Yashin Ocean House — Restaurant in London

I waa recommended this and was expecting this to provide some high quality food, authentic Japanese food. They otoro on the menu, and the price to go with it, so assumed it should be good. But was it?

Upon entering, there was no sense of an authentic Japanese restaurant, rather a supposed "fine-dining" restaurant.

We were a bit early and were told to come back later even though the doors were open. This already set the tone for the evening - I hoped I was wrong, but sadly, I was right...

Ordered the following:

Unagi, "otoro" and matcha tiramisu. What did I enjoy the from these? The tap water that I didn't mention was nice and the black cod.

Service -

It was pushy. The moment we sat down, we were being pushed to drink or eat something to start with before we even had a look at the menu. I didn't appreciate it. It seemed too "sale-sy". Whenever I had questions about the items on the menu, it was always responded with a defensive answer - these are just questions, no need to show me that you know more than I do. I'll come to that last point soon enough.

Food -

Unagi -

When ordering this, this wasn't on the dinner menu, but online it was available. When I asked about this, I was told this is available but for an additional cost, but I wanted to know how much it was but initially told "just a little more than usual". I don't have the menu memorised and this is the first time I've been here. Just be straightforward and honest - it's not difficult.

When it arrived, it certainly was not authentic. Sadly, the unagi was lukewarm, chewy and rubbery. Signs of it not being fresh. Severely disappointed. The rice and sauce that comes with unagi, was again, not authentic either. Quite sour and lemony. Utterly disappointed.

Otoro -

I had to confirm this multiple times with the waiter and asked if this was actually fatty tuna (otoro) or an entry level fatty tuna (chutoro) but they kept insisting that it's otoro. Otoro usually has a lot more fat marbling and this did not - too pink and less white. I then ended this "discussion" and asked if this was the best they had. And apparently it was. It tasted as disappointing as it looked.

Black Cod -

This was actually the only decent thing on the menu, more of a western dish. Hot as to be expected, good flavours, good texture. Enjoyed this.

Matcha tiramisu -

We thought, we may as well ruin the evening further by getting the dessert. The cream was too thin and runny, matcha could barely be tasted. But what did I expect after all this?

All in all, overpriced, pushy and defensive service and disappointingly bad food.

Would have given it a 1* but the black cod made it a 2*

Sadly, cannot recommend nor would I be revisiting.

Avoid if you're look for good quality Japanese food....

I am well travelled, a passionate foodie and is always in search for authentic cuisines and restaurants with a soul.

This place is not Japanese. Full stop. It’s not even fusion. At most it’s the “Mac Donald’s” version of some combination of Asian ingredients with an amateur theatric open kitchen concept served by chefs who are not exposed and not properly trained in Japanese cuisine.

Just look at the Sushi. The size is wrong, the rice is not the right type of grain, wrong temperature and who would stuffed lettuce and big chunk of carrots ? In Japan, they even have a Somalia for rice. So trust me when I say the grain is not the right type for Sushi !

You won’t find freshly grated wasabi here. At least not in the lunch menu (I was told otherwise later when I said I am going to write a review - perhaps too late already).

A lot of cheap sauces are used here, but they are a disgrace to what Japanese food stands for, which is for its freshness and natural flavour and intensity. Yes, authentic Japanese food uses some sauces, but they are often homemade and brewed with the freshest of ingredients and fish bones etc, but you won’t find such thing here.

I guess the owner of this restaurant is catering to a market who doesn’t know what authentic Japanese food is all about. So if you’re looking for some casual fun dining experience and are not too fussy about the raw ingredients and the authenticity of Japanese food, then this may be the place to go.

This place is so bad and misleading that I took the time off writing this review while still dining in the restaurant. This is my first ever food review online ! Tells you what a big disappointment this is for me !

Don’t get me wrong, the waitress and waiters are all very friendly. But not so with the Portuguese manager who brags upon my arrival that he has been working in this Japanese restaurant for 8 years and another one for 11 years and he emphasise to me that the owner of this restaurant is a Japanese. Totally irrelevant point. Savoy hotel is owned by a Middle Eastern person and yet it is still kept so British - offering the finest cakes, afternoon teas and an immersion in British culture.

Not here.

Before posting this review, I had a word with the manager. He assured me that things may be a bit different if I were to visit next time. He seems to be a bit more friendlier after I said I will be posting this on Google...

Me and my girlfriend stopped in here after a friend who visited London told us the nigiri was great. We sat down and gf went to the restroom and the server immediately asked if I wanted edamame. I told her we would take a look at the menu once we were situated. The moment my gf got back to the table, our server walked up and asked if we wanted drinks. I was a bit taken aback because we had clearly not opened a menu yet, but kindly reminded her that we would take a look first. She was pleasant, but seemed fairly stressed. We have both worked in the food service/fine dining industry for several years, under good and not so good managers/owners, and I couldn’t help but notice how nervous she was even though we were 1 of 2 tables (we came in only half an hour after they opened). I ordered the Shinning Sake and the lady ordered a glass of wine. A young man came over and poured the sake, and spilt a fair amount on the table. I made a joke about the size and cumbersome shape of the bottle to try and make him feel comfortable but he kept his eyes down and gave no response, again seeming to be very stressed. It all started to make more sense when I saw the manager (or owner?) interact with one of the servers. He was rude and I could tell the girl was uncomfortable as he barked something at her and then muttered under his breath. Throughout the meal our server continued to CONSTANTLY check on us, but acted un-confident and even uncertain in things as simple as removing a few empty dishes from the table. She also constantly tried to upsell us. Told us we probably wanted the 12 piece nigiri even though we specifically asked for 8 (we ordered several other dishes), and even apologized for the nigiri taking a while and suggested we order more food even though that was the last thing we were waiting on (of course it came out less than 2 minutes after we declined another dish). After we left, I took a peak at the google reviews and unfortunately confirmed my suspicions about the owner/manager. Our dishes were decent, although quite pricey for the quality, but I would avoid giving this guy your money. I felt bad for the poor server but thought “at least she is getting our automatically added gratuity”, only to read reviews from a former employee who said the owner keeps all of the credit card tips....