Vegan
American
Pizza
Japanese
Macrobiotic
Western
Take-out
Gluten-free
Breakfast

Gluten-free vegan restaurant located a short walk east of Keihan Sanjo station. Menu items include fermented vegan cheese (also for sale), veggie burgers, soups, brown rice risotto, organic pasta, quiche, pancakes, raw cake, smoothies, hot drink. No fried food. Open Mon-Tue 9:30am-3:00pm, 5:00pm-8:00pm, Thu-Sun 9:30am-3:00pm, 5:00pm-8:00pm. Last order for lunch 3pm, dinner 8:30pm.


Venue map for CHOICE
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322 Reviews

First Review by jennjt

g00lumer

Points +108

Mostly Veg
05 Apr 2025

Very good (except the soba noodles)

We ordered white wine, green smoothie, hamburger, soba noodles and pancake. I didn’t like the soba noodles (no taste), but the rest was very delicious. Try the white wine if you like wine in general. It was very good. Since I really liked the wine, I still give 5 stars.

Updated from previous review on 2025-04-05

Pros: White wine

Cons: Soba noodles

VeggiLulu

Points +1904

Herbivore
03 Apr 2025

Nice Parfait and pizza

The chocolate parfait consists of soy milk and amazake soft serve, a bit of chocolate sauce, some frozen berries and brownie bites.
Everything tasted good and the presentation was nice.
However there was a lot of air in the glass so it looked bigger than it actually was.

The pizza was tasty, especially the cheese. But it was small and more like a snack than an actual meal.
The salad that came with it was very nice.

Updated from previous review on 2025-02-25

Pros: Tasty, Nice presentation

Cons: Overall small portions , Pricy for the size

cheeryouup68

Points +115

Vegan
14 Feb 2025

Mid restaurant

Honestly the food was not good but not bad either just really mid. I was a bit disappointed because it did look great but the flavour was not there for me.

er1c

Points +234

Vegan
21 Jan 2025

Nah

Came here for the pizza. 1900 JPY for a hand sized pizza like bread. Ok tasting - not worth it.
Two girls in the shop, one of them was nice, the main waitress kept up a poker face though. Comfy seating but the place overall lacks soul. Definitely wouldn’t come again.

Cbeans

Points +67

Vegan
13 Jan 2025

Not bad, not great

I saw the mixed reviews on this place, but wanted to try it myself. Unfortunately, I am part of the mixed-feelings group. My husband and I had the pancake breakfast set and soy milk lattes. The lattes were a little flat and watery - definitely not as good as others we’ve had while in Japan. Breakfast: I saw someone suggest ordering an extra pancake because they were small, so we did just that. Honestly, we should have only ordered one because although they are small, they are dry and dense as heck. They did not come with syrup or any other toppings - it costs extra. I got the maple syrup but my husband opted to go without because he thought it was already included. I received barely a tablespoon - a thimble-sized portion, which I shared so he could choke the thick pancake down.
It also came with a side salad with an oniony-flavored dressing and a cup of mystery soup. Overall, it was a bit disappointing. Maybe the lunch is better but I wouldn’t try it again.

Pros: Service was fine

tiffyday

Points +2012

Vegan
23 Dec 2024

Expensive and small portions

I enjoyed the food, but my partner thought the pesto pasta was bland and flavourless. Lots of options to choose from, but the portions are very small for the price. This was one of our most expensive lunches in Kyoto - unfortunately we wouldn't go back.

Updated from previous review on 2024-12-23

jcdotnl

Points +20

Vegan
15 Dec 2024

Recommended.

Walked by spontaneously and couldn’t resist to have a try.

Pros: Great atmosphere , All vegan & gluten free, Kind staff

MariaSpb

Points +277

Vegan
16 Nov 2024

Cold soba and good burger

We decided to go to this cafe for lunch. We liked soba with vegetables and a burger with a vegetable patty on the menu, and also ordered a chocolate parfait for dessert. Unfortunately, the soba turned out to be cold, apparently it was intended that way, but they didn't warn me in the menu, I just don't like cold pasta. The burger turned out to be delicious, the parfait was average, the ice cream was delicious, but the berries were too frozen, in November you really don't want such a cold meal. I also drank herbal tea with ginger, it was ok. It also seemed expensive compared to other cafes in Kyoto.

FK123

Points +1677

Vegan
11 Nov 2024

The vegan cheese - hope it will improve!

Its great, that there is a local shop for vegan cheese. There a 4 Variants, of which we had smokey. It is expensive, but we tried anyway. The taste is smokey, but not so much cheesy. I was rather disappointed. Hope it will get better over time. :)

jalapenohands

Points +542

Vegan
29 Oct 2024

Alright option

Ended up here after my first two choices weren’t accepting more customers, so was thankful to have found this place. Menu is mostly pizza and pasta, as well as desserts, but I went with a tofu egg rice dish and a green smoothie. Both were just okay.

Kittybiscuit

Points +9017

Vegan
27 Oct 2024

Needs improvement in several areas

I normally feel bad giving a 2 star review to a vegan cafe but we first walked in, it was like we were a nuisance. We were the only customers and arrived as they opened. They had one menu and so we stood at the counter. At breakfast they have 2 options, pancakes (either sweet or savoury) and a yoghurt.

I opted for pancakes (one is the standard serving) and paid for another pancake as 1 isn’t enough for me. I also asked for chocolate sauce. My partner did the same thing except he had maple syrup.

The pancakes were dry. The flavour was ok but they weren’t great. They also come with vegan butter. I was glad we got different sauces as I needed some maple syrup to make my pancakes less dry and my partner needed chocolate sauce for more flavour.

When it is a breakfast item and you only have 2 things on the menu, I’d expect these to be amazing. They were disappointing. Please consider adding fruit and/or ice cream. The cafe looks nice but the breakfast looks like they’d given up. Coffee was ok, my partner didn’t love the orange juice.

The person who said goodbye as we left was much more pleasant but I wouldn’t recommend for breakfast.

Tiggy

27 Oct 2024

The pancakes look like miniature deserts 😱 (not desserts 🧁)

Kittybiscuit

28 Oct 2024

Birgit

Points +2044

Vegan
24 Oct 2024

Pancakes

They offer a breakfast set with salad and soup and a fluffy pancake. No worries to add too many calories here. All very light and only one pancake. Delicious though and just enough. Lovely space and friendly staff.

Updated from previous review on 2019-10-23

IronJuice

Points +1445

Vegan
15 Oct 2024

Great service, poor taste

Ordered pesto penne and chocolate cake for dine-in, mushroom curry to go.
Penne was bland, chocolate cake tasted more like oversweetened brownie, my wife didn’t like the curry either.
But their service was wonderful, so was the music. I’d have given it 5 stars if the food taste matches their music taste.

Updated from previous review on 2024-10-15

Pros: Great service, Great vibe, Great decor

Cons: Poor taste

leakim

Points +237

Vegan
11 Oct 2024

Great food and location

Lots of menu choices and great vibe with plenty of seating. Pricing is good and so is portion size.

Went here for dinner, had a cold soba dish and a parfait. The parfait was huge and super tasty!

NadjaDelany

Points +97

Vegan
10 Oct 2024

Leckeres Essen

Das Essen war lecker, die Portionen aber ziemlich klein. Das Dessert war eher Mittelmaß.

Pros: Guter Burger/Pizza

Cons: Eher kalt im Restaurant , Sehr teuer , Schokokuchen war nicht recht gut

LisavanHeereveld

Points +84

Vegan
29 Sep 2024

Excellent

Went here for breakfast. had some pancakes. They were more like biscuits but we loved that. Would go again

Updated from previous review on 2024-09-29

Pros: Nomnomnom

SimonPitts

Points +250

Vegan
20 Sep 2024

Nice food, great cheese!

We stumbled across Choice and were tempted in by both their own brand cheese and vegan soba.

The food was lovely - the noodles were great and I could've drunk the walnut dip straight from the bowl.

The rice dish was good too, and the mozzarella cheese was really high quality.

We also had a craft cola, made with a variety of spices, which was delicious.

Some reviews have commented on the cost and the decor. The restaurant is quite western and sterile, so if you're looking for a more old style environment then this won't be for you.

As for the cost: we paid about 4,500 yen for our meal and drinks, around £12.50 each. For a major city and tourist centre, we didn't think that was too bad. Yes, there are cheaper options, but we didn't feel cheated.

Pros: Soba and dipping sauce, Craft cola, Cheese

Cons: Atmosphere

Daenvil

Points +329

Vegan
10 Sep 2024

Decent but overpriced

Tbh the food was just ok. The quantities are very small and the prices are the highest I have seen around here. The menu seems to be centered around their vegan cheeses, a small platter with just 6 small portions of cheese (see photo) is 1500 yen, and I think that's one of the cheapest things in the menu. The cheeses were good, but it's not worth that price IMO.

In the counter they sell whole cheeses which are at a more sensible price for some reason and also some desserts like muffins to take away which were very good. I do recommend that but idk if they let you buy that stuff without eating in first.

Francis.crl

Points +419

Vegan
09 Sep 2024

Good food

Tbh I didn’t like the place and its atmosphere tooo much, but it was okay ! The prices were expensive compared to the really small portion size, so don’t expect too much. The pizza was good and the pasta was okay. Wouldn’t necessarily come back but if you’re looking not only for a vegan, but also for a gluten-free restaurant, this may be for you !

Updated from previous review on 2024-09-09

Pros: Friendly staff

Cons: Small portions, Taste was a bit bland

soiboi3000

Points +79

Vegan
08 Sep 2024

Not worth it

This made me think of what non-vegans picture vegan dining to be like.

Portions were laughably small. Mushroom Stroganoff was more like Mushrooms in a sweet tomato-sauce (instead of mustard-sour cream). Pizza was comically small, but better than expected taste-wise, if a bit overly greasy.

Definitely not worth the price.

Pros: Nice ambiente, Friendly staff

Cons: Asking to order 1 drink/dessert per person , Ludicrously small portions at high prices, Bland taste

Heike.St

Points +1156

Vegan
27 Aug 2024

Better than expected

As they aren’t many vegan restaurants open on a Tuesday for dinner and we wanted to meet a friend in that neighborhood, we decided to go to Choice, even if we weren’t super convinced of the food options.

After heavy rain we were the only guests we got served quickly.
We got the buckwheat pasta with tomato sauce and mozzarella, which was a great pasta. (But then also just pasta.) We also had the pizza which was small but not so bad for a gluten-free. Our non-vegan friend enjoyed the Soba noodles.
For dessert we got the amazake ice cream (with cornflakes and as parfait) which was really good. Took me a moment to get used to the amazake taste (fermented rice), but after a while I enjoyed it. Our friend got the chocolate cake which was really dense and rich, and probably also part of the parfait.

All in all, better and less “healthy” tasting than expected.😄

Sineblue

Points +282

Vegan
20 Aug 2024

Eine kleine unerwartete Offenbarung

Frisch, gesund und lecker. Besonders gut ist der selbst gemachte Cashewkäse!

AngeVP

Points +138

Vegan
17 Aug 2024

Très bon mais rapport quantité/prix peu rentable

Nous avons commandé un plateau de fauxmage, la pizza, ainsi que deux boissons (cola fait maison / eau de coco). Tout était très bon cependant les portions sont très petites alors que les prix sont élevés.

DariaRoseK

Points +66

Vegan
17 Aug 2024

Burger & Muffin were good

The burger, corn soup and choc chip muffin was good!
The place is clean and roomy.
The service ... Was strange ?
We came in around 10:50 and were only offered the breakfast menu which had two options - pancakes and salad but the pancakes were sold out... So only option was salad.
We got the salad ... But were hopeful it would be a bountiful salad considering it was the only option and was 1,600 yen which is incredibly expensive (our 2 coffees, muffin, brownie and salads were close to 7,000 yen which is ridiculous compared to everywhere else).
It took awhile to come out and to our dismay it was 97% basic lettuce with very few & thin slivers of avocado, radish and carrot and some dressing.... While eating our bland salad other customers came in and were given the full lunch menu.... They could've just given us the lunch menu too considering they were only offering a really basic salad for breakfast.
Still hungry we asked for the lunch menu and ordered a burger. It was really good! So I'd recommend that.
Service was slow and not super welcoming. Coffee, salad and brownie weren't good.

Updated from previous review on 2024-08-17

Pros: Burger , Muffin, Clean

Cons: Odd service , Expensive , Slow

jollyhoe

Points +964

Vegan
21 Jul 2024

Delicious food and calming atmosphere

Such a gorgeous little restaurant! The staff were so lovely and friendly. The cheese is amazing- the smoked cheese is incredible !! We loved the pizzas too. 10/10!

Updated from previous review on 2024-07-20

Geri

Points +83

Vegetarian
20 Jul 2024

So happy to find good vegan food

I arrived in town after a week in Korea where it is challenging to find vegetarian food, and Choice was close by my hotel. I was so happy to have a vegan burger, and I got two other items for takeaway meals for later as well. The staff was friendly and helpful. This is a great place to land when you are fresh off your flight and haven’t yet caught your bearings.

Pros: Good vegan food, Friendly staff

Cons: Limited menu selection

HappyKiwi

Points +84

Vegan
15 Jul 2024

A great find in rainy Kyoto

A wet afternoon saw us hunting down Choice. Fabulous food, lovely staff and a great ambiance. Book selection was impressive.

Pros: Food choice, Location, Staff




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