Dojo Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

This is the worst dine-in experience I’ve ever had in the last two year! I am sick about it. Literally I am sick. Immediately after I left this restaurant I had stomachache. Initially I felt strange cause you should not smell fishes in ramen or rice. I insisted on trusting people and now this is what I’ve got, trying to find a pharmacy at night. The city council of Newcastle did not to investigate on sanitary conditions of Dojo, as I am not the only person who have fallen ill after tasting food there. To be worse, unbelievably rude service. Lads there are unprofessional but at least average, though they do let you wait half a hour to get your bill. The female manger there is, in brief, a disgrace. She treats guests differently, and this petty strategy is probably from which positive comments come. Not only in my case but also in case of an unknown girl sitting next to me, she’s like seeing you by her nose. We Own You No Money Landlord “Lady”! In brief I won’t visit such a disturbing place for another time. I will inform every friend of mine to avoid it , and now I am telling you. If it’s only a fault of tastes, I won’t give one star for that business owners and waiters have to earn their living. But for somewhere that ruins my night, I won’t leave even half a star only if I can. Why on earth this sort of unclean restaurants continues to exist? Folks, I warned...

Visited on 30 Dec 2022, at 6.30pm.

It was my first visit to Dojo and we were able to get a table without any reservations. The restaurant had a cosy atmosphere with Japanese designs decorating the place.

Definitely a lot of choices to choose from on their menu (from sushi to bento sets to hotpot) but I ordered a Chicken Karaage Bento Set (£13.80) which came with miso soup, edamame, 2 California rolls, 2 slices of salmon sashimi and 2 salmon nigiri. The chicken karaage was very juicy and not dry at all. I found it to be just the right amount of portion as well. The sashimi was fresh and the California roll was not too bad too. However, the salmon nigiri tasted like it may have been smoked salmon instead of the regular raw salmon? The company I was remarked the same as well so we were just a bit disappointed if that was the case as we would have definitely preferred it made with regular raw salmon.

Another downside from our visit was that none of the tempura dishes were available as the chef was not in that day to make them. Seems a bit strange that they’d require a separate particular chef to make such dishes.

The staff were friendly and very knowledgeable when it come to our questions regarding their menu and they provided good service.

I would go back to try the other items...

This is the third Japanese style restaurant we have tried in Newcastle. We visited on a Monday evening and thought it would probably be quiet, however the restaurant was quite busy which added to the overall atmosphere. We were shown to our table quickly and left to go through the rather extensive menu. It can be a bit bewildering due to the amount of choice, however it's something of a theme of all the Japanese restaurants we have visited in the city. Drinks arrived promptly and serving staff were professional and friendly. The interior is decorated in quite a contemporary style with the odd television showing random Japanese J-pop videos. All that you would expect. We opted for set menus. The service was again quick and efficient. We both found the food to be of a good quality and tasty, especially the hot 'main'. Mackerel for me and pork for my partner. However we did both find the sushi and sashimi a little disappointing. The flavours were ok but they did seem to be a little dry, both the fish and the rice which was a shame. The pricing is good and reflects what we had very well. We would visit again but it wouldn't be our first choice of Japanese restaurant in Newcastle. Definitely worth...