After Nearly a Year, Beloved Boise Restaurant Reopens 5 Days a Week

Last week, we re-shared our list of 20 restaurants that Boise would love to see make a comeback. While reading through suggestions of more restaurants to add to the list, this particular restaurant came up time and time again. 

Fortunately, we couldn't add it to our list because we knew that after a nearly a year, Boise's favorite Teppanyaki grill was dangerously close to reopening. Kyoto held a soft grand re-opening over the weekend and will officially reopen to bring you their fun table side cooking Wednesday-Sunday beginning today!

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Kyoto has been closed since the end of March 2021 when longtime owners Vincent and Le announced their retirement. As they said goodbye to customers, they turned the keys over to Phu Tran, the owner of the Riceworks restaurants in the Village at Meridian and in Kuna. Since taking over the ownership, Tran and his team have been working to give the building some much needed updates and giving the interior a makeover that will make you feel right at home.

In a post on Facebook, Tran said he offered to re-hire every single employee that worked for the previous owners. Some chose to retire with the old owners, but many of the faces you remember from Kyoto are back including Chef Remy, who has been at Kyoto for over 24 years. They're making minor tweaks to the menu, including renaming some of the sushi rolls and cutting back on the appetizer selection to help them ease into the re-opening.

If when you return for your first visit back, you don't see your favorite sushi roll on the menu but you remember it by name, ask for it. The kitchen has a secret menu organized, so they'll know what you're looking for.

By the way, long term Boise residents may remember what this building was long before it was Kyoto. It was one of Boise's Shakey's Pizza Parlors and Tran said that during the renovations they found a lot of the original Shakey's construction. Shakey's, of course, did find its way on the list of aforementioned list of restaurants we want to make a comeback. Check out the other 19 selections below!