Kyoto Night Foodie Tour in Gion

I am very forgiving and very rarely write negative reviews, but I feel completely misled but the other reviews for this experience. There was nothing “premium” about it, and I think it was a scam by a corporate-tourist company. Our guide was nice, but it should have cost 1/4th as much. The food at the first place was fine, but it was off a menu clearly made just for tourists that said “Kyoto night foodie tour at the top”, and the food was nothing special at all, very plain. The wagyu beef, for example, was just a couple small pieces of very grizzled, fatty, tough beef. And it wasn’t like we were in a beloved and busy local restaurants - the only other group in there was another table of guided tourists (and due to the much larger size of their group, I had the impression that they paid much less for their tour than we did). Very much not what I expected for a “premium foodie tour”, and the drinks were also very standard. My wife and I were hopeful for a redemption at the second place, but it was another small restaurant that was standing tables only, with just one other group of tourists there, and the menu was once again labeled “Kyoto night foodie tour” with a set combination of a few dishes, and a couple of them were the exact same as the first place!! This is where it suddenly clicked for us that we were being guided through a very artificial experience put together by this corpo-tourism company. We thought we’d be taken to popular local restaurants to taste a variety of high quality local foods, but it felt more like we were on a WAY overpriced ride at Disneyland. Again, if it was 1/5th the price, it still would have felt inauthentic, manufactured, and a bit insulting, but the price might have lined up better with what we actually received. We left from the second location before ordering because we realized what was going on, and we didn’t want literally more of the same food, and we went to get much better food on our own. Again, I want to say that our guide, Mich, was nice and had some information on the area, but PLEASE know that this is a not any kind of premium food tour and $160 per person is absolutely insane and insulting

What wonderful tour! We got to explore areas of Kyoto that we would not have otherwise known, the variety of food served was amazing! The guide Yuuki was very friendly and knowledgeable, and her English speaking was really good. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and recommend it highly.

Yuki was amazing! She was so knowledgeable and even gave us some recommendations for after the tour!

Yuki was a fantastic guide. We had a wonderful evening and fun-filled evening with great food and great company. Yuki was engaging and encouraged great conversation and a lot of laughs. I highly recommend this tour. It was our favorite activity in Kyoto.

Did this tour with Yuuki last night and it was amazing. Come hungry as you are going to 3 restaurants for amazing Kyoto food that is so much better than you imagine. Yuuki was the best, looking after us and also giving us a tour of Gion. If I could give her more than5stars I would. I went with my family and my sister family and we had so much fun and we were so full and satisfied. I am sure this will be a highlight of our trip