of the Philosophers Path
A serene experience off of the Philosophers path. After eating a lot of traditional Japanese food options over the week I was in Japan, Monk was a refreshing experience. You wonโt leave hungry as even though the menu is vegetable heavy, thereโs a lot of food. Finally, the IPA they had on draft paired really well with the pizza.
Not for me..
Disappointed, I do not understand the hip of this place, the food was fresh but compared to what Kyoto restaurants offer , itโs a not worth the waiting list , explore the city delicious other places
The Best Food Journey
We had a fabulous 10-course meal at Monk. It was a treat to watch Chef Imai and his staff create these beautiful dishes. Each dish is simple, delectable with a Japanese twist, a true 5+ star experience. We purchased his book and chef signed it. We watched his Netflix - Chef Table - Pizza before and after. It gives you the appreciation of how Chef Imai success. If you get a reservation, you felt like you won a the ultimate dining experience.
Finally!
I am SO glad that I had the opportunity to eat at Monk. We were in Japan on holiday last year, but Monk was closed during our time in Kyoto, so we were not able to go. This past January, I was in Japan on business and was able to book dinner at Monk with two work colleagues. The setting of the small restaurant was gorgeous, as was the building. The best word that comes to mind when describing our experience is "serene." The staff was lovely and the food was simply exquisite. The variety of flavors, colors, and textures was amazing, from the bread and pizza, to the local vegetables and herbs. YUM! It was also great to speak to Chef Yoshihiro Imai, who was gracious and welcoming.
Fantastic tasting menu and dining experience
Incredible experience with a delicious vegetable-centric tasting menu. We started with pizza dough and nappa cabbage soup followed by carrots with mozzarella, yellowtail with daikon, sunchokes with mustard flowers, a course of different roasted vegetables, spanish mackerel with spinach, a pizza course (we tried 4 different options: the bait fish, pork ragu, margherita, and chrysanthemum, you get 1 pizza for two people and each half can be a different topping/flavor) and finished with a persimmon dessert with rhubarb mousse and dill sauce. We enjoyed every course, but our favorite were the sunchokes. They were absolutely delicious and we wanted another portion after finishing ours. The only dish we did not enjoy was the yellowtail. It was a bit fishy and smokey for our liking. The persimmon dessert was a great surprise, we never had dill in dessert before and it was delightful. Overall it is such a cool and unique dining experience. There are only 14 seats in the restaurant (you need to make a reservation well in advance) and you get to interact with the staff and Chef Imai. Watching them work is awesome (definitely book a counter seat) and the portions and courses leave you full. Definitely worth the price! A unique and delicious dining experience you won't forget.
Family dinner
Sublime flavours and textures, exquisite presentation, course delivery perfectly timed and detailed by the chef and his staff. This was the perfect way to finish our Kyoto visit.
A place to fall in love with the terroire
I have been following Imai san from Monk for a long time now. I love his connection to the land. His vision is not unique, but what makes it unique is the fact that in Kyoto. He harvests from Ohara, just half hour or so the city. You will need a reservation with time. So please come to Monk next trip to Kyoto.
Beautiful experience
Such a beautiful experience in a lovely quiet part of Kyoto. Really accommodating staff as we had kids with us and they were willing to adapt what was served for them, i.e just serve them pizza instead of the other dishes.
DO NOT MISS!
This is what food is all about! Thoughtful combinations, excellent presentation, every bite a wonderful surprise.
Unable to reserve online
Tried several times to book a reservation and every time the website would say failed to create payment. We tried several different cards and every time we got the same result. Really sad we are not going to be able to try it out as we were really looking forward to this restaurant
Connect with users posting reservations for Monk Kyoto
AppointmentTrader is a community-driven platform where users can exchange their reservations or leverage their personal relationships with Monk Kyoto. Buyers can make informed decisions using automated seller ratings, which reflect past transactions and reliability.
Each posting on AppointmentTrader shows you which user submitted it and along with that provides a trackrecord of that user which indicates how much experience
the user has and how many percent of their transactions resulted in them issuing a refund.
If there is no user posting that fits your schedule, you can bid on your preferred time.
Let's say Peter has a great morning and decides to take his three friends to Monk Kyoto at 6 PM the same day.
He checks the restaurant's website and sees that no reservations are available. He then looks at the Monk Kyoto page on AppointmentTrader, but finds that there are no user postings either.
That's where the community-driven bid process comes in.
Peter can place a bid on AppointmentTrader, which serves as a reward for any community member who chooses to work on securing the reservation. AT then notifies experienced users who may be able to help.
Step-by-Step Process
1.) Setting a Reward (Bid)
* AppointmentTrader uses historical data to recommend a reasonable reward amount for securing a reservation - let's say $100.
* Peter really wants to go, so he increases the bid (or reward) to $200.
* At this stage, the reservation does not exist yet.
2.) A Community User Picks Up the Bid
* FulfilledThread16, an experienced AT user, has a strong track record of successfully securing reservations and low refund requests, they receive a notification about Peter's bid.
* FulfilledThread16 picks up the bid, meaning they will now work on securing the reservation.
* Peter can now talk to FulfilledThread16 for any questions Peter may have as FulfilledThread16 user fills the bid.
3.) Finding the Reservation
* FulfilledThread16 now uses their connections at Monk Kyoto to secure the table.
* If they successfully get the 6 PM table for four, Peter receives a confirmation that the reservation has been secured.
* If FulfilledThread16 fails to secure the reservation, the bid is returned to the pool so another user can try.
4.) Payment & Protection
* Once the reservation is secured, FulfilledThread16 receives the $200 reward which is credited to FulfilledThread16's AT balance, where users manage their own funds and can withdraw via available payout options such as bank transfer, PayPal, or Zelle.
* Peter can now enjoy the dinner with his friends at Monk Kyoto!
* As with all transactions on AT, disputes and no-show fees are handled through the platform's community-driven resolution system. Users with a strong track record are incentivized to fulfill bids successfully, and community members can report issues to maintain trust in the marketplace.
