TADA — Restaurant in Leeds

I don’t often write reviews but I feel quite strongly about writing this.

We returned to Tada on August bank holiday to celebrate my partners birthday, as we did the previous year. The food was mostly good, but sadly we didn’t receive the same great service.

To begin with, we had a text message confirming our booking, but the time had been pushed back 30mins which was quite confusing. So, after arriving at the new time, we were shown to our table where we sat for 5mins without any menus. The poor waitress seemed quite inexperienced and she seemed to be running the whole downstairs on her own (her name badge said Austesa).

The small plates were generally nice - we enjoyed our prawn miso, Takoyaki and chicken wings. But then came the smallest and saddest hand roll I’ve ever had. Barely any nori and sliced veg laid on top, it was impossible to pick up - Nothing ‘hand’ about it! And soy sauce was on the table, but no wasabi? So after 10min waiting for some wasabi (I was surprised to find later that I had even been charged for it) my partner finished his small plates and started browsing the menu for a main, whilst I finally tucked into the clumsy hand roll…But to make matters worse, the waitress came back 2mins later to take our order whilst I was in the middle of eating it, even persisting to ask me what I wanted whilst I clearly had my mouth full! Shockingly bad service.

Despite ordering mains at the same time, my partner’s teriyaki chicken bowl arrived quickly, and he had almost finished it by the time my udon salad arrived 15-20mins later. By this point it was 8.30pm, and we were informed that the kitchen was closing in 10mins. Feeling rushed, we skipped dessert and I ended up taking most of my salad home with me. 15mins later, more people had been seated and food orders were being taken so the whole rush seemed pointless.

Drinks were nice but took ages, around 15-20min, and even longer for my mocktail. We liked the ambience of the restaurant, but we didn’t find the waitress to be warm or apologetic, and I even felt judged when I finally chased up my drink. The girls from the bar, however did apologise for being busy and slow with service.

The bill came to almost £100. And we had to ask for it twice. Of course we were then charged 10% on top for “service”. Really disappointed...

This is a quite decorative Japanese restaurant as I expected but the food was a bit disappointing. I hope it will be improved after telling the problem to the waitress.

This afternoon we have ordered four things, a tonkatsu ramen, a street snack takoyaki, the fish rice "unagi don" and a mocktail drink "tropical cooler". All of time looks beautiful and very IG-able. Among them, takoyaki and the drink are not bad, as expected. The ramen is of the British style😂 so I will not make any comment but will not try next time. The main problem is on unagi don. There were many bones in the fish out of our expectations or experience. When we reflected this thing to the waitress, they said they would reflected this to the chef in a robotic tone. Seems strange. I am not sure whether this is their style or were used to it.

There are two floors. I found the design is quite good, fully utilized all the space. There are two doors to isolate the sound and the wind, and keep warm. The lighting and mood is very good.

This time I have not tried any raw fish or sushi. Maybe it will be better than the unagi. And we just walked in, no booking, and there were still some seats. I hope there will be no bone if I recommend others to come. Yes, many children like unagi but it is too dangerous if there...

I've been wanting to come here before it even opened and it exceeded my expectations. There were so many options available and seemed to cater well as I came with a friend who has dietary requirements.

The staff were friendly as soon as we stepped through the doors and very attentive during the meal. Georgia and Margaret in particular were especially helpful and very chirpy. Someone on the next table had an accident with some glass and water and I saw Georgia be able to manage the situation calmly and was able to make the table feel at ease and offer them alternative seating.

The decor was very boujee and zen. Also the food was so so delicious and actually came really fast. We had over ordered as we wanted to try everything. I'm looking very forwards to my lunch as I couldn't finish it all. The bento boxes had a wow factor. The edamame in truffle was interesting and lovely. My friend had something in sesame sauce that she really enjoyed too. And the wakame salad was nice.

My friend had mango cheesecake and it looked amazing.

Tada bento box, tada roll, hokkigai nigiri, hotate nigiri and Niku bento box pictured.

Can't wait to come...