TOKii — Restaurant in London

After visiting and being blown away on 10 April, we didn’t leave it long to book in for another meal at Tokii (24 April). During our first meal here the service staff were very attentive, friendly and more than happy to go out of their way to make our meal really special and enjoyable. Our waitress was so lovely and even willing to share some of her Japanese cultural traditions with us, which made the meal even more memorable.

I was so excited to return for our second meal. However it fell flat with a capital F. Our waitress for the evening on 24 April was rude, abrupt, curt, unfriendly and hostile.

Once we had sat down we were told we would have to share a food menu (there were three of us dining), because of a shortage. That was not a massive problem and we discussed what we would order. When I asked to see the cocktail list, our waitress informed us that cocktails “are not really available”. I asked her if clarify what this meant. She responded that we would not be able to have cocktails with our meal because the bar was busy. I explained that we would not mind waiting and she abruptly told us to expect a 30 minute wait on cocktails, which we accepted. She then still failed to bring a cocktail menu and when I prompted her for the menus responsed “in a minute”. When she finally brought one cocktail menu it was unpleasantly slammed onto the table. When she came to take our cocktail order it was apparent that she did not want us to order cocktails, but we did anyway. I am perplexed why there is any discouragement for customers ordering £16-£18 drinks.

This unhelpful and rude attitude continued throughout our meal. This waitress was either reluctant to share her knowledge of the menu or had desperately lacking knowledge - either way, unacceptable. Every time we asked for water, soy sauce, other condiments we had to ask 2-3 times before it was reluctantly brought to our table. Much of the food was consumed cold due to the wait for the accompanying condiments.

As a table, we decided we did not want to pay the service fee as the waitress had made us feel so unwelcome. However, when she presented us with the card machine she advised that the fee was not discretionary, as described on the menu, so we were left with no choice but to pay in full.

Despite the food quality being very good, this experience was such a disappointment, especially after such amazing service only 2 weeks prior. We have been left with a sour taste...

We ate here on Friday evening and had a mixed experience. Whilst the food was very good, the staffing on the night was abject. Apart from the food, the only saving grace was Valentina, who seemed to single handedly be trying to keep the service in the restaurant going.

We arrived 2-3 minutes early for a 7.15 booking (which the restaurant had lost). We were then seated and waited 31 minutes! for the first food or drink to arrive at our table (an amuse bouche), this was followed by our aperirtifs (Whiskey highballs) that were ordered as we were seated, and then by the tap water which was requested at the same time. Poor Valentina did apologise, but said that the bar was backed up, and she would need to make the drinks herself. Notwithstanding V, the quantity and quality of the serving staff on a Friday night left so much to be desired. Whilst Valentina took time with each customer, but was on the run when not in conversation with clients, the other staff either knew nothing or had nothing to say about the food that they served to us, and appeared to be on a general go slow. The most telling point in the evening came as we were about to leave, when one of the other waiters (a trainee supervisor, approached our table and gave us all cards, to solicit our google reviews on the 'great evening that we had had')

In addition to the lack of service staff, we were also staggered to find that from a wine list of 4 whites in the £30-£90 per bottle range, two of them were out of stock, leaving just our third, and eventually 4th choice of white for the wine drinker. Their stock control people must have been having an awful time as the couple next to us were advised that they couldn't have their menu choice, because they had 'run out of rice'!!!

On the positive side, the sake pairings proposed by Valentina were creative and very enjoyable, and once the drinks, food and eventually, the wine arrived, we had an enjoyable evening, albeit one that we will remember for mostly...

Booked the afternoon tea for my partners birthday meal. One of the best I have ever had, usually there is always something that isn't as good but everything was perfect. Since we booked it for a Monday afternoon there was only two other guests, so it was a lovely and quiet atmosphere. Food arrived quite quickly and the presentation was amazing. The waitress was very friendly and was thorough in explaining what everything was, also informing us that today was the first day of the Wimbledon themed desserts.

I will most definitely be coming back and telling my friends & family about this afternoon tea :D

Update 27 June 2025:

I've loved this restaurant for their afternoon tea, and have always highly recommended it to others. This was my first time trying their dinner menu and it was lovely. The highlight of the evening was the pork belly skewers, they were divine. So soft and tender.

As much as I wanted to give 5 stars for everything, I have to say that the service was extremely slow, which the waitress who served us apologised for, and I understand that it can get difficult due to short staff and too many bookings for that evening but the time spent waiting was a bit ridiculous. After we were sat it took a while for our order to be taken, but food came out quite quickly which was great, but then we were left sitting with a table full of empty plates for over 30 minutes. And then finally they were cleared and we asked for dessert, which also arrived rather quickly but then after we finished no one approached our table again until we signalled. We asked for the bill and then it was another painful wait for a card machine to be brought over.

I would still come again and hope that next time the service runs a...