Myself and a friend spent 3 nights at the Ryokan Sakura in December 2012 and we both loved it.
We arrived just after 11pm having spent 24hrs travelling. The young man behind the desk had been looking out for us, helped us in with our bags then sat us down with a cup of tea (desperately needed!). He took time to explain all the facilities available, took our breakfast order and then took us up to our room.
We booked a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats, futon beds which you make every night (very easy and comfy), a compact but perfectly serviceable bathroom, dressing area and place to store luggage. The place was spotless, comfortable and relaxing.
For breakfast there were three choices and all came with unlimited tea or coffee and the quality was of a good standard. We found the staff extremely helpful and polite and they were always on hand to offer assistance.
After a day spent doing the tourist thing we really enjoyed coming back to the Ryokan to relax a little while before heading back out into the night.
On leaving I managed to have a peak into one of the non-traditional rooms and I think the traditional Japanese room is much nicer and seemed more spacious, though no doubt this is because there are no beds taking up all the room!
I would highly recommend staying here. It is simple, friendly, clean, comfortable and we thought, excellent value.

We stayed there with our baby, and it was really pleasant. Although the room was small, it was perfectly thought to be confortable. The attention in the hotel was great. Well situated. It had free internet, laundry, and helped me with my baby´s food!

I'm a little bit disappointed about this hotel because from the pictures online, there is a little private garden in the Japanese style room and I was really excited about that. But there are just little rooms without anything exciting in reality, or there is only one room with private garden which is really hard to make a reservation. The location is OK, about 10-mins walking distance to the Kyoto station.