혼케 반큐 핫 스프링 료칸

Staying at this ryokan was a blast from the past. Very traditional and unique experience, and the exceptional staff made it. Kaiseki dinners were also quite the experience. Onsen facilities felt a bit dated but still nice overall. Only gripe was that we had emailed to mention one in our group was vegetarian, and received a rather rude reply that they would serve "ordinary food", and we could eat what we would like. Other reviews had mentioned the vegetarian meals were great, so I assumed there were ample veggies which could be substituted. However, upon arrival we found out that no one had notified the kitchen or our situation, and our friend could not eat literally 90% of the meal. There was no food to substitute, and no changes that could be made at that time. We had to give him all of our non-meat food, which made the first meal rather stressful and disappointing. The kitchen staff was profusely apologetic though (and quite embarrassed), and from that point on everything was vegetarian and fully substituted for our friend. I have no idea what happened or why whoever responded to our emails would so callously ruin the experience for a guest. Other than that, all the staff at the hotel were great, and went above and beyond to accommodate us. Note the English is limited, but that's just because most of their clientele were Japanese, a good sign imo (and not too much of an issue in a world with real time AI translation)