Friday, March 8, 2013

Kyoto Japanese Restaurant In Amherst

The last time my boyfriend and I had dinner at Kyoto Japanese Restaurant (located on Maple Road in Amherst), we both realized I hadn't blogged about them yet. I've been going to the restaurant for years. It's been the restaurant for family get togethers and holiday parties as well as date nights and evenings out with friends to catch up. In fact, I took my boyfriend there early on in our relationship, and paid for the meal (I'm a catch). 

The restaurant is laid out in two areas; there are tables for regular dining and there are a handful of hibachi grills with about 10 chairs around each one. I've dined in both and it all just depended on my mood that evening or who I was with. 

The hibachi meals include soup (a broth with mushrooms, scallions and onion), salad (with the best ginger dressing in the world on it), a shrimp appetizer, your choice of meat, vegetables and then your choice of noodles or rice. They typically cost between $16 - $30+ dollars depending on what you choose (you can get vegetable, lobster, scallops, chicken, shrimp, salmon, strip steak, filet mignon or combinations of them). If you have never been to a hibachi restaurant before, the meal is cooked in front of you and your chef puts on a fun show as he prepares it. Every hibachi meal I've had has been delicious, and extremely filling and well worth the cost. It is a great place to take a group of people to enjoy a fun night out.

There are a few other hibachi restaurants in town, but I have found this one to be the best price and very good quality. Shogun on Transit is probably the most popular place, but the meals there are a bit more expensive. 

If you are looking for a more intimate experience, I'd suggest sitting at one of the regular dining tables. The restaurant has a very modern feel to it and is trendy without being pretentious. It is a very inviting space to enjoy a meal. All the tables are situated as booths and it gives a more private feel to the meal. The dining tables are situated away from the hibachi grills, so you aren't overwhelmed by the commotion of the hibachi show. 
They have a full menu of starters, salads, sushi rolls and entrees. 

We almost always start the meal with the gyoza, which are pan fried pork dumplings. They come with a delicious dumpling sauce to dip them in and are always crispy and full of flavor (picture to left).
When it comes to the kitchen entrees they offer, I've had most of the udon/soba items on the menu. My favorite is the yaki udon with chicken (pictured below). The udon noodles are always cooked perfectly and the chicken is tender and full of flavor. 

My boyfriend and I love to share meals, so we typically order the gyoza, an entree to share and a few sushi rolls. The sushi here is among some of the best I've had locally. The last time we were there we ordered the shrimp tempura roll (my favorite roll to order at Kyoto), the California roll and the Futo Maki roll (pictured below). 

Kyoto Japanese Restaurant is locally owned and offers a VIP dining card and has daily happy hour specials from 3:00pm - 5:30pm that includes $2 California rolls and $3 drafts, well drinks and cosmos. They are open for lunch and dinner every day of the week starting at 11:30am and are open until at least 10:00pm (closing later on Friday/Saturday). Check out the website for a $5 off coupon (scrolling at the bottom of the page), and get there soon! 

Yaki udon with chicken

Shrimp tempura, Futo Maki and California sushi rolls

Check out more reviews for Kyoto here:  Kyoto Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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