On our recent visit to Kyoto, we stayed at the Westin. One evening after a long day trip to Hiroshima, we decided to grab dinner in the hotel at one of its four or five restaurants. We chose Shisen for some Chinese food for a change. At the time, they were doing their 'special' New Years's menu which seemed to mean the choice was more limited and the prices higher - Half Peking Duck was c. $120! We ordered a duck starter, a crap soup, a beef in oyster sauce and some sort of chicken dish. Without doubt, the worst meal we had in Japan. On the positive side, the waitress so so sweet I felt sorry for her having to service such crap. My advice - avoid at all costs. Get room service if you have to!

My wife and I were desperate for dinner after arriving from another city. We didn't have the energy to venture out and so we thought we'd take a punt on a hotel restaurant - always dangerous, but how bad could it be? This place was pretty bad. The food is Chinese - it tastes ok, but the serving sizes are very very small - smaller than a kids meal in a normal restaurant. Staff weren't on the floor - they were all hiding in the kitchen for most of the time we were there and only ventured out periodically to deliver meals. There also seemed to be only one person who was allowed to take orders (the maitre d') which made ordering food more difficult than it should be. One additional pet peeve was the pricing structure. I understand that this place was trying to make fancy Chinese food. That's fine. But charging per bowl for boiled rice? Common guys. Softdrink ~USD$7.90 too. Not what I would describe as value for money.