Ippudo Central Saint Giles — Restaurant in London

Unfortunately I had a highly unsatisfactory experience at Ippudo Central Saint Giles (15/12, 6.30 pm). After waiting more than 30 minutes outside in the queue without complaint, I finally found myself at the front of line only to be dismissively informed that I "couldn't come in" when I said my partner was running a little bit late.

Without virtually any verbal communication, eye contact or apology, six parties came inside the restaurant were seated and served before me. I was shocked at how INVISIBLE I felt to this waiter. I was not the only one at the time who thought this was unacceptable, as another woman in the same position as me gawked at the rude service.

When my partner arrived and I confronted the waiter about my experience, he laughed dismissively and pointed to a tiny sign INSIDE the restaurant where the policy is detailed. After this, we decided that Ippudo St Giles was an unsuitable place to be providing our business.

If the above is the restaurant's policy, the business should make it abundantly clear OUTSIDE the restaurant, where people are making the decision to spend their valuable time waiting. I have dined at many popular restaurants, and would not have simply assumed I would receive this atypical service. Additionally, I would have happily have been served immediately if given the chance, and my partner and I would have made sure to finish up in a quicker timeframe with respect to the business and future patrons.

What has clearly upset me the most was the the waiter's complete lack of genuine kindness and sympathy during his communication with myself and other patrons. I felt compelled to write this review as I have honestly never been disregarded in such a manner by a hospitality business ever before. Looking at previous reviews, it seems that I am not the only one with a problem with the service, and perhaps the service of a particular waiter!

Suffice to say, there are many other wonderful Japanese options in London and we will not...

Not too sure where to start but there was no queue system, it all boils down to how well the waiter can remember who comes first, and sadly for tonight, the waiter had to ask customers and rely on their words which in some cases were not factual.

Then, they would rather fill up the ground floor seats first, then opening up the upper floor seatings, but it was absolutely rubbish.

We were carrying so many things and a toddler, and we were assigned one table for 6-8 people on the second floor, while they could simply allowed us to take a table for 4 near the entrance, and allocated a party of 4 to the upper table which I had. Once we got seated, NOBODY cared to even offer us a highchair. We had to look around the shop ourselves and brought it to our table for our toddler.

Then, it took almost forever for service to come to take order. Ordered 2 bowls of ramen noodles, 1 rice, 1 appetiser and an extra onsen egg for a ramen. Rice came first. Then the 2 bowls of ramen noodles. Then the appetizer when I was already half done with my ramen.

Reminded the staff twice about my onsen egg. First reply was “one moment…” and the second response (after we finished our dinner) was “no more…”. Is it hard to have basic courtesy to tell customers and not having to be asked twice about what I have ordered?

Upon getting the bill, while checking the bill, staff “Ryan” could not wait and kept bringing the contactless payment machine closer and closer to our card in hand. We were still checking the bill and not ready to pay yet.

To say the least, it’s an absolute disgrace to Japanese brands and people on the service, efficiency, manners and attention to details. Absolute rubbish...

A ramen chain which is known for their good ramen around the world. Firstly, it seemed like staff didn't want to take our order as we sat there trying to get someone's attention. This is not like the Japanese... and it wasn't even busy. Finally a waitress came over. To be honest there were too many options for ramen and they all sounded similar, I weren't too sure what to choose. After we ordered, it seemed to take longer than usual for our food to arrive. We had to chase it and eventually got told that the kitchen didn't receive our order. They were apologetic and didn't charge us for our starters, but we were there for over an hour before we finally got some food on the table... And because they were rushing to bring our food out, our mains arrived before we finished the starters.

Food wise, the dumplings were good and the spicy fire chicken wings were the best wings I've had to date. They were succulent and the sauce was just spicy enough for me to handle. I probably could have done 20 of these! The pork belly were too fatty and not very nice (baring in mind I'm such a fan of pork belly, so it was disappointing). The ramen was ok. I haven't been here for a while, but remember them being better.

Wheelchair access: The dinning area is on one level and I was told there were accessible toilets, which were downstairs but you could take the service lift to get there. Apologies, but I didn't bother go check after waiting so long for the food so will have to take their word for it.

It was good of the staff to not charge us for the starters for their mistake. Overall, the food was ok but a bit more expensive than other...