Mishimatei

If you are looking for Sukiyaki in Kansai region, Japan, try Mishimatei at Sanjo Teramachi, Kyoto.
The rooms are classical Japanese style but there are rooms for your legs stretched out under tables so you can relax and enjoy the meal. A Sukiyaki master put sugar in a pan at first, then fresh meat, and then pour Warishita source over the meat. She will let you know the very best timing to eat.
You can enjoy cooked meat with or without fresh egg. (Japan’s eggs don’t have any bacteria that will hurt your health.)
Enjoy!
明治時代から続くすき焼きの名店．畳部屋だが掘りごたつ形式になっていて足を伸ばせるし，女将さんが焼いてくれるので，国外からのお客様をお連れするにも良い．

This restaurant might be good. However if you are a foreigner there is no way to eat here. We had asked our hotel to make a reservation probably one mo in advance. However, they said no reservations. That’s fine, we hoofed it here just to find that it was full and we needed a reservation. Being a restaurant owner myself and not liking Unilocal I write this not out of spite but as a warning to foreigners. You cannot eat here.

Extremely rude on the phone. I called to make a reservation on behalf of a friend who is traveling to Japan– everything was ok until the guy said they do not take reservation which is not done by the person actually going to the restaurant. I explained that my friend does not speak Japanese, and he asked for a number– my friend who is staying at an Air BnB won’t have a «hotel concierge» to call on her behalf (as suggested by the restaurant) and no Japanese phone while she’s traveling. I asked if my friend’s overseas number is ok, and he said no. I told him I’d call him back when I find a number… I called him back later after my friend’s Airbnb host gave her permission to use his number, but he same guy on the phone said, «how did you suddenly come up with a phone number? Can you guarantee that this person will show up?» I said, «we were looking for a number and now we have it, if you need to call, you can call the number, what is the problem here?» I guess they got no-​shows by foreigners in the past but that was REALLY rude and not accommodating. And why should *I* explain myself to this stranger? Why was he talking as if he was scolding me?
I have a terrible aftertaste after talking to this guy and I would not recommend anyone to bother with this restaurant if they are like this!
I have called numerous Japanese restaurants on behalf of foreign friends in the past, and all of the restaurants have been accommodating and have accepted international numbers. Some have asked for my number just in case, but they have been completely fine!

I was staying at the Ritz Carlton and they recommended this restaurant as the best Sukiyaki in Kyoto and maybe the best in Japan. The concierge Mariko made the reservation and me and my friend Robert and Rieko went there for lunch.
The lunch set is 6,000 JPY per person and I was treating so everyone was in a very good mood. The server woman was very polite and helpful and explained a little in Japanese of the dining procedure. She first cook up some sugar and then the lard and then adding the meats. I never had Sukiyaki in the true Japanese way in that the meat is dipped in a beaten egg small bowl. In the states it was ALWAYS served in a nabe or soup style.
It was extremely delicious and we even had melon for desert! I would highly recommend this century old restaurant.

This is an experience !!!
The setting is very special and the food is exquisite!
The evening we went there felt a little slow for them (only 2 more tables beside us) which is maybe because this was a Monday night.
But definitely an experience !

It’s a splurge and it’s worth it. With that said, their lunch special is one of the best value meal I ever had. I arrived around 11:30am to avoid the lunch crowd and was promptly taken to a private room. The okami then comes in to take your order and she is also your dedicated server for your entire experience.
I ordered the sukiyaki and service is prompt and attentive. The okami cooked my meal for me and even gave me instructions on how to best enjoy the food. The meat is top notch. I don’t know how I can eat sukiyaki outside of Japan again.

My parents have this annoying habit where they come visit me whenever I’m at work abroad, and they demand that I «take them to the best restaurant in town.» Upon consulting with some of my coworkers and fellow Kyoto-​enthusiasts, they suggested that I take them to Mishima-​tei, based on its proximity to the hotel where my parents were staying.
And believe me, I was not disappointed. Mishima-​tei used to be a butcher’s shop in days of yore (on the first floor you can still see remnants of the old shop), and if you believe the little story/​excerpt they have on their menu about the restaurant’s history, the founder of the restaurant «perfected and brought gyu-​nabe» to Kyoto in the late 19^th century. Grandiose and over-​exaggerated stories aside, Mishima-​tei is highly regarded as one of the best establishments in Kyoto and the quality really shows. All the meat that is served here is only of the finest pedigree (the GOKUJO course we ordered came with Kuroge Wagyu from Saga/​Kobe) and everything is perfectly cooked and timed by the okamis that frequent your room to the point that my parents complained at the end of the night (apparently, their a combination of their inability to speak Japanese and the fact that the okami kept coming in and out, explaining the food, dipping the ingredients into the broth for us made it hard for them «eat in peace.»)
Personal anecdote aside, Mishima-​tei is pretty much what anyone should expect from a traditional sukiyaki restaurant; they offer a choice between four different broths (sukiyaki, oil, mizutaki/​shabushabu, and in the winter seasons, miso) from which you can choose between two sets of ingredients (GOKUJO, or Top, and JO, Superior.) As aforementioned, one of the employees will come in and cook the food for you and let you know when it’s ready to eat — which may be frustrating for those of us that are used to the DIY shabushabu that is ever-​so-​popular in California, but it’s the best way, trust me.
The GOKUJO sets are pricy, but they’re worth every penny — this is a tier of traditional Japanese cuisine that cannot be replicated anywhere else on this planet.