Marugame Udon - Japanese Noodles & Tempura (The Strand) — Restaurant in London

I am writing this review to share my incredibly disappointing and distressing experience at the Marugame Udon Strand location. My visit on 9th August around 13:00 was marred by a serious breach of personal space and a blatant disregard for accessibility. During my visit, a member of staff took control of my wheelchair without my consent, which is an unacceptable violation. Taking control of an electric wheelchair can cause irreparable damage to the equipment, and it is a blatant disregard for my personal safety and autonomy. When I expressed my discomfort and explained that my wheelchair is an extension of my body, I was shouted at by staff. This behaviour is not only unprofessional but also deeply discriminatory and has made me feel unwelcome at the establishment. Furthermore, the restaurant's accessibility features were broken, including the access bell and the ramp, which clearly demonstrates a lack of importance placed on providing a safe and accessible environment for all customers. After raising my concerns, it took a full month and two follow-up emails to receive a response from the General Manager, Patryk, despite his initial promise to resolve the issue promptly. This delay is particularly concerning when you consider how quickly management tends to respond to public reviews on platforms like Google, illustrating their clear priorities. While the manager did apologise for the staff's actions and confirmed that the broken access bell and a new ramp have been addressed, there was no apology for the distressing experience or the discrimination I faced. The overall handling of this complaint has been extremely disappointing and indicates that my concerns were not taken seriously. For these reasons, I do not recommend this location, particularly for other...

I was keen to test out the Wi‑Fi (a major plus for remote working or digital nomads). Marugame promotes connectivity as part of its integrated digital ecosystem—but user reviews rarely comment directly on its performance. From my experience:

Speed & Stability: Browsing, messaging, and light video streaming (e.g., YouTube in 720p) worked smoothly. I clocked around 20–25 Mbps download—no outright buffering. Took about 30 seconds with an email and a quick verification. Coverage: Signal strength was full throughout the restaurant. I moved from counter to booth and never dropped below 4 bars.

Ideal For: Casual browsing, emails, and video calls. If you’re trying to VPN into corporate systems or download large files, your mileage may vary. Overall verdict? It's a step above average for fast-casual establishments—nothing enterprise-grade, but reliable and pleasant enough to spend time here.

🍲 Kake Udon Experience: Quiet Comfort in a Bowl

Appearance & Aroma The Kake Udon arrived as a minimalist delight: a steaming bowl of thick udon noodles submerged in clear, golden fish-dashi broth, crowned with a scattering of finely chopped scallions.

First Impressions Noodles: Soft yet retain a slight chew—just the right texture. Broth: Delicate umami boost, not overpowering—classic fish-dashi warmth. Taste & Texture Each spoonful felt incredibly comforting. The broth wasn’t overly rich—it whispered rather than shouted—perfectly balanced. The noodles delivered that beloved...

The biggest mistake you can make in your life is ordering rice at a noodle restaurant.

First time here, was very excited since I love Japanese food. Didn't feel like an udon so I ordered a katsu curry plus prawn tempura, picture looked very appetising.

Order was very quick and I got my takeaway not long after.

Got back to my office and the rice+curry looked good and also bonus points for keeping the chicken katsu separate to avoid sogginess.

First few bites of the rice and curry were great until the worse has happened. I had a mouthful of undercooked rice. The more I dug into the rice bowl I realised half the rice were of these undercooked hard granuals of rice. Also the curry was very bland and the potato cubes in the curry were hard and undercooked

Im afraid this restaurant deserves a 1 star. Maybe I'm stupid for ordering rice in an udon restaurant. But if its on the menu and such a simple traditional dish of katsu curry I expect it to be good. I think it's a war crime for a Japanese restaurant to fail this bad at cooking rice.

Chicken katsu was nice and crunchy, prawn tempura very crispy but the bland curry and undercooked rice ruined the whole experience.

1/5 don't order rice in an...