Satsuma

Truly awful - I am sad to say

During my twenties I was happy to spend around two thousand pounds on dining here in total. Today I went back for the first time in three years with husband and toddler in tow, hoping for a reliable relaxed dining experience. I was really disappointed and will not be going again.

Although the decor and chef may be the same, everything else was about as bad as it gets. There was only one other diner there (whilst the wonderful Busaba which is up the road was heaving). My toddler decided to stay in his compact buggy as their highchair would have been too small. We chose a table which was as unobtrusive as possible to restaurant activities (or lack thereof). Five minutes later I was approached by a rude young waiter who started complaining about the buggy making it difficult for him to get to the rarely used spare till at the back of the restaurant. I know that it is only used if the place is so busy that orders and payments cannot be processed at the main till at the front. I pointed this out and he shrugged his shoulders saying that there was no way of knowing whether the place would suddenly be packed out. He had the audacity to contradict me regarding how much space my tiny buggy was taking up compared to a highchair.

I said that with a toddler, we would not be there for long anyway. I had not banked on this being due to diminutive portions and hyper-inflated prices, even allowing for the fact that I had not visited in a while. They whisked away my husband's plate even before he had finished chewing the last measley mouthful - bear in mind that there was STILL only the one other customer there.

To add insult to injury when my husband was paying using the hand held chip and pin machine, the waitress appeared to be taking her time at one point. It was only after we arrived home that we noticed that she had managed to punch in the options on the machine to wack on a discretionary gratuity of 12.5 percent (which they should have asked us about and had definitely not deserved). Head count upon our departure? Er...one and did I mention that the other place down the road was full (as were most of the other Wardour Street eateries) so we wont be the first customers to vote with our feet
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Claire Simms
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Sunday, June 29, 2008

Wonderful Chicken Katsu Curry - I know a lot of people that like Wagamama's version of this dish but Satsuma's is fantastic. It's also worth treating yourself to one of their lovely drinks. Their curry is delicious and the meal is fantastic value for money. I've never experienced any problems with the service there and have been there at both quiet and busy times.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Thursday, April 17, 2008

I never liked Satsuma, having been there once when it first opened and not being at all impressed. I've lived in Japan, and so I know a bit more about Japanese food than I would otherwise.

However, having been dragged there again by friends last week, and sampled the ebi katsu curry, I was actually really impressed! This dish is the best ebi katsu curry I've had in London! Admittedly curry rice is not the most difficult of dishes, and my experience is that it is kind of frowned upon as junk food in Japan. But the prawns are really nicely done. Also the atmosphere is really good - bustling - and the decor is pretty nice, clean.

The miso soup is OK but nothing special and edamame are fine. Other than that I would probably go to a 'proper' Japanese place such as Kyoto Sushi - when it reopens. Just around the corner - fantastic and reasonably priced.
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Douglas Hauser
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

this is the worst japanese restaurant (out of some 50 over japanese restaurants) i have tried in my life. the service was ok but the food, disappointing. my friend and i ordered a yakiniku gohan (beef rice set) and shoyu ramen (soup noodle with fried chicken ). the beef was thick, overcooked, hard to chew, too salty and the onion that accompanied the beef was thickly sliced, poorly presented. the chicken on the ramen was tasteless. the ramen itself tasted like some overcooked, heavy alkaline store bought packaged noodle (which was not "pulled" noodle).

for the price we paid (£20 exclude drink) , i don't expect top quality food. however, it was far from being honest food. to me, they just simply cut and throw all packaged ingredients together, heat it up and serve to the customers.
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yin
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Sunday, January 27, 2008

I have been only once twith a friend o Satsuma as we were passing, and we were pleasantly surprised. Unpretencious good food, sitting at long tables with other customers, a bit pricier that Wagamama but definately miles better tasting food!

The staff are a bit unattentive, but very friendly (only one from Japan considering it´s a Japanese Restaurant).

Overall definately recommended.
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ari
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Thursday, October 25, 2007

I have been only once twith a friend o Satsuma as we were passing, and we were pleasantly surprised. Unpretencious good food, sitting at long tables with other customers, a bit pricier that Wagamama but definately miles better tasting food!

The staff are a bit unattentive, but very friendly (only one from Japan considering it´s a Japanese Restaurant).

Overall definately recommended.
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ari
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Thursday, October 25, 2007

As a Japanese who knows how Japanese food should taste, I will never return to this restaurant. However, a Westerner would probably enjoy this restaurant more, as my friends did. I ordered a bento box and various sushi rolls. The miso soup, rice, salad and seafood were nice but nothing special to write about. The sushi on the other hand, was appalling! The rolls were small and badly made (some of them were falling apart), and the rice was hard and was not proper sushi rice. It was definitely overpriced for the quality, but I guess that's central London. They also messed up our bill, which took us a few minutes to sort out.

If you don't mind trekking out a bit, Cafe Japan in Golders Green is inifinitely better in quality and value for money.
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Inai
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Sunday, September 23, 2007

Satsuma is a hidden gem for London Japanese food lovers if you don't mind the noisy atmosphere. Went there once to try it out and have become a regular since. Why > consistently great well prepared dishes with ample portions; sushi is fresh, succulent and as good as it gets for half the cost of other resto's; great appetizers espacially the tempura, the dumplings and edamame beans which wer plentifuld an perfectly prepared; also the grilled tofu steak - excellent; very friendly efficient service [the reviewer who said otherwise is barking mad or was in a foul mood most likely]; and above all the price in terms of value for money; yes you can find a less noisy, more cozy sushi place with 2x the price but why bother - at these prices it's almost as good as Roka - for the money and beats Myama, Itsu and Defune by a long short overall (other than the noise factor)
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Ed Mitri
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 10
Sunday, September 09, 2007

I eat at Satsuma last night with friends and had a lovely meal. I dont eat a huge amount of japanese food and so, no expert, but everything we had was very fresh, tasty and very nicely presented. The only negative point i can make is that i thought the tempura was a little bland. We had the chicken teriyaki bento box, a noodle dish, california rolls and several nigiri and a mixed tempura. With 2 glasses of rose the bill was £38 for the two of us. I'd definitely go back :)
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Gero
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Thursday, September 06, 2007

Overall: 6

Food: 7

Service:4

Value:8

Atmosphere: 3

Positives:

Great sushi for value

Great mixed fresh juices

Very fast delivery of food

Central

Negatives

Cafeteria style seating

Noisy

Because of fast delivery of food it is not served in “correct” order

In Soho
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-=7=-
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 8
Friday, August 10, 2007