Taigen

This restaurant was very relaxing atmosphere. They don't get many tourists here but the service is still good. Also the menu is available in English so no worries there. The tempura selection and sashimi platter was what I had. Both were excellent! It is a little provide than other places but the se...rvice is worth it.

Visited May 2016

After exiting the Teramachi shopping arcade from the north exit, Taigen can be found at the northwest corner of Gokomachi-dori and Shijo-dori, or roughly two minutes from Teramachi. I don't believe the restaurant name is marked in English, but the Japanese is たいげん. You'll need to navigate some stair...s to get to the restaurant proper as it's located in the basement. Taigen is a fairly small restaurant, tatami-style with a few inset tables, so you are expected to take off your shoes at the entrance. While Taigen mostly caters to locals, they have an English menu as well as at least one server with excellent English, so foreigners should feel confident in ordering. The server recommended against their full-course set (JPY2800) and for the a la carte options; we had the kushiage 10 skewer set, as well as the sashimi set and two side dishes of the day. The kushiage set was very good, with a nice range of vegetable and meat/fish options. The sashimi was also very good and quite fresh, but we felt the kushiage more closely matched our drink selection. Taigen is an izakaya (a Japanese pub) with limited beer selection (Kirin on draft and two bottled options) but a nice variety of sake and many choices of fruit liqueurs. The plum wine on the rocks was a very generous pour, and quite delicious. Dinner for two ran a little under JPY4500, including two drinks. If you are looking for a little more food perhaps skipping the sashimi in favor of rice or udon would be recommended, but we felt more than adequately refueled after a long day of sightseeing. The service was impeccable and overall we were quite pleased with the experience.

Visited September 2014