Asakusa London — Restaurant in London

I was sincerely looking forward to our Saturday night dinner at Asakusa due to the numerous positive reviews of this restaurant. I have to say the place disappointed with regards to all aspects. We sat in a very small dark room right next to the neighbouring table. We waited for almost 20 minutes until someone took our drinks order. Overall, we got the feeling that for a Saturday night (note: our booking was at 7pm) the restaurant was horribly understaffed. There was only one (!) chef at the sushi counter who always had a queue of about 15-20 outstanding orders. We ordered a mix of starters, grilled dishes and sushi. After 50 minutes waiting time - I have been to many many Japanese restaurants both in London and abroad but I never had to wait so long for any Japanese food - we enquired for the first time when our starters (a simple Agedashi tofu) would arrive. The staff promised to check with the kitchen but never came. So we asked again at 8pm after 1 hour (!) waiting time when any food would arrive - again without success. After 1h15min (I already wanted to leave) and two complaints they finally brought our Agedashi tofu. I noticed from the tables next to us that our guests experienced similar waiting times. This place calls itself an izakaya - casual Japanese food in a pub environment - but the waiting time resembles French fine dining. The staff was entirely incompetent but at least not rude. When the sushi finally arrived the disappointment continued. The nigiri mainly consisted of rice and it was so huge that you could barely eat it. The rice was no proper sushi rice and broke into pieces. After we were done with the first sushi platter I asked for some additional rolls. Being conscious about the initial waiting time, I asked the waitress how long it would take to prepare the sushi. She told me it would take about 10 minutes. After we waited for another 40 minutes I decided to cancel that order and instead ask for the bill. Overall a very disappointing dining experience. We left the place after 2,5 hours due to a ridiculous waiting time still feeling slightly hungry. The sushi was definitely at the lower end of the spectrum and there are hundreds of better Japanese places in London. I guess the good ratings of this place are derived from the overall poor quality of this neighbourhood so people choose to go to Asakusa as they are lacking alternatives. So don't be fooled by the overall positive ratings. I will...

Asakusa. It's been on my main list of places to visit for some time. I took a friend who was over from LA. Now, if you've been to LA you know that they get very good Asian food. Korea, Thai, Vietnamese and of course Japanese (esp raw fish). I took her there knowing that Asakusa was highly rated by locals. I was lucky enough to get a last minute booking very early in the evening. 6pm when it opened to be precise. It looks very lacklustre from outside. Bit old hat you might say. And inside it's no different really. But, and eventhough I have an eye for decor and design, when it comes to eating out, it's all about the food for me. Anything else is a bonus.

I ordered for us, being the OCD person that I am, scanning reviews the night before and knowing what to get. The baked aubergine is sweet and large. Good to share. And best to have with a starch or protein as on it's own it would be too sickly. I had to get prawn tempura. Which was very fresh and light. A winner for me. The Karaage chicken was good, but not the best I've had in London. It was not oily at all. But that's where I was kinda disappointed as it almost looked too healthy. No glistening. It was a big portion of 4 pieces on the bone. But I do prefer my karaage (like Korean Fried Chicken) boneless.

Onto the fish...the black cod is something I read to be a certainty to order and I really liked it. Sweet undertones on the the cod it was good. The horse mackerel was not in, but the server kindly explained there is not much difference! So mackerel nigiri it was. I love mackerel. One of my fav fishes and this was good. The spicy tuna rolls were more coarse than some you might find but this did not detract from the dish. Very good maki rolls.

So all in all it was good. Not great but good. But this was my first visit and I'll be back for another try for sure. And the service was lovely and attentive. They even got me Japanese Mayo for my Karaage chicken when I asked for some. So good work....

What should have been an exciting and enjoyable evening of delicious food, ended up being a downward spiral of disappointment.

The restaurant name reminded me of the location in Tokyo and the restaurant itself was rather atmospheric. The menu seemed amazing, as they had fatty tuna! And the price to reflect. As excited as I was, I ordered everything with fatty tuna - nigiri, temaki and sashimi!

We did order some hot food too but that was to be sent after the cold food.

We waited over an hour to get sushi - to remind you, it's cold food - on our table. But we only got seabass sashimi. Which was actually good. So it the wait even better.

But we waited a bit too much and were getting quite hungry and annoyed.

Eventually the fatty tuna arrived.

It was not fatty tuna.

It was sour, cold, chewy and still defrosting. And far too red to be even classed as a fatty tuna.

After mentioning this, this was then removed from the bill and was told this is how "fatty tuna" is. It's not. Just because I may look like someone who doesn't know what fatty tuna is doesn't mean you can deceive people. The tuna they served, and I'm being generous when I say this, was maybe a harashimo but most likely a seshimo or some other lower grade tuna.

It just tasted off and ruined the evening and we all left feeling sickly.

I HONESTLY wanted to love this place, there were great reviews and I was talking to everyone that we'll definitely make this a regular place since it's nearby work. But I was extremely disappointed.

I cannot recommend this at all - overpriced, low quality food and slow service.

However the staff were friendly and did try to accomodate to our needs and they did try to resolve the...