Vegan
Japanese
Beer/Wine
Take-out

Traditional vegan Japanese restaurant operated by Vegan Farm, which specializes in ochazuke, a simple Japanese dish made by pouring green tea, dashi, or hot water over cooked rice. Accompany dishes may include stewed shiitake mushrooms, house made Nijiya seaweed, and nama-fu, grilled gluten in a vegan dashi stock. Address in Japanese: 中京区南車屋町287 木屋町会館1階. Open Mon-Sat 5:30pm-8:00pm, Tue-Sun 12:00pm-3:00pm. Irregular closed days - check Instagram for latest hours.


Venue map for Vegan Izakaya NIJIYA 虹屋
© OpenStreetMap contributors

283 Reviews

First Review by pareman

liza-zatkina

Points +264

Vegan
07 Oct 2025

Great fixed lunch menu!

You get a lot for the price of 2980 yen - dumplings, soy skewers, onigiri with homemade miso, soup, tofu and more! Really loved yuzu sour too!

ladida13

Points +17

Vegetarian
04 Oct 2025

Sehr leckeres Essen

Sehr sehr leckere vegane Izakaya!
Sehr nette Gastgeberin.

Updated from previous review on 2025-10-04

GiacomoS.

Points +27

Vegan
03 Oct 2025

Un delizioso pranzo a Kyoto

Ciascuna delle 6 portate era una più buona dell'altra, consigliatissimo

Updated from previous review on 2025-10-03

Pros: Cibo, Atmosfera, Servizio

Cons: Nulla

edenthedrummer

Points +514

Vegan
01 Oct 2025

Perfect little spot

Amazing service, delicious fresh vegan food - highly recommended!

RainbowTrainy

Points +1586

Vegan
27 Sep 2025

Wooow! 10/10 🥹🩵

We ate lunch here, and couldn't have been happier 🫶🏻 It was amazing from start to finish. At lunch, they only serve a set menu, but that was all good, and super tasty. A one-woman-show, and such a cosy little place. We will definitely return during our stay in Kyoto 🥰

Updated from previous review on 2025-09-27

Pros: Friendly service from owner, Cosy vibe, Really tasty food!!

Volves

Points +1894

Vegetarian
23 Sep 2025

Delicious

A really small Izakaya with two friendly ladies. We came shortly after it opened and had to wait about 45 minutes. In my opinion, it was a bit more expensive because the portions were unfortunately quite small for the price, but it was so delicious! Especially the Yakitori, Yakiniku and Obanzai. Only the dumplings with soy sauce were a bit bland.

Updated from previous review on 2024-10-07

Pros: everything is vegan, Friendly staff

Cons: Very tiny place and long wait, a bit pricier with small portions

iggbert

Points +32

Vegan
22 Sep 2025

Lovely and very very tasty!

We had a great dinner at this vegan izakaya. Food and vibes very really good and especially the tofu meat is worth checking out!

Pros: Vibe, Food, Drinks

foodtimeyes

Points +43

Vegetarian
20 Sep 2025

Fabulous!

So good!
Small place, only 7 seats, and doesn't take reservations.
We each got a meal set, and everything was so tasty.

Updated from previous review on 2025-09-20

PocketCate97

Points +135

Vegan
19 Sep 2025

Fenomenal

Great menu, you can also eat by la carte. Good drinks too!

Pros: Menu quality, Drinks (alcohol/non alcohol)

Cons: Very small place, long waiting time

galapotente

Points +97

Vegan
17 Sep 2025

Best meal in Japan

Only 7 seats available, absolutely wait if there is a queue. Everything was perfect, glad I decided to wait. I would recommend to go around 19h. I chose the course 1 menu. Check the pictures. Om nom nom

Updated from previous review on 2025-09-17

Pros: Everything, The skewers, both, The surprisingly chocolate desert

Hoffman2626

Points +437

Vegan
15 Sep 2025

Vegan Yakitori!! YUM!

So, we weren’t originally going to make it to this place with scheduling but I’m glad we did! It is open for a few hours at night. We got there a little after 5 and there was already a wait. We were the first in line though and only had to wait for about 20 minutes. There is a good chance you will wait since there are only about 8 seats. It is 100% worth it! The food is delicious and the Yakitori is what I recommend. It was a very traditional Japanese experience with counter seating. Very glad we made it here.

PatricioJ

Points +13

Vegetarian
13 Sep 2025

Excellent food

Small place with a delicious menu

xdanagx

Points +28

Vegan
10 Sep 2025

Good food with no revelations

The place looks authentic, the staff is top, they work late, – enough to give Nijiya a visit.

However, as for me, the taste of ramen lacks intensity, ant this is not a matter of bouillon, but the ingredients. The taste is just not complex, very basic, what does not really correspond with the high prices. The same with gyoza. They were okay, but nothing special. The deserts were cool though.

You pay for the atmosphere, the experience and late hours. The food is good, but not the best, and pretty pricey.

Pros: Atmosphere, Staff, Working hours

Cons: Not so tasteful food

slinzi89

Points +133

Vegetarian
08 Sep 2025

Vegan yakitori!

Nijiya was such a great find in Kyoto. They have a set menu for lunch including vegan yakitori (not as easy as I thought it would be to find in Japan). The owner was so lovely and accommodating. As with lots of places in Japan, the restaurant is tiny. I didn’t need to wait but I suspect it gets busy in peak season. Plan ahead for this.

Pros: Friendly atmosphere, Vegan yakitori, Reasonably priced set menu

HeiDom

Points +48

Vegan
04 Sep 2025

Amazing Food - you have to try!!!

Best Japanese Food ever.
We‘ll definitely go again!
Try the menu so you try a lot of different stuff.

Updated from previous review on 2025-09-04

Pros: -

Cons: -

lprovenzano

Points +38

Vegan
27 Aug 2025

Best meal in Japan!

Nijiya is an amazing Izakaya. The best meal and food experience I’ve had in Japan! The service was amazing, the vibe was so fun and comfortable, while the food was EXCEPTIONAL! My partner and I both ordered their dinner sets and each course that came out was amazing. So much flavour and great portions. Definitely worth the price. And the aged miso sauce on the rice balls… so glad I bought two jars, I’ve never tasted something so filled of umami flavour! I could rave about each course individually but definitely go try it for yourself! Can’t recommend this place enough!

Pros: Amazing service, Delicious Yuzu sour, Exceptional food

Cons: Small restaurant

dylanwag

Points +70

Vegan
27 Aug 2025

Exceptional

Every course was full of flavour and made us want to go back. The drinks were also very good along with the service and location. I would highly recommend going to eat here.

Pros: Set course menu, Service , Drinks

NatsuV

Points +273

Vegan
25 Aug 2025

Incredibly delicious

Cozy place, delicious food, totally recommend this izakaya for an authentic vegan Japanese dining experience!
You can even buy their homemade miso paste.

Updated from previous review on 2025-08-25

Pros: Friendly staff, Great vegan yakitori

Cons: Only 7 seats

ellietess

Points +50

Vegan
21 Aug 2025

Incredible

A lovely date night. We shared the Nijiya course as a taster and re-ordered our favourites, including both desserts. Would highly recommend!

greg_miller

Points +24

Vegan
20 Aug 2025

Exceptional food and service

Delightful hole in the wall, very nice staff (?owner) and food is amazing and served quite quickly

We got the normal sized set menu and a few extras between 2 and it was plenty of food, and very tasty!

Highly recommended, best in kyoto and one of the best in Japan we've been to

Updated from previous review on 2025-08-20

vegannurse19

Points +26

Vegan
15 Aug 2025

Amazing Vegan Izakaya!

This is an amazing small Izakaya offering the most delicious vegan Japanese food!

Pros: Dumplings , Yakitori, Yuzu tofu

Marisa_Denise_

Points +152

Vegan
13 Aug 2025

Great restaurant

The restaurant is very small (less than 10 seats). Everyone is sitting on the bar and can see the owner cooking.
The food was great especially the soy meat was the best meat alternative we ever had.

Pros: Amazing food, Nice staff

HansMeier

Points +13

Vegetarian
12 Aug 2025

Delicious Japanese Food

Very friendly staff and delicious food.

Updated from previous review on 2025-08-12

Cons: Small place with just 7 seats.

Nirja

Points +22

Vegetarian
01 Aug 2025

cute little vegan place

in a quite small street, very delicious new lunch menu.

Updated from previous review on 2025-08-01

tomnewtom

Points +38

Vegan
26 Jul 2025

new lunch

I heard that Nijiya’s lunch menu had changed, so I went to try it.
They had selected popular dishes from their dinner menu and turned them into a six-item lunch set.
It included tofu and yuba, dumplings, grilled soy meat skewers, miso rice balls, soup, and a chocolate dessert.
While you usually have to wait in line for dinner, I was able to get in for lunch without waiting—and enjoy those popular dinner items too.
It was a wonderful lunch experience.
If you’ve ever given up on dinner because of the long line, I highly recommend going for lunch instead!

Updated from previous review on 2025-02-08

leibnadi

Points +30

Vegan
16 Jul 2025

Best vegan izakaya in Japan

Very small izakaya, very authentic izakaya experience. I had the place to myself so got to speak to the owner which was lovely. She puts so much time and effort into every dish and every single dish was amazing. The yuzu sauce with the fresh tofu was very refreshing on a hot day. The homemade miso sauce and on the onigiri was amazing and the best onigiri I have ever had. The star of the show is the soy meat yakitori which she grills with a blow torch. The best vegan meat I have ever had in my life. Can’t give this place enough praise, I loved it so much. The price may seem expensive but you get high quality food that tastes amazing and you actually feel full after the meal so it’s worth every penny. Definitely give this place a visit if you are ever in Kyoto

Alodia

Points +139

Vegan
06 Jul 2025

Comida casera increíble

El sitio es muy muy pequeño. Caben solo 6 personas aquí que ve pronto si no quieres hacer fila.
La comida consta de un menú cerrado. Pagamos 2.980Y cada uno(bebida aparte).
La verdad es que la calidad de la comida y el servicio lo valen con creces. La dueña es un encanto.
Todo estaba buenísimo. Nos dijo que va cambiando el menú cada cierto tiempo.

Updated from previous review on 2025-07-06




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