Kintan Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in London

TL;DR: Kintan JBBQ Holborn offers exceptional dishes like the sweet soy kalbi, but inconsistent food quality and poor reservation management detract from the overall experience. Worth trying for the BBQ highlights, especially during Happy Hour, but be prepared for potential time constraints.

Quick Ratings: Food: 4/5 - Highs of excellence, some disappointing lows Atmosphere: 3.5/5 - Lively but marred by end-of-meal rush Service: 3.5/5 - Polite staff, severely hampered by poor reservation system Overall: 3.7/5 - Great potential, but significant room for improvement

Full Review:

The Matsuri Course at Kintan JBBQ Holborn offers a diverse range of options, with some true standouts and a few disappointments. The meal began with comforting Miso Soups, setting the stage for the feast to come.

The undisputed star of the show was the Kalbi Short Rib in sweet soy sauce. This dish was a revelation - incredibly juicy, packed with flavor, and so satisfying that it alone elevated the entire dining experience. The moment we tasted it, we could barely contain our excitement at something so tasty and juicy. Other beef options, like the Premium Skirt Steak and Miso Premium Rib Eye with ponzu sauce, were also enjoyable, offering rich umami notes.

The Ebi Furai was another highlight, offering a satisfying crunch and paired with an innovative gochujang and mustard sauce that balanced sweetness, warmth, and tang beautifully.

However, several dishes fell short. The Spicy Addicting Cabbage was overly oily and not refreshing. The Beef Sukiyaki Bibimbap was particularly disappointing, lacking both the characteristic crispy crust and flavor, even with added gochujang sauce. There was also a menu discrepancy with the chicken - we received bland Chicken Garlic instead of the promised Chicken Teriyaki.

The meal ended on a high note with the Green Tea Tiramisu, a delightful fusion dessert that proved to be a refreshing change of pace. This light and fresh creation beautifully showcased the sweet, grassy taste and aroma that matcha is known for. The vanilla ice cream, speckled with real vanilla, complemented the matcha perfectly and added to the overall lightness of the dish. While the Graham cracker provided an interesting textural contrast, it didn't feel entirely necessary to the dessert's success.

The restaurant offers a lively ambiance, with the exciting sizzle of meat on grills and enticing aromas. The cooking apparatus at each table adds to the interactive dining experience, though it's worth noting that the grill is most effective when food is placed directly in the middle of the grates, with less consistent results around the edges. Diners with long legs should be aware that the steel basin of water underneath the table can be uncomfortably warm and may cause some discomfort if bumped into.

The staff, particularly our server, demonstrated admirable politeness and did their best to manage a difficult situation. However, the restaurant's flawed reservation system significantly impacted the dining experience. We were informed about 30 minutes before the end of our meal that they needed the table, creating a sense of being rushed. This approach to managing bookings – accepting reservations without a clear system for tracking table availability – is problematic and detracts from the overall experience.

Kintan JBBQ Holborn offers a dining experience with notable highs and lows. The sweet soy kalbi stands out as a dish of exceptional quality that alone might justify a visit for BBQ enthusiasts. Some other BBQ items and the creative Ebi Furai also shine. However, the experience is marred by disappointing dishes and inconsistent quality across the menu.

One significant highlight worth mentioning is the restaurant's Happy Hour offering. We visited during Happy Hour, which reduced the price by about £10 for two people. Notably, even though our meal extended beyond the official Happy Hour time, the restaurant honored the discounted price - a gesture that speaks well of their...

I had loved this restaurant and had good-quality of dishes. But today i was really disappointed. First of all, they served tap water after we asked it twice and waited one bowl of rice for over 15minutes. Because our seat wasright in front of the kitchen, we could see what's going on there, and it looked Really HARD:) to get rice ( last time we can be served water and rice really quickly and today was not busy definitely.) Secondly, as most disappointing point, we got wrong dishes and asked for it and one yellow hair female staff said "Oh i don't know I didn't serve your table " and picked the wrong dish and went somewhere else. (I kept looking her and definitely she didn't try to find solution for us) What the hell? yes i know, i have eyes. Should we stand up and find our server? We just wanted that you checked it for us. We couldn't say anything again before we asked one japanese male staff (he is friendly and tried to make it right and said sorry for us though its not his fault thx) because she was wandering here and there holding a dishtowel. So finally i know the food is less important than cleaning for her. Thank you very much!! Oh Why don't you say just small sorry instead of denying you are a staff of the restaurant.

And we couldn't use our discount coupon which said we can get 10%discount for one set menu, to our brunch set menu. (I understand that cuz there is small words below: somehing like :restrictions may exist) But when we asked about that coupon, even the staffs were confused whether we can use it or not, and they started asking each other lmao. And finally one of them came and said we can't use then i felt they made the restriction just now. Wasn't it? If not, sry but you should be make sure that all of them know about the policy.

**However the food is nice enough to visit here. Reasonable price! fair enough. I highly recommend the every dishes of kintan. And last 3times the service was so nice, polite servers. Helpful. I considered today as just my...

Evening started with nobody greeting us at the door and the upstairs bar being in an absolute state. Had to go down and ask somebody to tend us to a table, to which we were told to go upstairs and wait some more, by a rude Asian man with a bowl cut (front of house seemingly), literally to wait one minute and bring us down again???

Brought to our table, which was not even ready as there were no plates or cutlery there. We proceeded to order one of the sets for 2 people, to which we had asked if we could switch out the chicken for something that was the same price to which my partner had done previously. The same guy who brought us down stared blankly at us and just said no we can’t do that with a very demeaning tone.

Moments later, he started to shout and swear at one of his female colleagues and stormed off and all staff started to collect in a circle to have a gossip session.

Starters were served, kimchi cabbage, miso soup and prawn tempura. Still no plates or cutlery to eat this at this point and had to wait for about 5 minutes for someone to actually attend to us and get them. Nobody had switched the stove on for us at this point either.

Meat platter served, had to ask for water twice before actually getting served. The meat was good, bibimpap was served but had a small portion of rice.

Waited ages for someone to clear our plates, we had stacked everything and wiped down the tables to prompt them to clear it. Had to ask for the dessert to be served as well as this was forgotten.

As we were eating dessert, we were handed the bill at the same time. Mid way through our dessert, one of the waiters came with a card reader which was very rude as we were not done eating.

The food itself was not bad, a little overpriced for what it was, but the main let down was the customer service. It was a special night for us, heard good things about this place but was a complete let down. Safe to say we will not be...