KIBOU Japanese Restaurant & Bar - Cheltenham — Restaurant in Cheltenham

I recently had the pleasure of dining at Kibou Japanese Kitchen and Bar in Cheltenham, you can access it from the street or the mall. I think it was an exceptional experience in a beautiful space. The ambiance is a blend of modern and traditional Japanese aesthetics, and you can hit pause on your day and create a serene moment in an inviting atmosphere.

We started our meal with the Miso Soup, which was wonderfully warm and comforting, it was a good quality Miso and set the tone for the dishes to follow. Next, we enjoyed the Duck Tacos. These were a delightful surprise, featuring succulent duck, rice and cucumber encased in crisp, fresh shells made from fried gyoza wrappers, they were simple and tasty.

The small Tuna Sashimi Platter was another simply prepared and presented dish, and the quality of the tuna was good. The Soft Shell Crab Spider Roll I liked, and if like me you like soft shell crab, you will dig it.

For drinks, we sampled some off their special cocktails, the whiskey-based “Winter Olympics in June,” which was nice, I didn’t think too much about the connection between the drink and the name, but it had a warming, well considered flavour profile. The “Miyanamori Hat Trick” was an alcohol-free option, it was sweet and almost cordial-like but I enjoyed it.

The staff at Kibou were efficient and incredibly helpful, and enhanced our dining experience with their friendly and attentive service. I would highly recommend visiting Kibou Japanese Kitchen and Bar for a pleasant meal in a lovely environment and look forward to going back...

I rarely eat out as we are in the food industry ourselves but decided to treat ourselves and try Kibou Cheltenham, we called in on the off chance they had a table. It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to try for a while and I was VERY excited that I finally had the opportunity. I live in London and can only visit when seeing family. Sadly we didn’t even to try the food.

Firstly we weren’t acknowledged upon entering the restaurant and left for quite a significant time. Staff were more interested in messing about or peeling labels off behind the bar. I had to stop my husband from walking out there and then! Eventually when we were seen to we were told there would be some room at the bar to sit. We were then forgotten about again and later told by another member of staff that the tables had now gone, as if they had vanished into thin air with no explanation or reason when asked. The other person who had served us initially was dancing around down the far end of the restaurant.

What was really disappointing is we were offered no alternative. Surely it’s common sense to do this. Even if it was a later time or another day we would have been liked to have been asked. Instead it felt like we were not worth their time. Perhaps they can’t stand walk ins? It felt like it.

I was absolutely shocked by the level of service and rudeness and upon leaving. It’s a no wonder we don’t eat out often. You don’t expect to be eye balled with dirty looked when you get into a restaurant! I only hope this wasn’t a racist experience either as mentioned by some...

We have been fairly regular customers of Kibou for sometime and used to frequent the older restaurant which a lot a lot smaller and intimate.

The food is, without question, incredible. The presentation, freshness and favours are all outstanding - and that, I don’t think, will ever be in question.

However, two recent trips have left a little sour taste to be honest and both are linked to service.

On Saturday afternoon we had the private dining room booked for a birthday celebration and spent around £400. The service by the waitress really was far from satisfactory and she appeared to be utterly miserable…we were shown in and then left for nearly 20mins to the point where we had to go and ask for a drinks order. That was eventually taken and a further 10mins later, the drinks appeared.

In that time, we also had to ask for menu’s and when the waitress came to take the order, she stood at one end of a table of 8 and proceeded to shout to the other end rather than go alongside each individual and ask what they’d like - it just doesn’t show professionalism.

Kibou is a great restaurant with great food, but the basics really let it down - particularly on Saturday afternoon.

At point of paying we did inform the floor manager and asked for the £41 service charge to be removed from the bill. Unfortunately Michelle (manager) had left for the afternoon but we will pop in a speak to her directly.

All in all, visit Kilbou as the food is outstanding- just keep on top of them if you feel the service is not...