Happy Samurai — Restaurant in Canterbury

Had ramen and starters for lunch with a friend of mine on a fine Sunday today, and the food was pretty good! Space upstairs seemed quite cramped, but still had a cozy vibe to it. However, despite the delicious food and drinks, the restaurant service took a turn for the worse...

Overall service was pretty alright, but it was just a shame that the waiter was not very good in English and had to make us repeat ourselves several times, although he was very friendly and charasmatic. Hence, I had to ask the other waitress to double check our order, and sure enough there was a missing starter from the list. Waitress did a quick save for us, and she was very friendly and polite on top of that.

When the waiter from before served our order, we noticed a strand of brown hair in our ramen. My friend and I were discussing whether or not we should ask him for a new bowl of ramen due to hygiene reasons, but we just let it slide as we did not want to bother him again on such a busy afternoon.

Just as we were about to pay after we'd finish our meals, the cashier at the till still looked visibly grumpy as before when we entered the restaurant, which was quite a huge contrast in comparison to the friendliness of the waiter/waitress. Overall price of the food was also a little pricey, and we were a little disappointed that the expensive food did not meet up to the level of good service.

Personally, I think that this restaurant has lots of potential with its great food, and seems to have great business too as I've noticed many customers around. My friend, however, could only do so much by tipping the waitress for her helpfulness and good service but other than that - I would not recommend this place for lunch or dinner unfortunately, if you are in for the whole dining...

Lovely, very authentic Japanese food! I had a wonderful Friday night dinner here. Tried the large izakaya platter, omakase (chef's sushi selection), and gyudon (beef rice bowl). The izakaya platter was delicious and I liked the selection of dishes. Especially the takoyaki (octopus balls) and yakitori (chicken skewers) were phenomenal! The sushi was also a very pleasant surprise - everything was delicious and fresh, and the rice was just right. I loved the omakase and honestly it's so much better than Mr Miyagi's, where majority of the omakase pieces were just salmon. I'm a big fan of gyudon and love preparing it at home, so had to try Happy Samurai's gyudon too - it was great! The flavour was very authentic, and while I was too full to empty my bowl, the beef was so delicious I ate it all and only left the rice. As for their drinks menu, I think it has a really great variety of soft drinks (really enjoyed the ice milk tea, and peach fruit soda). Although I really wish they added Calpis soda to it! It's my favourite Japanese soda and definitely prefer it to the usual Ramune. I felt the menu is very appropriately priced - the food is so amazing, it's authentic and presented well, and service is fast and friendly. I had ordered takeaway ramen from Happy Samurai once and really enjoyed it, but never sampled the other menu items or dined in until now. I'm so glad I did!! I will definitely be coming...

Appalling service and average food not worth the cost. And talking from someone who has worked in an average Japanese restaurant previously. Firstly, cutlery wasn’t provided, even after the food was served and had to be asked for. Secondly, we had to ask 3 times for tap water to then receive a cup that was not cleaned. Lastly, there were only two of us, so the order was not complicated, however it was still messed up with one of the mains, which wasn’t put into their system at all. After they brought my food without bringing my girlfriend’s, we asked them if the food was coming and they assured us it was. We waited, only to have the waiter come back to us later to say that the order didn’t go through and asked us to remind them what was ordered, by this time, we had been there waiting for 10-15mins after my food first arrived and so it went cold. When we were paying the bills in the end, they offered no apologies with only a 5% discount at the best. Wasn’t about the compensation, but more from the way they disregarded the customers. Do not recommend dining here and will not come again personally until their circumstance and culture changes. There are better Japanese restaurants in...