Tenkaichi Sushi and Noodle Bar — Restaurant in Great Britain

Aside from the skepticism I still hold for this place winning an award for most authentic and best sushi/ sashimi in Cardiff....

The food is very much ok. But I mean it in the nicest way - as in its not the best food by any means, but its still enjoyable and I would come back. The quality of the fish is ok, the salmon marginally fresher and the other (raw seafood) ingredients taste suspiciously like they've been at some point frozen. Then again I wouldn't expect it necessarily to always be super fresh, and they didn't taste bad.

The rice was suspiciously like a cheaper medium grain 'sushi grade' rice, and didn't taste quite right - like the rice had sat around a little while. The sushi seasoning in the rice seemed like a nice balance though.

All the small things I noticed will probably not bother most people, but if they tout and are awarded as being the most authentic I will stand by my skepticism for these kinds of awards, and worry that it suggests that the situation is far worse elsewhere nearby....

Still, putting aside my snobbery, the atmosphere was pleasant and the staff were excellent, and the food really was OK but OK enough to come back once in a while. Still waiting to find a place that does it right as opposed to being 'authentic'.

Edit: While I take onboard the owners response to my nitpicking and am very aware of the importance of health and safety, to a suspicious tongue like mine, the taste of frozen fish still detracts from the efforts.

Edit 2: As promised I did go back and my nitpicking still stands. That being said, for a place in Wales and around Cardiff, I haven't found a better place yet. I'll up my score to 4 for now while I go on a...

In my opinion the food I had at this restaurant doesn't meet the standard you would expect from a place that is rated this highly. I had the char siu ramen and my friend had the seafood ramen, the broth itself tasted of little else besides soy sauce / salt and my char siu were three huge, chewey, chunks of pork. From my past experience of eating this dish the meat is supposed to be soft and melt in your mouth, this was impossible to break apart with chopsticks and I basically had to use the chopsticks to bring a chuck of meat the size of my palm to my mouth and take a bite from it. The taste of the meat was not nice either.

In addition, even though I understand that because of coronavirus the kitchen's capacity is limited, we waited an hour for our food. At the end of the meal I expressed the fact that I was not happy with the food and the waiter simply said ok and took it away. A second waiter came later to take the payment for the bill and she did say sorry but in a way that implied that there is something wrong with us rather than the food ... Especially considering that I did not eat more that a tenth of a bowl for which I waited an hour I expected a bit more. I would certainly never come to...

Came here on a Saturday about 2pm, it wasn't too packed and quickly quieted down during our meal.

The service was good, we walked in and waited not even a minute before a lovely lady came to us. She was very helpful in giving advice on what kind of sushi to try for the first time (I've been here previously to try their chicken bento box but never their sushi).

Me and my partner both had bento boxes along with sushi for us to try, and a small bowl of miso soup accompanying our meal.

I found the bento box to be quite nice and very filling, as I'm new to sushi all I can really say it was a delight to try and I'll definitely give it a go again. Their miso soup was very creamy and lovely in my opinion.

My partner stated he also enjoyed all of his meal and was very stuffed after it also.

Update 27/1/25: Went there this past weekend, they gave away our reserved seats even though we booked, they didn't give us cutlery/chop sticks, napkins or placemats and they forgot/ got my friends order wrong. The staff were very apologetic but it has made us hesitant to return, despite the food...