Sapporo Teppanyaki Glasgow — Restaurant in Scotland

So close to 5!

It was our wedding anniversary. We've struggled, every year, to do anything of note.

Most commonly, I'll order Sushi for my wife, have flowers delivered & that's it. Often with work, we didn't even see each other.

This year I wanted to make an effort to do something of serious thought and give my wife a night that genuinely felt special.

We did our 2nd ever escape room first (will review separately).

But I'd seen Sapporo as an option and thought , "Fantastic!".

The perfect elevation of the regular Sushi order, plus an experience to enjoy.

I'm not a massive Sushi fan, but will eat it from time to time. But this wasn't about me.

We arrived and were quickly seated.

Tried to do the track & trace, but there was no WIFI signal.

It connected as we walked over, but lost signal when we sat down.

Tried to connect to their in-house WIFI but it booted me off the page. I figured they had my details from booking, so I wasn't going to stress.

We sat around the hotplate. Some people were reviewing menus, we didn't have one.

About 5-10mins later, we were offered a menus.

The couple next to us were told, "sorry, we have a shortage of menus, I'm trying to get some for you".

This felt like another small issue. It was a bit of a wait and I'm not sure why they wouldn't have sufficient menus to cover the number of seats (and at that point they were only about 60% full).

When it came to the order, the biggest issue was choice.

For me, I wanted to keep things simple.

I had sushi my wife would also like (so she could have a taste) as a starter. And salmon teriyaki as a main.

My wife, though, had a problem.

She gets full easily, but wanted to order half the menu.

In the end, she went with 5 plates of sushi. Thinking, she would assess if she could handle a hot dish as well once she was part way through.

(Spoiler - she didn't finish, though came close).

Then the 'show' began.

I've seen videos of chefs doing this style of routine. But thought the online ones would be a lot better. But the chef we had was almost at that level.

There was one trick I'd suggest he wasn't quite as adept at. But the rest was extremely impressive. As were his cooking skills. He was entertaining and involved the entire table.

This part is a 5 star experience!

The preparation was done to perfection from what I could see (and the part I tasted).

The downside, though, was the drinks order.

We didn't want much.

I don't drink whilst eating. But it was hot (from the hotplate, which, at one point the chef dims the lights to engulf in flames - which looks great but you certainly feel it).

So, I wanted some water.

My wife enjoys a glass of wine and loves white wine with her sushi.

However, despite ordering that as we received the menus, I had finished my starter, received my main; my wife had all her sushi; yet we had no drinks.

We caught someone's attention to be told, "Sorry, there is a backlog at the bar, but I'll go and check".

42mins after ordering, we received our drinks.

The food was delicious and it was generally a wonderful experience.

However, at the end, my wife asked for another, smaller, glass of wine as my plate was removed, as she had about 3 pieces of sushi she still had to work on.

She had 1.5 more pieces and called surrender. But no sign of the wine.

Someone came to take the plates, so we asked about the wine and they went and got it (not as bad, but I wonder, if we hadn't asked...).

By now our 'show' was over and all the waiting staff were flurrying around other tables. So it did take a good 10-15mins to catch someone's attention for the bill.

But from there it was all smooth.

It perhaps sounds like I've raised a lot of negatives. But it didn't spoil the evening. I'd say the first wait for drinks was the only thing that we really noticed. My wife also didn't receive soya sauce with her sushi, but it was quickly brought upon request.

All in, great venue & I would highly recommend. I'd just like them to have more menus and faster or better staffed bar service and it would have...

Previous visits have been great however our most recent one was not the best.

Long story short, Sapporo ONLY runs the the Christmas menu during the month of December. The website is poorly designed that if you're a previous visitor you simply head to book a table upon the home page. However if you scroll all the way down on the homepage do you actually see that only the Christmas menu is available. Even when they call you to confirm and take your deposit there was no mention about Christmas menu only.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, however being Muslims only certain items on the menu are available to us as not all the chicken and lamb is halal. This forcing you to order the most expensive set menu in the Christmas menu if you really want to eat meat as a Muslim. We tried to ask if we could order from the A la carte menu was refused, mass confusion ensured if it was possible to swap items from different set menus, still wasn't clear and felt we could only swap items from a lower cost set menu. Tried to get our deposit back so we could leave as we weren't feeling the restricted menu but was also refused.

After deliberating we decided to just order and try to enjoy our evening.

Fair point the food was good. We did enjoy it, just a few mishaps: Miso soup was luke warm, still good just would have preferred it warmer. When the rice was being prepared in front of us, the chef accidently added what we presume was red wine, and fair play to the chef he realised straight away and cleared all the rice up and remade it, although without the vegetables. I would have preferred it if the chef had cleaned the cooking table after the mishap, especially if people did have gluten intolerances. Dessert we were told there was limited chocolate soufflés so it would be a first come first serve for the 12 of us, especially as well ordered it. After a few minutes discussing the waitress checked with the chefs to tell us there is actually enough but would take time to cook. This felt we were burdening the chef and should select another option. We all decided to wait for the chocolate soufflés which actually came out within the next 5 minutes. We were all surprised as we had been told it would take time. It was quick because soufflés were still cold outside but warm inside, not properly cooked all the way, as if they bunged them all at once in the microwave. Most of us did just eat it like that whilst one sent it back to be reheated. Would have loved the option to get ice cream without as it was too rich on it's own. Fair play to management who gifted the recently married cousin with free ice cream with their soufflé.

Also felt the showmanship wasn't as much as in the past, no fake ketchup prank, no egg catching, felt rushed, maybe because of the rice mishap.

Felt manager and waitress at the beginning were rude and standoffish, towards the end our new waitress was much more sympathetic, and manager did come to talk to us again and gave us a discount on the meal.

All in all, not very impressed. Food was good, just those points that reduced it.

I'm not convinced if I would go back, which is a shame as I've thoroughly enjoyed it...

I wrote a complaint to this restaurant. No response whatsoever. Do not dine here, most appalling service ever. Here is a copy of my complaint to them.

I had purchased an Itison voucher for a meal at your restaurant. While I acknowledge I did not check the terms and conditions in full, I made a booking for three people via your online platform for the above date and time. I realised after booking that I had forgotten to include my Itison code, so I replied to the confirmation email you had sent to inform you of this. A member of your team responded and advised that all I needed to do was bring the QR code on the day, with no mention of any restrictions regarding Saturday bookings.

On arrival, my guests were seated by a female staff member (possibly the manager), to whom they mentioned we were using a voucher. She made no comment regarding any issues with this. I arrived shortly after and was greeted by a male member of staff, who, after I gave my name and offered to show the QR code, informed me that Itison or Wowcher vouchers are not accepted on Saturdays. I explained I had received confirmation with no indication of this restriction. He asked us to take a seat while the rest of the bookings arrived.

By 1:15pm, everyone except my group had arrived and we were left waiting while other guests were promptly served. Eventually, the manager approached and led us to a table, but the menu provided did not match the offer detailed in the Itison voucher. When we queried this, she stated again that vouchers are not valid on Saturdays. I referred her to the email we received and showed her the correspondence, but she was dismissive. After some back and forth, she reluctantly offered to honour the voucher “discreetly” or allow us to rebook for another day.

By this point, we had already felt embarrassed and uncomfortable due to how publicly the situation was handled. We were made to feel like we had done something wrong, when in reality, the error lay in the lack of clear communication from your team. As a result, we decided to leave without dining.

Having worked in the hospitality and service industry for over 20 years, I was disappointed by the lack of empathy, professionalism, and initiative displayed by your staff. A quiet restaurant with only a couple of occupied tables should be the perfect opportunity to accommodate and turn a situation around, not make guests feel unwelcome. A simple acknowledgment of the issue and a discreet solution at the outset would have avoided the scene and retained our custom.

I strongly believe the voucher should have been honoured, as your own communication failed to mention the restriction. Moreover, your team’s handling of the situation did not reflect the standards one would expect from a reputable establishment.

I kindly request that this complaint be reviewed, and I would appreciate a formal response and resolution. I am happy to forward the email...