Akira Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Overall I/we were pleased with the experience. They even incorporated the birthday message in the dessert course. My only main concern was some staff doesn’t seem to be confident with the menu item. I had double check when ordering, about the courses for the sushi omakase to make sure they don’t contain beef. The staff said the sushi omakase does not contain beef. (And yes I did said I cannot have beef - hence we ordered two different omakase)

When they brought out the sashimis course, a different staff was going through all the items on the board and she said “beef croquet”. I had my concern so I queried it with a staff about it - she said it’s a potato and leek croquet, definitely does not contain beef, and she apologised for the confusion… I felt reassured, cut it open and it looks like what a croquet should look like. However, when I started eating it, it taste somewhat like beef and I felt ill and had to spit it all out. I was very close to throwing up everywhere on the food… my partner had tried the same food but he couldn’t remember tasting any beef (he had it very early on and I had it very late, and as I cannot have beef, I know it when something does not taste like any other meat that I eat). So maybe they have fried it in a same oil or something, I am not sure!

We had a robata and a sushi omakase each, 5 courses each for both. But most of the courses were the same, so we were a little bit disappointed on this. So because of this and with the croquet incident, I would say this particular event, it’s a good experience, the food is good but only some of them. So the price would be slightly overpriced - but again, being in London, so maybe it’s expected…

They didn’t even ask how was the courses every time they asked if they could take the dish away… so I was slightly disappointed with that being a considerably posh restaurant.

But I was thankful for the cake, cake was really good, sashimis were great and the grill stuff was good.

If you have noticed from the photo, some of it are just sauces - which I find it strange they would even put that it as like a tasting.. not like you will drink the sauce up like a soup? haha The second picture is a deep fried tomato - I would have prefer if it's actually chicken! but oh well.

Maybe they need to make a menu card so customer can eat the "omakase" in peace especially if they have...

Disappointment!!! Service is terrible. We went to a restaurant for a Mother’s Day lunch, but unfortunately, the experience was disappointing in several ways.

On the way to the restaurant, I wanted to call and inform them that I would be late because the train wasn’t coming. However, my calls didn’t go through three times, and it finally connected on the fourth attempt. It’s critical for a restaurant to have reliable phone connectivity, and this was a major issue.

After arriving at the restaurant, there were several problems with the service:The service was overall very slow and not attentive. They tried to take away dishes that we hadn’t finished eating yet. The tempura dipping sauce didn't come with Tempura, when I asked for the sauce, as party of two only one person's sauce was delivered and second person's dipping sauce took further time to be delivered. The dipping sauce should be served at the same time as the main dish, let alone waiting 10 minutes for it after asking for it twice. The waitress didn’t know whether the dessert menu was included in the set course or not.

Unfortunately, the quality of the food was also disappointing: Tamagoyaki (The rolled omelet) had no flavor. Tempura: The batter was thick and soggy, not crispy at all. The bowl used for the miso soup was rough and clunky, like a small modern dish bowl. It felt awkward to drink from it and the dipping sauce lacked any dashi (broth) flavor.

On a positive note, the quality of the fish was excellent: The otoro (fatty tuna), squid, and octopus were all very high quality. I felt that they were using excellent ingredients and offering them at a very reasonable price. Rice for sushi was great quality.

However, despite the good quality of the fish, the overall service and food quality were very poor. I felt deeply disappointed and even embarrassed that this was being served at Japan House. It’s painful to think that this might be perceived as representative of Japanese quality. I believe AKIRA and Japan House should seriously reconsider their menu and provide comprehensive staff education to improve. I truly hope that this experience is not perceived as representative of...

First of all, I will come back soon in a few weeks to confirm my review further as I read some mixed reviews about the sushi.

Background: I came with my partner and a group of friends on a Monday. The restaurant was pleasantly busy but not overly busy. I was also on a vegetarian challenge, so cannot review the sushi.

Food: the food were beautifully presented. My partner ordered tuna salad and he was raving about it. We also ordered some grilled items and everyone was pretty happy about their food. Now my food, I ordered fish egg nigiri, it was good and beautifully presented. I also ordered vegetable over rice, oh my lord.... it was a mountain of well seasoned, fresh n grilled vegetables over a perfectly cooked bed of rice. I never gotten so excited over a vegetarian meal before! Really well made, I would actually come back and order the same again! (Forgot to take picture though) Compliment to the chef!

Service: I read from few previous reviews that there is lack of Japanese staff. I think these comments were unfair. I saw the entire cooking staff were japanese (or asian) and although the service staffs were not, they were very professional, courteous, timely and sweet. We were very happy with the service. I ordered a dessert on the last minute and realised that we had to leave soon for museum appointment. Truly appreciate that the supervisor whom we asked to cancel the dessert just went and cancel it. Seriously we’ll be back soon!!!! Oh and the security guy downstairs was nice and not grumpy! Compliment to the entire staffs!

Note: some reviewers said they were rushed. Not sure what this means. I am Asian and My understanding is “rush” usually means efficiently operated restaurant. If they are busy, I understand if they want to softly hush you out if you’re done. My impression to this restaurant is that the food was not slow, but not fast either, so must allow more than an hour visit. But i was not in a rush and was in great company so did not feel bad about it. Hopefully my...