Robinson Karasuma

We were in a group and the atmosphere was excellent at this very good restaurant. Italian style food was served over 4 or 5 courses. Quite satisfying in style, flavour and quantity. The service was very good and timely and the consensus from our group was that they enjoyed the night very much.

Visited May 2016

After a very hot day 'doing the temples' we found Robinson Karasumaru near our hotel. Quite Sunday night, only two other couples eating. The menu was interesting and our choices (one beef, one pork) were very tasty. Good wine list and several good beers. Two mains, two wines, two beers and bread...s, service fast and friendly, interesting decor with a view of a small garden and all for 6500 yen. I am a little unsure of some of the reviews referring to Italian cuisine, perhaps the focus has changed, but it is definitely French now.

Visited August 2015

This was an interesting contrast to the Japanese restaurants we had been enjoying. The restaurant has a pleasant and attractive ambience. We decided on a la carte, rather than the set menus, as we didn't want too many courses. To our surprise, there was only one Italian wine on the menu, but several... French, NZ, etc. The antipasto course was excellent, but to our surprise, the pasta course arrived when we were only part way through it. Our Japanese host explained that this was not good enough, and not to bring the main courses too soon. The pasta was good, and we had a lovely scallops dish, so no problem with the chefs! However, the waiting staff seemed untrained, and noone seemed to be supervising the whole operation.

Visited November 2013

We wanted to eat in a cosy trattoria we had spotted a few streets from Robinson,however that was full-so we decided to eat at Robinson Karasuma because after two weeks of japanese (delicious) food we fancied something western again. The restaurant looked nice from the street and inside it was tastef...ully decorated. It was not full for a friday night-I would say 7 tables out of maybe 25? There were 3 menuy options ,one of 3500 yen another around 4500 yen and one of 6000 yen.Also they had a la carte options but the whole menu card was in japanese.We asked for an english one and when we were given one,it did say what the courses of the set menus were except not specific.Example:cold appetizer.Warm appetizer.Pasta.Meat.Dessert. So what we were going to eat was not directly clear.What kind of pasta?What kind of meat and how would it be prepared? All a bit unclear but we were hungry and ordered two drinks and the 3500 yen 5 course menu. It took quite a while before the drinks arrived.Before they arrived we had to ask for glasses of water-which was strange since during our two week stay in Kyoto we were given water right away-without asking,even in the tiniest cheapest curry places. So why not in what seemed like a fancy restaurant? The starter was a slice of cured ham plus 2 squares of omelette/frittata. The ham was nice-the frittata nothing special. the second appetizer was fish carpaccio which was truly delicious! Then the pasta arrived:linguine in garlic oil with sardine.I thought that was lovely and very tasteful. The main was chicken-sort of a western style sushi except with the chicken rolled around the rice. I was already full from the pasta so I didnt eat much-but the chicken was very tender and all in all it was a nice main course. Desert was a trio of chopped mango/pineapple chutney,tiramisu and ice cream.Okay-but nothing more. The waitresses were friendly and helpful-and I enjoyed the ambience of the restaurant. The dishes were served a little to fast (Hadnt finished one and the other was served.)Also my plate was removed while my partner was still eating.these may seem like minor things,but I do think that a restaurant such as this one should be aware of table ettiquete ) We did enjoy our evening at Robinson Kurasama and some of the courses were delicious.

Visited September 2013