Gaijin Sushi

As a sushi lover myself and having eaten sushi all over the world, unfortunately my experience at Gaijin sushi was a disappointment. My husband and I went on a lunch date after having to arrange childcare for our children, we really looked forward to eating there. We were the only customers having lunch there on a Sunday and we didn’t feel the warmth of the place at all, instead we felt being watched all the time. We thought we would start with some hand rolls and order as we eat. While we were still getting settled, we were handed two hand rolls and had to hold them by hand. It was really awkward with nowhere to place it while I wanted to pour some tea and get the soy sauce ready, I was told off by the chef that it had to be eaten quick. I appreciate you have to eat a hand roll immediately otherwise it loses its crispness but the restaurant could really benefit from a hand roll rack. After asking for some wasabi very politely, we were told it’s already in the hand roll and the chef said “I can give you some more if you want” in a really unpleasant way. I just feel this could have been handled in a much nicer way, I was socked I was told off about how to eat a hand roll - believe me I have eaten many hand rolls in my life. I felt like leaving at that point but we decided to try a few more dishes. The ingredients were fresh but that’s about it. The miso soup was served cold and with two slices of mushroom - no tofu (while I clearly see tofu in other customers photos?) The portion was extremely small to any standard. The presentation was far from being exquisite. The worst is the spicy tuna maki we ordered, it was charged £9.5 so not the cheapest, the chef used tuna trimmings to layer on top of the maki! We wonder if it was because we were the only customers there the chef didn’t want to waste his ingredient, but it’s an utter disgrace to use trimming on top of maki roll and charge a full price on that. The bar stools are meant to add the intimacy to the sushi dining experience but when it’s all quiet and you feel you are being watched, you just can’t help but notice how wobbly and uncomfortable the stools are. Overall the bill came at £65.5. When you charge that much for a lunch, it really could have been better.