Sen Nin

This place is just no good at all. It's just not a Japanese restaurant. The miso soup tasted as if it had come out of a packet: moreover, it was served first as if it were a separate course. Any fool know that with Japanese food, everything comes together at the same time! More presentational boo boos occurred with serving the edamame in the zaru (sort of sieve like plate) that is used for serving noodles in. And the rice came in a soup bowl. OK so maybe these presentational points should not be the be all and end all of it, but they were a dead giveaway that this restaurant is not authentic and is run by people who don't really understand how food is presented in Japan. Moreover, with Japanese food a lot of thought should go into the presentation of a meal.

The food was pretty mediocre. No indication as to the weight and provenance of the meat and fish served. the fried rice was made with damp peppers making the whole lot soggy. the stir-fried vegetables were mainly beansprouts.

Finally, the service was disinterested, rude and made no concessions towards the customers. When I asked for a half portion I was told that this was only available for children. It was pay £15.95 or get nothing at all.

Just don't come here. If you want good teppanyaki, you are better off picking up the ingredients from the Japan Centre in Piccadilly and doing it yourself at home.
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Hanako Birks
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, November 17, 2008

My husband I attended this restaurant last Friday and we were thoroughly disappointed. The Teppanyaki concept and atmosphere was alright but the food was extremely appalling. We were short changed considering how much we paid and how much food we were served. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone. Quality and quantity of food was minimal and of a very poor standard.
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Isabel Asprey
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Saturday, October 04, 2008

I went on Wednesday night with 4 friends and we had such a good meal. The food was delicious, the sushi was great and most of all the chef kept us fully entertained. We had a great time. Even my friend from Japan who came with us thoroughly enjoyed the food and evening.

The restaurant is located on the top end of Upper Street . We had a few sake cocktails then sushi for starters.

Thereafter, our chef came and he was truly wonderful. Kept us entertained all throughout and we just didnt want him to stop cooking. I was also invited to toss an egg into a chefs hat and i failed and quit after 3 attempts.

The staff were really friendly and courteous. Compared to the other teppnayaki restaurants in London including one in Piccadily and Holborn, this was reasonably priced, less formal but the chefs were much better.

A great evening and thoroughly recommended!!!
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Rose - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Thursday, July 24, 2008

there is nothing japanese about this restaurant. no real japanese chefs...run by chinese...not making sense at all...terrible food...can't believe people giving many stars.
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whinger
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Hi folks!

We attended Sen Nin last night (excellent choice Nigel!!) for my friends 30th birthday.. It was great.

Food:

Delicious!! All the food was fresh and cooked right in front of us. Rice, eggs, prawns, fillets of various fish etc... The food that was made in the kitchens looked immaculate and tasted fantastic i.e. presented very well.

Service:

The service was very friendly, good attitudes, smiles and very accommodating (especially with the mess we made trying the chefs tricks!)

Atmosphere:

Quite dark, but this was remedied by soft lighting and the chef!! The overall tone matched the theme of the restaurant – can’t complain.

Entertainment:

Our chef was a riot!! Very funny and was great with all our party!! He thrilled and amazed us with his l33t Teppanyaki skills! Getting the customers involved with the cooking was extremely funny… let’s just say that some of us were left with egg on our faces 

Everyone had a fantastic time thanks to the chef (buddy).

Value for money:

I thought the prices were ok. Set meals were priced between £18-£35 per person and consisted of a choice of 3 mains out of a list of ten. Appetisers and other meals were priced between £4-£12. Not sure of the drink prices…. But the Sake was good lol *Hic*
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Darren
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

This place is now called Sen-Nin.

It's a great addition to the neighbouhood. Smashing cuts of meat and beautiful fish all cooked in front of you. The master chefs are also comedians and the theatrical element to the meal really makes for a different evening. Probably not a place to go for a serious tete-a-tete but a fab choice for good food combined with entertainment. Oh, and the egg fried rice is the best I've ever tasted.

Not cheap but not unreasonable for the quality.
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Gemstone
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Saturday, May 10, 2008

We went to Ah-So as a group of 6 for a birthday celebration, and it was fantastic - a perfect choice for an entertaining meal for such an occasion.

Aside from the usual skills demonstrated by any good Teppanyaki chef, our chef was a real performer and interacted with the diners superbly - it was great fun.

The service was very attentive, and the food was very good. Prices were pretty reasonable (I've not been to another Teppanyaki restaurant in London before so I can't make a fair comparison, but I understand that they tend to be quite expensive). Our total bill came to around £35 per person, which included 2 starter platters which we all shared (Sushi and Gyoza, 6 pieces per platter) a set meal with 4 varieties of meat/fish and fried rice, and a fair amount of drinks which probably totalled around £10 per person. The bill also included a 10% service charge which I felt was wholly deserved, so it was well worth the money we paid all-in-all.

In summary, I'd definitely recommend Ah-So, especially if you're looking for entertainment as well as a good meal.
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paddy - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 19, 2008

I am not to keen on Japanese food but as our work christmas party was to be held at ah-So , i had no choice. I must admit, i absolutely loved it, The atmosphere was great, the food was delicious and the service was very good. I had the tempura prawns and the person seated next to me was vegetarian so i had a bit of her tempura vegetables and vegetarian sushi- i thoroughly recommend it.

The Chef was so entertaining and i have never laughed so much. There were, i think 3 other tables and those chefs were generally quiet but the organiser had specifically requested this Chef. He really made the experience good and i had such a good time. I would truly say it is the best fillet beef i have had and the best tuna.

I would definately recommend sitting around the teppanyaki table but if i was to have a romantic meal then the back area with candles looks quite good.

I would truly recommend it .
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Lisa
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Ah-So is divided into two sections. Those seated towards the front of the restaurant sit in a square semi-circle around a large metal grill where the chef cooks the food in front of diners, whereas the tables at the back tend to be smaller and have no such grills and food arrives through ordinary table service. We were seated in front of one of the grills.

Ah-So offers a number of set options where you choose miso soup, a starter and one or two main dishes served with either steamed or grilled rice. There is a specific vegetarian menu with veggie sushi as the starter and a choice of mains. The only previous time we ate here, I had ordered the button mushrooms as my main only to be told partway through the meal that they had run out and been obliged to select a cherry tomato based dish. I decided to try the mushrooms again, and requested it served with steamed rice. I was the only veggie at in our group. Everyone's soup came at once, it was tasty and contained long strips of tofu. The starters came mostly together, although some people were finished before others had received their items. The veggie sushi were cucumber rolls, served with wasabi, soy sauce and ginger. No complaints so far. After we had finished the starters, the chef came to our table to start cooking the mains. After the grill was turned on, the entertainment started where several of us were invited up to toss eggs in the air and try to catch them with the chef's hat, something much harder than it sounds and which he was very good at. Once this was over, he cooked a selection of bean-sprouts and onions on the grill. Grilled rice with eggs came next, cooked together with some of the fish and meat dishes. The rice is definitely unsuitable for veggies since it is cooked using the same utensils and juices as whatever meat and fish is also being cooked on the grill, and although several of us had specifically ordered the steamed rather than grilled rice he insisted on giving us all a bowl full whether we accepted it or not. The meat and fish mains do not arrive together since the chef can only cook a certain number of items on the grill at any one time but as most people have ordered two items such as one meat and one fish this does not really pose any problems for the non-veggies. The chef also distributes bits of each meal around the table so most people get to taste some of the steak or some of the monk-fish. During the course of his cooking, the chef kept up a constant banter with all the guests referring to the males as "sexy boy" and pretending to ask for their phone numbers. Once all the meat and fish dishes had been served it was becoming increasingly obvious that none of the steamed rices were coming and also that something had happened to my main. We asked the chef who asked the kitchen, but he came back to advise that there were no more mushrooms. I requested the cherry tomatoes instead but they had also run out. On both times we have eaten here therefore, the veggie main I ordered was unavailable although at least on the first occasion they had bothered to advise us before the dish was due to be served. The one veggie dish they did have was bean-sprouts in a sesame-based sauce. I ordered this instead but the main flavour was just salty and the whole thing quite tasteless.

Once the mains were served, the chef moved onto another table and we heard the same banter and jokes being used on the next group of diners. We ordered some coffees and some of our table picked desserts. The meal had been served with a variety of alcoholic drinks, mainly beer and mango mojitos. The total bill worked out as £40 per person including drinks.

Ah-So provides good entertainment and is probably good value for money if you eat either meat or fish. The soup and sushi starter are good, but they seem unable to get things right when it comes to veggies. I doubt very much that I will eat here again, and based on some of the things the chef was saying I probably would not recommend it to other diners. He was entertaining to start with, but once he started being derogatory it stopped being funny and he just became a rude and unpleasant man having an unnecessary and potentially hurtful laugh at other people's expense.
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Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Friday, November 30, 2007

I recently went to this restaurant before the Arsenal game for lunch. There were 4 of us and we told the waiting staff that we had to eat quickly. However, what an experience. The Chef was absolutely amazing. He juggled with the eggs like they were small tennis balls , he was so funny that we just did not want him to stop.

The food was great. We had the best tempura prawns ever for starters. So big with a light batter and served with a really nice sauce.Then came the set meal which was the soup, vegetables , grilled rice and we chose fillet steak, salmon and seabass. It was so tasty and really good value for money.

Staff were great and i will definately return.
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Nik - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, October 18, 2007