5 Padre Parkway, Rohnert Park CA 94928 (Padre Town Center)
(707) 584-4204
Parking: in parking lot
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30 to 2:30, 4:30 to 9:30 pm; Fri 11:30-2:30, 4:30 to 10pm;
Sat Noon to 10pm; Sun 3:30 to 9pm
Last Visited: June 18, 2005
Food: 4 stars
Atmosphere: 4 stars
Service: 4 stars
Price: Lunch $$, Dinner $$ to $$$
Kyoto’s has been open for 20 years, but has been under its current ownership for the last seven years. The evening of our visit happened to be prom night, so there were a lot of young people filling the restaurant.
The atmosphere of Kyoto’s is fresh and clean. The colors are typical of Japanese restaurants – a lot of ivory and wood. The room is decorated with Japanese art showing ladies in their kimonos holding fans as well as pictures of bento boxes and sake bottles. Upon walking in, the sushi bar is to your left and there is a raised area with two tables to your right. Adjacent to the sushi bar is another raised area with five tables, and the main dining area spaciously seats more. I liked how they seated families in the main dining area as to separate them from the more enclosed raised locations. There are lanterns and other decorations that give the room a cozy feeling.
The staff is friendly. Upon arriving, you are served hot Japanese tea and a basket of edamame. To hold the edamame shells, they give you a folded paper box made from a page of a Japanese magazine. It’s a clever way to reuse the paper and is convenient for disposal as well. You will also receive a hot towel to wipe your hands, and it really is a hot towel. Throughout the evening, the staff checked on us to make sure we were well attended to and they also frequently checked the amount of tea in our tea cups and refilled often.
- Moriawase Sashimi (Assorted combination sashimi) Dinner - The dinners are served with miso soup and cucumber salad. The miso soup contained green onions, thinly sliced mushroom, and tofu. One thing that a number of Japanese restaurants do is serve you cold or lukewarm soup. This isn’t the case at Kyoto’s – it’s piping hot and very good. The quantity of soup is also good. Some places are stingy with their food, but Kyoto’s is far from it. The cucumber salad is topped with a mandarin orange and cherry. The portion of the salad is good, but the flavor of the cucumber that wasn’t soaking in the dressing was a little lacking. The pieces that were in the dressing were still crispy, and their flavor was more infused in the cucumber. Onto the sashimi - Plentiful pieces of tuna, halibut, mackerel, salmon, yellow tail, topped with a shrimp are served over thinly sliced turnip. The sashimi is accompanied by pickled ginger, wasabi, sprouts, and lemon slices. The presentation was lovely - very colorful. Slices of lemon are wrapped in salmon, and the plate contains a rainbow of color. The sashimi was very fresh in appearance and flavor. The freshness revealed that Kyoto’s is probably one of the best Japanese restaurants in Sonoma County. $16.95
The restaurant was quite popular this evening, and if that’s any indication, you’ll also want to consider making a reservation if your party is large.
If the amount of edamame served isn’t enough, additional side orders are also available. The other good thing about Kyoto’s is that they serve you a refreshing orange for dessert, and your check is accompanied with a piece of Japanese flower candy. The overall experience was excellent, and I would definitely go back. Very fresh and very good. Kyoto’s does an excellent job with simple touches of excellent service.
My second visit was almost a year after the previous. This time, service was disappointing, but Kyoto’s redeemed itself that same evening, and so their service rating remains the same. Upon our arrival, we were immediately seated and given menus. The tea and edamame came as expected, but it was at least ten to fifteen minutes after being seated that anyone came to take our order. Let me go through the food items first.
- Miso Shiro - See miso soup comments in the Moriawase sashimi section. Good. $1.75 per bowl
Nigiri sushi (each order comes in a pair)
- Anago (sea eel) – The sea eel wasn’t good. Sea eel is a cooked sushi. The presentation was nice, but the fish wasn’t fresh. It wasn’t spoiled either, but since it wasn’t fresh, I was disappointed. I wouldn’t order the sea eel here again. More than likely, it doesn’t have the turnover rate to keep it fresh. $4.50
- Hirame (halibut) – Fresh, but the fish had some blood vessels in it. Still edible, but I wonder if there is a way to pull those vessels out. Good. $3.50
- Unagi (freshwater eel) – Unagi is cooked sushi as well, but this freshwater eel was fresh (especially compared to the sea eel). Lovely presentation. Great. $3.50
- Maguro (tuna) – Fresh tasting and no blood vessels. Great. $3.50
Maki Sushi
- Rock and Roll (eel and avocado) – Unagi and avocado are wrapped into a roll and cut into six pieces. Great. $4.50
Our miso shiro came about ten minutes after ordering. It took another ten minutes after that for the sushi to come. Food was good, but service was extremely slow. Normally, I don’t say anything when service is bad. I just take note or ask where my food is, but I don’t complain. Knowing how great service can be at Kyoto, and since the owner came to check on every table and ask how things were, I said something. What was interesting was that our table seemed to receive particularly poor service and it was mostly related to timing. The owner was quite apologetic when I gave her my comments and explained how they were short handed this evening. She also shared that she noticed other tables in a different section of the restaurant in a similar situation – one of her employees didn’t realize that part of her duties as hostess required her to also assist the wait staff when they are shorthanded.
When I received the check, accompanied with it was a gift certificate for five dollars toward my next visit. As mentioned earlier, Kyoto managed the situation well, and with that, I am keeping the service rating at four stars. The staff may not be fully at four stars yet, but the management is, and with more training, their staff will be as well. Still good sushi, and we’ll see how service goes the next time.
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