Ten Ten Tei

I love this place. I eat there all the time and went again last night. Having read some of the reviews i must admit the decor may put some people off but i find it authentic and I'm only really interested in the food. The sushi is great - amazingly fresh and well prepared. Not too pricey either. If you like sushi i'd definitely recommend it.
Comment on this reader review

Chris
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Friday, August 22, 2008

I have been to this place quite a few times and have never had a bad experience. As most of the other reviews state, this is definitely not a posh restaurant but it is a decent place to go for a quick lunch/dinner if you are in the area.

I have eaten in numerous Japanese restaurants in the UK and Japan (my Mum being Japanese) and this place does the job if I fancy some unpretentious Japanese food.
Comment on this reader review

J
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Good value for value restaurant, sushi/sashimi tastes great and obviously extremely fresh, but I thought our rice dish was VERY bland indeed. We got rice with prawn tempura. A definite no, no.

As described, the decor is not great, but that's fine as we read the reviews online and knew what to expect.

Very authentic tasting Japanese food, with Japanese customers!
Comment on this reader review

FoodJunkie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 6
Friday, July 18, 2008

I used to go to Ten Ten Tei a lot when I lived in the area and the food was consistently good. I was in the area and decided to pop in for dinner there two nights ago with a friend. Maybe they were having an off day, but based on our experience, I would say the standards have most definitely slipped.

The seaweed salad came over ice with clingfilm between the ice and the seaweed - small criticism but the clingfilm was all wrinkled and jagged around the edges - it really felt like something you might do at home, and not for guests!

My oyako don was the worst I've ever had (and I've lived in Japan for 2 years so I've had a fair few). It reminded me of bad school dinners and tasted entirely of chicken stock cube. Again the presentation was terrible - just a white bowl of rice with a too-liquid slop dollopped over it. I couldn't eat half the chicken as it was bone and gristle. It tasted as if it cost about 20p to make. Such a shame, as this dish, done well, is a joy to eat. On the plus side, the miso aubergine was just fantastic.

All in all the place felt a little grotty - for example, there was just a small bar of soap to wash hands in the bathroom - do you really want to share a bar of soap with strangers in a restaurant?

The prices are reasonable, but not low enough to justify such horrible oyako don and shoddy decor. The fabulous Kyoto Sushi is nearby - I would recommend going there instead.
Comment on this reader review

Douglas Hauser
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, July 02, 2008

I read the reviews on this site, looking for a sushi restaurant since I was going through a sushi phase, so i thought i'd try this place out because the recomendations for the sashimi seemed to stand out on this website and the price for two full stomachs, I was guessing, might be around a£20, so I dragged my friend down there.

We got there at 2pm only to be told that they were closed and that they wouldn't open till 5pm, so we decided to come back later because I had read such good reviews. I think they open from 12 - 2pm then later at 5pm till evening but check. I saw asian diners eating there, so for me that is always a good sign that the food should be of good standard.

The place is not fancy, It's painted old buttermilk yellow, and you can see from the layout that it used to be an old fish and chip shop/cafe, they still have the hoods at the front where once would have been the savaloys, pies and fried fish, but now they use it to display the fresh fish that they use to make the sashimi and sushi, but I came to try the food so the decor didn't bother me, infact I found it interesting.

They give you a menu which is several pages long, separated into different sections ie, sushi dishes, sashimi dishes, noodle dishes etc etc however I did find it a littledifficult to try and figure out what the ingredients were in the dishes so we tried the sashimi and sushi selection which was £18 for 16 mixed pieces of sushi and sashimi (mackrel,salmon, prawn, white fish).

The sashimi was gorgeous, really fresh and sweet, really nice and I thoroughly recomend it. The sushi was also equally as good and both are made freshly buy the chef who stands at the front of the cafe making them.

We were still hungry so we decided to to have order what we thought was prawns and rice, but it was prawn tempura, which was not nice and not worth the price, you got 4 prawns in oily greasy batter and a taste of oil in your mouth - this cost around £9. I also had some miso soup. Our total bill was about £34 with two soft drinks, which was a bit of a shock just for some shushi and four prawns, a coke and miso soup, so we were a bit dissappointed about that.

I didnt really know what I to order, so I did ask for some help from the staff to recomend some popular dishes that we could try, as we were hungry, but I dont think they understood us and consequently we probably ordered the wrong things. We felt that the whole experience was not value for money and we may have had a better deal if we had turned up for a set lunch, but I may come back and give this place another go, if only for the delicious sashimi.
Comment on this reader review

Miss Fussy
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I have been to TenTen a few times, and there has always been great food.

I usually go at lunchtimes. £8-10 for a set lunch and it fills you up. I would definately go there again.

Unlike, most 'budding' food critics here, I find the decor to be a little simplistic, but it's cosy and cute. You're not eating the decor, so it would be nice to see a little open-mindedness from you.
Comment on this reader review

Yin
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Saturday, June 07, 2008

if you are looking for great japanese food, then this is the place! i've been here a few times now and the quality has always been excellent. The price is very reasonable too considering the quality of the food.

My personal favourite has to be the set dinner!

But the restaurant is tiny and deco is very dated so its not a place a romantic date.Also, the restaurant is closed on Sundays, which is a bit disappointing.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 9
Sunday, May 04, 2008

I've visited this restaurant quite a few times since discovering it on this very web site. It's been a pleasure to eat there - great food, very reasonable prices and large portions. Great place to take a small party of about 6 as well as being good for an intimate dining experience.

The downstairs restaurant area is quite small, but I've not had an occasion when it's been too busy for me to sit down (unlike some of the trendier places like Yo! and Satsuma, which are overpriced and the service is awful). TTT's service is great too.. the food arrives in good time, and I've not had any cause for complaint.

I see a lot of criticism on this website about the atmosphere. The decor is simple, the service is fine and the staff courteous. It's not a bustling restaurant full of shouting and laughter.. it's a simple eating experience. Go here for great food, I can't say much more than that.
Comment on this reader review

JP
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Sorry Mark,

I just went back to Ten Ten Tei and had another excellent Sushi/Sashimi meal. You do not know Japanese food well enough - it was absolutely superb and should be commended for freshness and quality above most other London Japanese restaurants - the atmosphere is accurate to the Japanese style, and not at all glitzy, like you obviously expected. Ten Ten Tei - thanks for yet another magnificent meal.
Comment on this reader review

Alan Percey
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Very good quality sushi at reasonable prices. The decor is not great but that is more than made up for by the quality of the food. The menu is extensive with all the usual sushi plus some more exotic dishes for the more adventurous. We paid £60 for a meal for two including a bottle of wine (£12) and tip (£6) and came away very full. I will definitely be going back.
Comment on this reader review

Ben
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 8
Sunday, January 27, 2008