Hiro Japanese Restaurant Uganda — Restaurant in Kampala

My husband and I travelled from London to Kampala for a sunny holiday. On one of our evenings, we decided to google Japanese restaurants and ended up at Hiro. That was a huge mistake! For any foreigners looking for a decent place to have a meal, I would say avoid this at all costs. Don't ruin your holiday. It’s a pretentious and backward establishment with poorly trained staff. The staff were rude and couldn’t explain, let alone understand their own policies. We were let in and asked to sit by the bar while we waited to be seated, then almost 10 minutes later while we browsed the menus, one of their reception staff came to us and asked to speak to me. She basically said I was dressed “indecently” and had to leave. You can imagine my shock, I was wearing a black sleeveless sundress, very appropriate for a nice dinner with my husband. I’ve travelled to 45 different Countries including Japan (whose cuisine and themes they miserably try and fail to replicate) and I’ve never had such an upsetting experience at a food establishment. When we asked to speak to the manager we were told it’s their “policy”. When we asked where the policy was outlined as it’s not on their website which is how we found the place, we were told we should've looked at X or instagram, even though neither my hubby nor I have accounts on either platform. My hubby was understandably offended at the remarks about me, he asked what was “indecent” about my outfit and no one could articulate it, the service manager came by and provided no further explanation or clarity. We asked to speak to his manager and what we got was a security lead who said there was nothing wrong with the height of my dress but that I needed a jacket to cover my shoulders! We pointed out that there were pictures of other customers on google and in the restaurant who were dressed in sleeveless and strapless attire and he couldn’t explain that. All he did was threaten to raise his voice if I continued to ask for a manager. Without going into too much detail here, we left with a promise to write a review to serve as a notice for future customers. There are so many other restaurants to explore and experience during your stay in Kampala and its been great to see that this was a one off awful experience, there are many other establishments that will provide the level and quality of service you expect and are accustomed to. Hiro is a...

Hiro Japanese Restaurant was quite the experience. I made a reservation ahead of time to avoid any surprises. As soon as you walk in, the ambiance catches your eye like every detail was well thought out.

The restaurant was waaayyyy busier than expected and service was really slow. I noticed our waiter was serving 4 other tables and orders took some time to arrive. Whoever designed their food menu did such a crappy job. Each page has different designs with different font types, colours and sizes. It just seemed rushed and poor quality (doesn’t resonate with the aesthetic of the restaurant). The seating is really squeezed: tables are really close to each other you can overhear conversations (you’d pull your chair and you’re back to back with the next table) which felt quite uncomfortable. It felt like they were trying to make the most of the space but it was overly done. This was particularly in the upstairs area where I sat.

When the food finally came, it was really great. I had the pork miso ramen with The Gift of Hiro cocktail. The presentation was really beautiful. I did enjoy the food and drinks.

I only hope the restaurant was this busy because it...

Visited for a friend's Birthday dinner, fine dining experience. Very quiet and great for conversation, great ambience, we had a reservation and so had a waiter waiting on our table the whole time who did well with recommendations on the drinks and Food. Loved the 🍸, I had the Yoga mocktail, just because it was called that 😀 and it was so rich and naturally sweet and refreshing, the rest of the drinks looked amazing too and everyone enjoyed what they had. Cocktails are well priced at around 25,000 to 35,000 however didn't appreciate the local beer price, 😐. Anyway, we had a great dinner as it wasn't crowded at all, we sat downstairs, but there'ss a whole upstairs seating that I forgot to go check out, 😩.

Many people had the pork ribs and the salad wasn't fresh from my neighbour 😩 I however I tried the Yakisoba pan fried ramen 🍜 noodles, which were tasty and very filling.

Ohh Loved the take away package as well, very eco-friendly and beautiful, no plastic. I hope more restaurants in Uganda can adopt this like they...