This is a review of the AISO restaurant only and not of the hotel. First time having lunch here as it was a place right ON the Uji river with tatami or chair seating. We arrived around 11:45am on a Sunday and there was only 2 tables (we were #2 table). This is NOT a tourist restaurant and it is not in the touristy area at all. We ordered a matcha cold soba with a lovely dipping sauce and 2 pieces of tempura (shrimp and shiso leaves) for 1450 yen. The soba smelled like matcha and tasted al dente ....very good! The tempura was crispy, light, and not oily at all. The shrimp even had a wonderful sweet taste of shrimp. It was one of the better tempuras we have had and not like the oily tempura crap from markets or cheap restaurants. We also had the Tororo matcha cold soba by itself topped with mushed up sweet tororo yams and a raw quail egg. It was also very tasty for 1400 yen. We were given hochicha here complimentary but the ladies that served us spoke NO English. This place is a hotel upstairs and I can just see how beautiful it would be to sit at this restaurant in the summer overlooking the river and the fishing boats. They did have 4 air condition units in the restaurant for those hot summer days, I think. We would definitely return to eat here again next time in Uji....much better pricing and better selection than some other restaurants in town serving tourists.

Old but gold 💛 Can’t comment on their rooms for accommodation, but certainly recommend their restaurant for lunch.

We stayed two nights at this ryokan and had a great time. Our room was large by the standards of other places we stayed and was very clean. I agree that in some places minor repairs were needed (those damn paper doors!) but overall there were no complaints about the facilities.||The owner gave us a very warm greeting when we arrived and was very helpful. On the second day we took our room key with us on a very long walk and when we returned he was very apologetic that they could not get in to our room to make it up. He offered us the already cleaned room next door instead. We declined.||Dinner at the restauant on the river was great. Wada-san, our waitress, patiently tried to explain what every dish was and how to cook the different dishes and was never too busy to answer our questions even though neither was fluent in the other's language. She was lovely.||Many people see Uji as a day trip from Kyoto but it was nice to stay there - even for two nights we did not become bored with the place. Ryokan Aiso was not perfect but the people were so friendly that we are planning to stay there again on our next trip.

What a gem! This place is right on the Uji River and has its own restaurant next door. The ojii-san was very nice and accommodating to our needs. We stayed here for one night and then tried the restaurant the next morning. The rooms are a bit old and have shared bathrooms, but don’t let that keep you from enjoying the charm of a traditional place with tatami mats, overlooking the river.

+3

Can’t speak for the rooms but you can obviously tell this is a historic establishment with a lot of older ladies working their hardest and may be a little slower than they used to be. No issues with timing as we came at a less busy time but the food was excellent and nostalgic.