Roku Japanese Restaurant Sheffield — Restaurant in Sheffield

This is a comment that's four months overdue. After finishing my exams and preparing to return to my home country, this became my last meal in Sheffield. I never expected my final meal to be in the suburbs, nor did I anticipate that Sheffield's best restaurant would be located there.

Let's start with the service and ambiance. The owner is Japanese, which sets it apart from most Japanese restaurants in the UK, as many are run by Chinese proprietors. Of course, this also means that the Japanese cuisine here is as authentic as it gets. The owner is very talkative and eager to chat with customers, taking a hands-on approach to every aspect of the restaurant. In our conversation, I learned that he had spent many years as a Japanese culinary apprentice before opening this restaurant. The interior and decor of the restaurant are naturally beautiful, and the atmosphere is fantastic, with most customers engaging in conversation with one another.

Now, onto the food. The must-try is, of course, the sashimi. I'm not well-versed in the styles of fish, and I've never been a fan of sashimi. However, this restaurant's sashimi is so delicious that it could convert anyone who doesn't like sashimi. The freshness and texture of the fish are truly outstanding. Another must-try is the tempura. After eating it, you don't feel the greasiness that often accompanies fried food. The combination of vegetables, shrimp, and fried flour is exceptionally tasty.

As for the main course, I ordered the beef katsu curry. It's the best katsu curry I've ever had, with the beef cooked to perfection and incredibly tender. The curry speaks for itself – it's indescribable in words.

This was the last meal in Sheffield with my friends, and it's a memory that has stayed with me. Surprisingly, Roku isn't a Michelin three-star restaurant, and it makes me question the fairness of the Michelin rating. If there's one and only flaw, it's that this restaurant isn't located in the city where I currently reside.

Thank you, Roku, for changing my perception of...

Leaving a 3 star review as although the food was good, we didn’t have a pleasant dinner experience and the service was in a shambles!!

Initially was our drink orders. Roku doesn’t serve alcoholic drinks so we were asked to order with Factory Floor (opposite venue) using a QR code. However, the Roku gave us the wrong QR code for our table! We saw our drinks arrived through the door but they were delivered to a different table and then were turned away as no one was sure who ordered it. I signaled the waitress who then came and said she would get the drinks for us. She didn’t!! It was only until Factory Floor waitress came back in for another table that we mentioned and managed to get our drinks. At this point it was a 10mins delay on our drink?!

Then we ordered the food. Initially the waitress mentioned we would get 2 miso soups (1 for each person) with our food then came back later and said she would charge for the extra soup. Although we were not happy we didn’t want this to affect our experience, we agreed. Our order was put through; we ordered 1 omekase, 1 crab roll and 2 pieces of wagyu beef nigiri. It took 40minutes for our food to come out - no explanation provided throughout and no one came to check if we were okay. The food came late which meant we didn’t have our dinner until around 9.30pm at which point staff started cleaning around us as we were eating - which completely ruined our dinner experience.

Then we asked to get the bill, and they brought us the wrong bill?! No apologies offered until I pointed it out to the waitress that we had actually waited a long time for our food. Only at this point that they applogised albeit no compensation offered for our unpleasant experience.

The sushi was nice however it was a shame that the service was...

Came for a birthday meal, it was a special occasion for us and our first time. Was really glad to manage to try the otoro given it was the last portion and really grateful to have the unagi as a nigiri.

Food was outstanding and really well done. Definitely felt like the price was reflected in the quality and the end product.

Feedback would be more around service and customer experience. The table next to us were told they had 20 minutes left because the table was needed, essentially. We didn't think they were there much earlier than us so we weren't sure if there was a time limit for us too. We had just ordered another drink and one of our dishes hadn't been with us for long.

When a server cleared a plate, we enquired if there was a time limit and, if so, how much time we had left. She checked, came back, and said we had 9 minutes. It was a bit shocking and I was then trying to rush my food and down our drink which isn't exactly pleasant.

I think it would be better if you're informed of there being a time limit before you're seated and if the food didn't come so intermittently. We wanted to have a hot tea and some dessert but there wasn't time to do this.

Overall, a wonderful new (to us) restaurant and would come again but think a little more thought needs to be given to customer experience from start to end and how things are communicated. I know the gentleman told he had 20 minutes was displeased to be given that warning and not told at the start so I don't imagine we're alone in this view.

Would recommend the peach jelly...