Yah-So Caribbean — Restaurant in London

Don’t book if there are more than 8 of you and you hate to wait…

Really wanted to love the place as i had been impressed by the menu online. Large booking of 18 so had to preorder items which is fair enough. What they failed to tell us is that they couldn’t accommodate such a large booking and instead had us split up. Not nice when not everyone knew each other. Why not be clear about this when taking the booking!

A long review sorry so will break it down

Service- very poor, wasn’t greeted with a hello or smile when i walked in and was instead pointed to where i needed to go. Would have been nice if i was told hello and that i was the 1st to arrive, no one said do you want a drink or feel free to order drinks in the meantime. Throughout the whole meal the service was consistently poor. Not enough cutlery brought out for the tables and rather than asking you to pass your plates they would just stand there and stare at you like your supposed to just know. No one ever asked how the meals were. Used cutlery and old empty cups were never cleared between food courses, got to a point when there was no space for plates!

We had three courses. Everyone’s food came out at different times, even people who had ordered the same meals. At no point did we get the chance to eat together. It was literally an hour before drinks orders were taken as we all just sat there. Could not get their attention as they never looked our way. Many of us could not get up as we were crammed to a corner where we would have all of needed to move. 12 of us around a table for what should have been 8 People.

Each of the meals required an hour wait. Why not just tell us! After 3 hours and no dessert, i was past caring and just wanted to leave but there were no staff around to signal for the bill! Even tried calling the restaurant from my seat but suprise, suprise no one answered😂

The starter was good (ribs) but the rest was horrible. Many of us were unable to eat the rice as it was hard and stale. Definitely not cooked that day. The same went for the curry goat. How do you even mess up chips.

Others seemed impressed with the lobster and fish so maybe just some dishes are a no go.

The toilet- no toilet roll!

Dessert- no one ate it complaining that the ice-cream had melted out before it arrived and have a funny taste. The rum cake was also a no go as it was hard and somewhat dry. Those who had the crumble also refused to eat it as it was just unpleasant.

Cocktails were so so, probably not helped that they kept getting the orders wrong between the two tables. Being told that a few of them were unavailable was disappointing but the biggest let down was realising they were premade. What the hell were they shaking and putting on a show for!

We also kept having random men come over to stare at us like were we candy for sale in a sweet shop. They stood there for so long and it happened a good few times. Were we just unlucky or is this the norm for their customers?

Not for me i’m afraid, loved the concept but the food and service was lacking.

You have...

Introduction

This spot simply don't know how to treat their customers. Service was both unprofessional and unwelcoming. Staff was not at all attentive. They lacked warmth and they don't check up on you to see if everything is OK during the meal. I had to keep waving someone over when I needed assistance. They will make you feel rushed as soon as you pay the bill by asking for the table in a restaurant that's half full. I wouldn't go back after this and I wouldn't recommend it as it currently stands.

The Food

The fried fish was overdone, dry, bland and lacked flavour. There wasn't even basic salt and pepper on it, which was shocking for a so called "Jamaican inspired" restaurant. The calamari batter was far too thick, making it unpleasant to eat. They don't serve authentic Jamaican food. The rice & peas is laughable and should be removed from the menu or called something else entirely as its not traditional. The oxtail was so sweet as if they dropped a jar of sugar into it on purpose, which is ghastly. Oxtail should be savoury, not sweet. It's not a dessert.

My friend had the steak, which he said was very good. The prawns for me, were delicious, very nicely seasoned. The curry goat is flavourful when done right. However, sometimes it's tender, other times its tough. They must have changed Chef. I really wanted to love this restaurant because it looks current and I wanted to continue to support it as this was my 4th visit but the service isn't getting any better so it's a bit of a let down.

Waitress fobbing you off to someone else at the door is poor hosting skills. The seats are now torn up so badly, that they could damage your outfit. Completely unacceptable.

Recommendations

If this restaurant had assertive and proactive management it would:-

. Improve its service by building relationships with customers to ensure repeat business

. Upskill its staff by training them how to approach and interact with customers positively

. Ensure customers are served in a timely manner

. Show willingness and aptitude to take the appropriate steps to finding solutions to problems

. Pay attention to detail when preparing the food and being consistent

Conclusion

I hope they see this as constructive criticism and take the steps necessary to improve and grow. They can be a success, however, if they fail to address their problems head on, they will need Gordon Ramsay to save them from bankruptcy. They have potential and I would like...

I had a booking for 2 and arrived 10 minutes before the booked time to be told that I don't have a table and they are expecting a party of 50 in the next 10 minutes. I thought that was very strange considering that the restaurant seemed very full already, so how were they suddenly expecting a party of 50 in the next 10 minutes??? There was certainly no capacity for 50 people. So I later read the other reviews and noticed that others have also shared the exact same experience; Waiting staff have told customers that the restaurant are expecting a party of 50 or 60 in order to get the customer to leave their tables or to not even fulfill the customers reservation on arrival.

It was so frustrating and embarrassing to be turned away at the door after I had a reservation. The waitress didn't even apologise or try to rectify the situation. There's this horrible 'I don't care' attitude, she was even smirking as she told us we can't eat there.

The service is appalling, at this point the waiting staff don't just need training, they need to go completely! Clearly they don't want to be there anyway as they have permanent miserable look on their faces and a rude attitude which doesn't create a nice environment.

I'm sure if I was a celebrity or related to the owners, I would receive exemplary service as that's what I have observed in the past.

As a Jamaican especially, I have tried to support Yahso, but the rudeness and unprofessionalism from staff as well as the abhorrent waiting times is not acceptable and is not reflective of a true Jamaican dining experience. I am shocked that the owners are clearly not acting on the feedback of customers concerning staff attitudes and very poor service.

I will not be returning again nor will I recommend to family and friends as I don't want their day out to be ruined, like mine was, by...