MOSHIMO — Restaurant in Great Britain

I don’t really know where to start I suppose the beginning is a good place. My daughter booked this for her birthday meal and was very excited as they had lots of vegan offerings. When we arrived and we sat down I struggled to hear the waiter as he was wearing a mask, I understand this is mandatory but I couldn’t hear a word he was saying as I am slightly deaf and asked if he could remove it so I could lipread he refused. All the staff seemed very rushed and unable to help with any request that we may have had. When the food started arriving it was in a very haphazard way start is coming with mains all over the place. When my first starter turned out to be in edible supposedly deep fried squid was just very rubbery with a small coating of something crunchy tasted disgusting. My main then turned up the rice was watery and disgusting and the belly pork which was supposed to be cridpy was soft and fatty and revolting. My partner was putting a brave face on and said hers was okay but I can see she was not enjoying it. My son sat opposite me ordered the vegan duck he took one taste and left it. My daughter and son-in-law had vegan alternatives they had some sushi which is supposed to be a full meal but left them half empty so they ordered some noodles which they said were nice. It was at this point my girlfriend said to me there’s a nail sticking in my back when I put my hand down onto the seat and nails protruding like a dart and sticking into her backside, I asked the waiter if he had a cushion and came back with a cloth which was put over the nail. By the time the meal had finished I was quite grateful and wanting to go home it’s the first time I’ve been to a restaurant and paid £220 for horrible food and left feeling hungry. When the bill arrived there were two separate bills one for £220 and one for £79 the waiter explained that they had made a mistake and £79 has been deducted from the bill in error and had to be added on again making the overall bill £300 for six people most of which stayed on the table on the plates going cold as we didn’t eat it. I explain to The waiter he had made a mistake I could clearly see if you had the £79 as an addition to the 218 it did not add up to what we had consumed. Then the manager came over and explained that they were right and I was wrong, I asked them to check it again as I could clearly see the mistake but they couldn’t eventually they agreed with me and charge me £218 and not the 79 needless to say I did not leave a tip. The whole experience was dreadful it was my daughters birthday she was grumpy because I was grumpy the whole evening was an absolute disaster I’m now at home feeling hungry. I hate leaving bad reviews but this is just me being honest perhaps they had a bad night who knows all I know is I’ll never go...

Went here 10 years ago and it was terrible... had heard that new management (and ownership?) had mad a huge difference, so thought we'd try it again. The food was clumsy, poorly prepared, and just sad really. Service was attentive and helpful. We complained on the night, but I made the staff promise to not mention it to the manager as I did not want to be flogged off with a discount or money off the bill... that's not the point. I don't want money off my bill, I would prefer that rather than assuaging their conscience, that they actually take the criticism on board and put some passion in the food going forward. Perhaps for those unfamiliar with clean fresh Japanese food, prepared with pride and care, the food is adequate, but for somebody who has had lots of genuinely good Japanese food in the past, it was a huge let down. The gyoza were deep fried! That is simply not how they are meant to be cooked. It says pan fried on the menu, but if so, they're using waaaay too much oil, and cooking the life out of them. The "All Flamed Up" salmon nigiri had not a hint of smokiness from the blowtorch split second char that it was supposed to have... their flame was too weak or used incorrectly and it just felt like somebody had put it under a broiler for a minute... it should appear slightly charred and have a faint hint of smokiness from the process. Instead it was just partly cooked and bland. Rice was overcooked on every dish it featured in. The tempura prawns were tiny and not particularly crisp... the dipping sauce was anaemic. The chicken teriyaki was horrifically overcooked and chewy...and the sauce overly reduced...not sure how they have the stones to describe that dish as "succulent"... unless they don't know what succulent means? The California Maki was huge, flavourless, and loosely rolled...so it just fell apart when you tried to eat it... the soy sauce on the table is was tamari which I only kind of clocked most of the way through the sushi...this tamari has some sour notes that are typical of some tamaris and did not help the sushi... I get having it available for GF customers, but it shouldn't be the default on the table. Over all, it's a cool spot, and the service was good, but the kitchen again (still) feels utterly rudderless. They seemed quite dead for a Saturday night... probably should have noted that red flag. With the right management in the kitchen, this place could really make a huge splash. Will not return... fool me twice,...

Quite disappointed with the food and service from this place. We went here on recommendation and ordered some drinks and food which arrived in weird orders - apart from the fact we never received 2 of the dishes and upon chasing that after 40 minutes we were told that part of the order had been misplaced. The food came in small portions for what was worth and the flavour was not that good either. The chicken katsu was meh but what ruined it for us was the pickled sides which were way too bitter and sour to taste. The ribs were also quite bad so quite disappointed with what was ordered. Only good dish that we quite liked was the squid. Staff were a bit all over the place, only coming to our table to take the order, drop the dishes and give us the bill so we felt a bit forgotten when we had to keep getting their attention (and when we did we were served with bad attitude and eye rolls!) for missing dishes and our distaste for parts of the meal. Shame as we had quite high expectations but they all felt short.

EDIT IN RESPONSE TO OWNER - Disappointed but not surprised by the patronising and almost, dare I say, ironic tone in your response. No wonder the food and staff all fall short if they all follow the owner's approach to constructive criticism! For your attention we did, in fact, ask for a manager whilst being handled the bill. To which we received "he's busy so you will have to wait". You see, although we would have preferred to have resolved this in the premises we had a train to catch back home so we just accepted to pay for the mediocre food (perhaps, if you also ate from your own premises, you would acquire the same discerning tastebuds) and service and leave without a fuss. I would recommend you do some urgently necessary self-reflection as it seems your response to any and every bad review is to fault the customer but never your handling of the business. Have a good day, and we hope the establishment...