YO! Birmingham Grand Central — Restaurant in Birmingham

Edited 2023. All is now good. Conveyors belts are back. You know what. I used to love Yo. It was fun, quirky with the food flying round on the conveyor belts. There was a good vibe about it. It made going there fun and exciting, it was also something different for my kids. Before I launch into some mental rambling of an old man I have this to say. The staff are always polite, friendly and professional. The food is tasty and fresh. I love it there. Will I go back now though. Probably not and it’s for these reasons. Absolutely stupid ordering system. No human contact after the initial hello sir how are you today. If I want to go to vending machine for hot food I’ll jump on a plane and zip off to Japan for the experience. It is an absolutely horrible experience going there now. Scan a QR code. Scroll through endless dishes that may or may not be available on the day. This makes McDonalds look like a 5 star dining experience. You are under selling your products and more importantly your staff. I understand during covid you had to do this. Though now there is no need for this sort of automation. It’s utterly soulless dining. You even have the cheek to ask for a tip / service charge on the menu. I may be an old man but I actually like speaking to a waiter/tress person and when they give good service. It’s a pleasure to tip them. If I could give 5 stars to your staff I would , the same with the food. Your style of delivery for ordering is the worse ever. I may have well ordered an Uber eats / just eats or whatever else there is out there. Go for yourself. Make sure you have a decent smartphone, a damn good connection and prepare to wade through the nonsensical menu system. Shame on you Yo. Rating is purely for the ordering system. Food and...

Yo Sushi used to be one of my and my wife's favourite places to go pre-pandemic, but since Covid it's a shadow of it's former self. The incredibly fun and unique show of having food glide by on the belt and picking and choosing what to eat, watching your plate count escalate and thinking "Oh do i have another!?", having access to water taps and a button on demand to call for assistance with the little jingle of your table number in Japanese flair has all gone and replaced with a boring, slow of a slog process with no human touch.

After the pandemic, you now have to order your food through your phone which not only completely isolates older generations such as my parents but with a busy WiFi connection in the middle of Birmingham makes the whole process painful as you wait for it to load. You are given a menu, but told to order online and to make it even more frustrating is that the physical menus visually don't match the website so good luck finding the items you want. So what's the point there? Then, we now have this super long sushi belt with nothing on it apart from your order which you now have to sit and wait to look at as it snakes around empty seats until it gets to you. If you're removing the idea of the fun of before, why bother keeping it at all? The chefs are right in front of you, why not just hand it to you because the belt serves no purpose now. No more assistance buttons, no more Japanese-ness to the place. Won't come back again which is an absolute shame. It's no longer what me and...

Disgusting attitude from a waitress and cold food! I dont normally leave reviews but feel like i should in this case. So i arrived into Birmingham station at 20.20 today from the airport and had only a 20 min wait until my next train. As I didn't know how long the food would take to cook i got a takeaway incase i needed to dash. The restaurant was empty apart from one table. When i received my order they apologized that they had no large takeaway container so they provided the dish split over 2 smaller containers. One with the rice and the other with the teriyaki beef... Not very practical when having to eat on my lap at the station. As no one was at the tables i thought it might be easier to eat at one of their high tables as the food came out very quickly. The food was not hot, parts were slightly warm... Normally i would have said something but as i was in a rush i didnt mind cold food as meant i could eat it faster. A waitress with dark hair on a power trip then came over and said i couldn't eat a take away at the table even though no one was needing the table and despite them not having the proper takeaway dish for me. I think it was more the way she said it rather than what she was saying, massive attitude and facial expressions with it (like i had done something offensive like spat on the floor or something!). I just left as i dont like confrontation but she had no grace at all. I will not be going back when i pass through. Will keep my business to Pho...