Taro — Restaurant in London

6pm on 9th November I went to this place with my husband for a quick meal as we only live around the corner. When we entered the staff greeted us with the traditional "irasshaimase" Japanese welcome. Unfortunately, that is when the 'irasshaimase' finished. We were offered a table for two at the window which is fine but that means one person is facing directly at the wall. The restaurant was completely empty of customers and no tables were marked reserved and all tables were empty. We asked to sit at bigger table which could be for 4 people but was only laid for 3. We requested this for 3 reasons, 1 - my husband has a hearing problem so sitting opposite can sometimes be issue this would enable us to sit side by side, 2 - it is nice when one person does not face directly at the wall and 3 - the place was completely empty! Now, when we asked to sit and the bigger table, we got shown to another table for two the same size with the same facing the wall problem only between two bigger tables and our request being completely ignored. We then asked again if we could sit at the bigger table for 4 as 'you are not busy, and we won't be long anyway' the answer was 'well, we are not busy now BUT...' the rude begrudging tone said it all and was rude and completely unnecessary back chat and made us feel totally unwelcome and uncomfortable. When the other staff member asked 'What is wrong' I got the ‘I am sure she didn't mean to backchat you response’ when she didn’t even ask what was said. Really! No sorry, no it's a mistake. My husband had already left by this stage, and I don’t blame him but all I got was a shrug of the shoulders from them when I said we would not stay or return. This is shame as we have been many times and taken dozens of friends there since they opened. However, they seemed more than happy to lose the money and...

Went for lunch, when I arrived I asked the elderly man (think he is the owner) if I could sit in the corner, he said no and told me that, that was a table for 4 I was asking for 😶, I pointed out that the place was practically empty and that the table's where for two and could be separated, he said he may get a lot of people at any time, highly unlikely but fair enough, so I sit in one of the more uncomfortable seats in the middle of the room with the other 6 people in the restaurant sitting against the wall, hmm interesting welcome, as I was looking through the menu the same waiter came over and started flicking through my menu for me (uninvited) points out 3 teriyaki dishes and tells me how he has been running restaurants like this for 17 years, I obviously order teriyaki (Chicken bento lunch box) and chicken gyoza, so 1 star for service, I think he ment well but not very skilled at customer service, no effort really, food came in good time, rice, nice, salad could have came from a store bought packet, ok ish, Edamame beans had been frozen as the pods were like rubber, chicken teriyaki tasted just like roast chicken not bad but not teriyaki, 2 star for food, as I was eating the waiter came over a gave me a large table spoon and said I could eat my rice with it even though I was clearly using my chop sticks just fine 😐 when I looked round I noticed I was the only person in the restaurant he had given a large table spoon to, odd 🙁 anyway I thought it was expansive at £17.90 with 1 Coca-Cola, when I left the seat in the corner was still empty and the restaurant was less full than when I got there, probably wouldn't go back. P.s. chicken gyoza was ok but had to ask for...

We went there with my partner for a late lunch one day as we live in the area, and were really hungry on the way home. We passed Taro a few times before and finally decided to try it. Unfortunately we were really disappointed with the quality of the food. We both ordered bento boxes with Unagi. The eel was very average, the sushi and the quality of the fish was also not amazing, especially comparing to different places in South London that are by far exceeding the quality and authenticity of the food served in TARO at very competitive prices. My biggest issue though, was the overcooked mushy rice that was a significant part of the bento box. I just couldn't understand how a Japanese restaurant, where a good quality and properly cooked rice is the main ingredient and base of so many dishes, could serve us something like that. We had both left it untouched as it was so disappointingly unappetising and just bad. I don't really understand all the positive reviews as I definitely would'tsay it's a place that's worth trying. For the same money I paid for my bento I could've easily had a far nicer, more authentic meal in another Japanese place. I would really suggest everyone that was impressed by taro's food to try different places in London serving Japanese food to compare the quality, before writing reviews, as they can be very misleading. My personal favourites are ASAKUSA in Camden, Kamome in Brixton and MOMO SUSHI in Camberwell. The first one can be a bit pricy, but the last two really are the same when it comes to prices if not...