Sakura Japanese restaurant — Restaurant in England

Fantastic experience. We had a group on voucher for the set menu meal. When we arrived we were seated on couches at the bar where our drinks order was taken. The waiter explained our menu options very clearly before taking our order. We were then moved to the table where the chef works.

Miso soup was very good. The Mrs liked it which is high praise. Appetisers where beef asparagus rolls for me and chicken gyoza for my wife. Both portions were more generous than I expected. The beef rolled asparagus was very good but the gyoza was excellent. I’ll be ordering that next time.

The main was cooked in front of us. The chef had good banter and was very entertaining. He was not so flashy as some I’ve seen with juggling, etc, but was still fun to watch. I had steak cooked medium. It was cooked well but not the best steak. Mrs has teriyaki chicken. It was very good.

The desert was a bit of a let down, three scoops of neoplolitan icecream, but by then we were very full. Seems it would have fitted better to have something more Japanese. IMHO it would still have been a great value meal as a 3 course without the desert. The only extras we had to pay for was our drinks. Great meal out for two for under £50.

The bad: Could do with bit of a revamp. Was clean but dated. The extractor fans are noisy. Not so much to prevent conversation, but you notice when they turn one on or off.

Will defo be going back to try...

Quite a disappointing experience.

Parked the car outside and paid for a ticket, wanted to ask if they would refund me the parking ticket I paid as they can provide a permit to customers, but they didn't seem to answer the question properly and I paid a hefty £4.95 for parking.

The waiter doesn't seem to understand English well and after a while, I gave up.

We were then seated for our teppanyakii experience. As it was from a Groupon voucher we had a set menu.

We started off with the saltiest miso soup of my life.

Then starters I had vegetable gyoza. Was average.

Then the teppanyakii, was ok. Not much of an experience, food was average at best. The steak was overcooked despite I asked for medium. The chef was nice and the highlight was him throwing us the bowl of rice. Which was too much rice in my opinion

We then ended with a green tea.

We were then charged service charge on both the price of the Groupon voucher and drinks. As there weren't much of a service and the bill took a century to come over, felt pretty scammed.

In addition one of them said they are very busy that day. It was mother's day but it was pretty empty.

Overall the experience not...

Been here before and it was great. Tonight, however, I feel ripped off. We booked through Groupon, so should only have had to pay the drinks. We had 2 waters (£3), 2 asaki beers (£6.60), 2 Apple juice (£5) and 1 red wine (£5.45). That comes to £20.05 However, we were billed £47.50 because my parents, who didn't want rice, got offered noodles instead. We were never told we would have to pay extra for this. But what is worse, is that when looking at the vegetable udon, the price is £6.80 per person. So why were we charged £27.45 for 2 portions of noodles that we weren't even told about we would have to pay extra for?!? This has left a very sour taste and we will not be coming back. I feel totally ripped off.

I have reported them to Groupon as more people seem to have had issues. Basically, it's a scam. You pay Groupon for a nice deal, then they find excuses to make you pay the full 100% by adding surcharges and charging for things without first making the customer aware. This goes against...