Shijo — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

First time we were in it was beautiful, lovely friendly staff. Second time couldn't have been more different. A woman served us and her attitude was disgusting. Got short changed, ordered prawn katsu and was gave something that tasted like a very vinegary teriyaki sauce, told her it was the wrong thing and got nothing but attitude, she said most people don't like prawn katsu, then when she was told that's what was ordered so that's what we assumed we'd get she refused to do anything about it and said well that's not what you get. Wasted £9 on food that's absolutely vile and not what I ordered. Absolute shame after the first experience was so good. I'd suggest retraining your staff with better customer service skills as that's not an acceptable way to treat customers who've just spent £35 on your food. You cannot give people whatever you feel like then blame the customer because most people don't order that. If I wanted what most people wanted I'd have ordered that. I had been recommending this place to everyone, now I won't be back in and I'll be making sure I tell everyone about my experience. Absolutely appalling attitude to take with a paying customer. You dont get to decide what I want to eat. If someone orders something you give them what THEY want, not what you decide. My partners spicy beef ramel bowl had tofu in it and the place had flies everywhere. I don't know if it's changed owners or something but this experience compared to the last experience was...

I’ve been coming to this place for nearly 3 years now. And at first, it was amazing. 5 pounds for a katsu curry as a student on a budget was brilliant. Then however they took that away from us, unsure why.

Then they upped the price to 6 pound each and notched up the minimum card price to 6.50, forcing you to pick up a water, or a lemon tea that is ridiculously over priced.

They’ve lost a lot of customers because of this including myself because they can’t separate themselves from other competition.

Now, Kato has opened and it’s the same price for a chicken katsu but 1000% better in quality. There chicken is tender, breading is crisp and vegetables are freshly steamed and the meal is overall nicely presented, even though it’s budget it’s still made with love.

What put the nail in the coffin for me was returning to Shijo after about half a year of opting for its alternative, Kato. I got a chicken katsu and honestly it was dreadful, the chicken, which of course is frozen, tasted like it had genuinely been sitting out under a heater after it was cooked or was over cooked. It was so stale and disappointing in comparison to how I remember it being. Little things they used to like adding sesame seeds wasn’t included on my dish.

So please if you want a katsu curry, boycott this dreadful place as it’s increasing prices and somehow making the quality worse, I believe even one of the workers has...

Over hyped. I tried the beef katsu curry and it was really not nice. Weird flavors. But i decided to try the chicken version because that is what Shijo is known for, but even that was disappointing.

Many other restaurants nearby that you should try if you want good Asian cuisine, even if you are looking for Halal places (sometimes you just have to go and ask the stores)

Edit in response to owner's reply:

There was a confusion there, your restaurant's profile on this app shows Shijo as a Japanese restaurant which I assumed to be correct. Sorry about my mistake.

Regarding you point about Shijo being a cafe, I judge and rate meals independently based on its quality when I eat it. Regardless of whether I am in a restaurant, cafe or a open stall, if it is good, it is good, and if I don't like it, then I don't like it. That is because people's taste profiles don't change based on the place they are at.

I also want to let you know that I only intend my ratings to be opinions and I don't enforce them on others. They are just a reflection of my experience. Other people may freely take advice from them or ignore them.

Therefore, I am glad that your cafe has been able to satisfy many customers, and due to you kind and satisfactory response to my critical review, I have decided to add a star to...