Saki

Today was my first visit to Saki. I went there for lunch. I had the lunch box as it was advertised outside the restaurant.

The lunch box had teriyaki chicken alongside rice,pickled vegetables and a lettuce salad. 1/4 of an orange were also served in the lunch box.

Overall it was good. Quantity wise it was neither great nor little. If you need a quick tasty lunch that's not too expensive go for it.

I had green tea + lunch box and i paid 6.20.

The staff were friendly.

Apart from that it is nothing special. However i would suggest it if you were in Queensway and do not want to have the usual junk food chinese / italian standard food.
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rosiea - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Thursday, February 07, 2008

I get take away sushi from saki on regular basis and have been impressed every time with the sushi, miso, and the service.

The sushi is always freshly made and delicious. It is one of the few places that i have managed to find locally which does a great takeaway service and also does not add alot of sugar to the rice.
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Monday, June 18, 2007

Portions are smallish and prices not cheap but quality is both quite good and quite authentic - as so-called Japanese restaurants go in London. (I grew up in Japan and have eaten at most Japanese restaurants in London over the last two decades, so I do know a little about this.) Soul-less basement but management seems to have taken note of previous complaints of bad service because the wait staff were definitely trying reasonably hard.
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Exotissima
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Friday, March 09, 2007

London has a huge variety of Japenese restaurants and I would not recommend this one to anybody.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, September 05, 2006

This establishment is indeed Japanese by name, however, by quality it is a stone's throw away from a 3-Star experience at your local Fried Chicken outfit.

I was greeted by an Eastern European manageress who kindly led me to my table though I declined this area for a better view at the sushi bar. The restaurant is staffed with one Japanese sushi chef and three Eastern European servers. Having decided what to order I queried the waitress about whether the Unagi (Fresh Water Eel) would be warmed up as should be or whether this would be served cold over rice to which I presume she had no understanding of what I was refering to though an answer was swiftly supplied by the manageress as "Warm". Fantastic.

My order consisted of:

- 6 pieces of Tuna Maki (with a request of spicy)

- 6 pieces of Crab & Cucumber

- 2 pieces of Ugani

- 2 piece of Ikura (Salmon Roe)

- 1 glass of Japanese Sencha Green Tea

Nori/seaweed: This should produce a crispy bite if prepared efficiently sadly it was closer to a chewy, gummy and wet chewing gum.

Tuna: The pieces of tuna were about as thin and narrow as the break-it chopsticks provided.

Crab & Cucumber: Naturally no complaints there. Synthetic crab stick and sliced cucumber.

Unagi: My warm unagi came as cold as it would have been as if just taken out of the fridge, drizzled with what looked like watered down liquified sweet Kabayaki sauce. Good eel should taste like pate and crisp on the outside but tender on the inside served warm. The unagi provided was both soft on the inside and out and cold.

Ikura: Well you can't possibly get that wrong.

As a conclusion to the experience, I would say, foodwise, this is a step over supermarket grade sushi. Atmosphere-wise, a simple outfit with illustrated asahi posters hung on the walls accompanied by hanging paraphernalia one would find in a Japanese souvenir shop with the sounds of heart 106.2 playing through the radio to diners ripping through their cigarette packs and dispersing smoke all along the ashtray covered sushi bar. Value-wise, for £16.30 I would advise anyone and their neighbour to talley along to your nearest grocery shop to pick up a readymade pack of sushi as by comparisons the cusine you would find here is closely reminiscent of something you would find along the sandwich aisles in your local. A great disappointment to see Japanese cuisine being reduced to such horrifying standards by people who by all means should go back to culinary school.
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MB Kazmi
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Thursday, May 18, 2006

Although Saki may not be the best tasting Japanese restaurant in London, I think it is a good starting point for "Japanese food beginners" to experience authentic Japanese food for reasonable price. I laughed when a reviewer was dissapointed because "Sushi was served with the sushi rice still warm." That's how Sushi is served in a good Sushi restaurant in Japan!! If you want to try "fake" Japanese food, go to Wagamama or Wasabi, where you will be very happy getting your Sushi with firm cold rice.
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H
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, April 24, 2006

It is nice to have a Japanese option on a street which is otherwise full of either fast food or Chinese options. But this place was a disappointment.

Sushi was served with the sushi rice still warm. And the "set menus" are a bit a rip-off - the "salad" was a couple of lettuce leaves, and the "dessert" an orange segment.
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Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Friday, February 03, 2006

The sashimi is fresh and good value, but some of the cooked dishes are disappointing. The bento box is good value, but the Miso soup is quite poor. Pretty mixed overall. Pleasant service and a bland but relaxed atmosphere.
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Lucy Penhaligon
Wednesday, August 24, 2005