Inamo Covent Garden — Restaurant in London

Went here about a month ago with my gf because a family member gave us a free meal and comedy night voucher and it was one of the most bizarre dinner experiences I’ve ever had.

First off the restaurant itself instantly tried to up-charge us for unlimited drinks and food which felt odd. Then we had to order using touch screen tables, which felt rather tacky at a “fancy” restaurant, not to mention we had to pay a charge for using them despite having no other option.

We then had to deal with a hen party behind us, who granted were not too bad, and the loudest screaming child I’ve ever heard in a restaurant, without the mother or any of the staff doing anything about it. Turns out it was the child’s birthday??? Which again feels very at odds with atmosphere the restaurant tries to give off.

And with the prices they are charging you’d think it would be a better atmosphere, £5 for a coke and £12 at least for a sort of alcoholic drink! I know that’s how restaurants make their money on drinks but price sets expectation and with it that high you expect much better. We ended up sticking to non-alcohol drinks because otherwise this “free” meal would have cost near to £100.

The food was fine, lukewarm dishes. None were bad but none were particular standouts, but some of the dishes were tiny. Luckily this was included in our voucher because two slices of aubergine would have been £9 if you were paying for it and I would have severely disappointed paying that much for that little.

When we got the bill (over £50 for a “free” dinner) we were given a service charge for the voucher? A product we did not even pay for? They had simply added it to our bill as a random proprietary amount and added a service charge on it and then deducted the voucher with the final bill still including the service charge. (See photo for more clarification) We hated to be a Karen but we called the waiter over to explain why we were charged service charge on a product we didn’t even pay for and all he could say was him saying that didn’t make sense either. Luckily we got that taken off but how is that legal? They could have just said the voucher was worth any amount at all £50, £500! And you are just stuck paying service for a product you didn’t even pay for!

The comedy was fine, can’t really critic that, takes a lot of courage to do that sort of thing, we were sat right at the front which caused a neck strain looking directly upwards at the comedian the whole time. So much so we left during the break 😬 we did feel a bit bad about that.

Upon leaving however and going to the bathrooms (which were meant to be cleaned every 30 minutes according to schedule on the back of door) my gf informed me that since the toilet roll could not be flushed in the women’s bathroom there was a open hamper of USED toilet paper and on the floor, insanely unhygienic and disgusting.

Overall we were very disappointed that a “free dinner” left us so underwhelmed m, feeling ripped off and possibly even worse hungry. Went to creams for dessert afterwards and that was better value than the anything at the...

I never leave 1 star reviews but this place deserves it. By far the one of the WORST restaurant experiences and the worst sushi we've ever had with everything explained below.

We had a virgin experience reservation on Thursday at 6pm and we were instantly greeted with a long queue. It seemed like every customer in the queue had the same booking. We waited roughly 30 minutes in the queue. It took around 5 minutes at the reception for them to find our booking and to finally get us seated.

They had technical difficulties that day so we were given a paper menu with limited options for the unlimited sushi. The drink menu had no soft drinks options, so we decided to ask the waitress and she seemed confused as to why there wasn't a section for it. While everything was going on we still haven't received any plates and cutlery. I'll be honest the menu itself didn't seem appetising but we ended up choosing four dishes to try out. The first plate of food came still no cutlery and plates - the waiter didn't bother asking. Second plate of food came still no cutlery and plates - the waiter didn't bother asking. We wanted to see how long it would take for them to realise instead of complaining. Waited around 10 minutes in total for the cutlery and we were finally asked by someone else that didn't serve us the food.

Food:

Tuna sashimi ROSE - you're meant to serve it as a rose, but we were given slices of lukewarm sashimi. Horrible quality tuna to make matters worse.

Salmon with Black Bean Sauce - this was so flavourless and bland. I don't understand how there were no notes of garlic or black bean within the sauce at all. All you can taste is lukewarm bad quality salmon.

We ordered two rolls and I have to say it is the worst rolls we've ever had. How is it possible for you to serve stale and uncooked grains of rice unless it was really old rice or a combination of everything. Once again there is NO flavour from the teriyaki sauce.

You charge a premium price for your food and you would expect quality, flavour and fresh ingredients but you're not going to get that here at Inamo. If you are looking for AMAZING quality sushi then do NOT come here. MAYBE the other food on the menu might be good, who knows, but we won't be returning to this restaurant.

Just to clarify this was a gift voucher so we didn't actually pick this place to dine at, but we obviously wanted to use the voucher.

The only good thing I will say: There was one waitress that was attentive, well-mannered and helpful, but we didn't manage to...

A Misfortune Combo – Disappointing Experience at Inamo Covent Garden

I came to Inamo with high hopes, especially as someone working in the tech industry who has designed interactive experiences for venues before. The concept of interactive tables intrigued me, and I had a £39 voucher for tapas and sushi. I decided to give it a shot.

Originally, I booked for a Friday lunch, but life had other plans. On my way to the restaurant, my phone was snatched by a rider, costing me around £1,500. Not the restaurant’s fault, of course, but it certainly set the tone. Determined to make the most of my trip, I came back on Bank Holiday Monday to finally try it out.

With the voucher, you’re limited to a smaller menu, which I expected, so no complaints there. What did disappoint me was the food. The tea came in a cup, not a pot as shown on the menu. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but for £39, I hoped for better. The sushi and tapas themselves were frankly poor in quality. The fish wasn’t fresh, and I quickly lost my appetite. Honestly, you could spend £40 at the M&S food hall and get far better sashimi and sides.

The interactive table, arguably their main draw, is a dated gimmick. The tech feels over 10 years old, and the responsiveness is buggy at best. It reminded me of the Microsoft Surface table from 2008, but worse. Multi-user interaction is clunky. Overall, it feels like an unfinished prototype. There’s even a small fee built into your bill for the software license, which makes it more frustrating.

Service-wise, it wasn’t awful, but it didn’t warrant the service charge either. At one point I waited 17 minutes for just 3 small dishes. You’re only allowed to order 3 dishes per person at a time, which felt unnecessarily restrictive. If you don’t want to cater to buffet-style diners, then don’t offer an “all-you-can-eat” format. Some of us just want to try a variety of dishes in smaller portions. If the food is great, I’d happily pay full price.

To be fair, not all staff were rude. However, there was an underlying sense of judgement in how they treated us. It’s not a great look to make guests feel unwelcome based on how they use a voucher or choose to spend their money.

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Quick follow-up:

Avoid the Crispy Vegetables Tempura at all costs. I don’t know how they managed to serve a mix of still-cold and nearly cremated vegetables in the same bucket, but it left me genuinely concerned that something might not have been thoroughly cooked. Definitely not...