Soseki

The fact the chef’s are not Japanese is not the problem however it is the chefs imagination and probably lack of experience of Japanese cuisine is at fault here. Soseki has set itself up in a very traditional mode and the menu should have reflected this to some degree. I agree the dishes are somewhat unsuitable and are definitely too western.

Portions are far too small and I agree the desserts are not good at all.

What a shame such a nice restaurant but so wrong in many ways.
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jaqueline
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, June 09, 2010

very disappointed with it, the sushi and sashimi are not fresh and portions are very tiny. it took them a good half an hr to serve each dish. the only good thing is the ambience, decor is nice. i dont understand how they can justify charging 50pounds for the haiku set, it doesnt even worth half of that in my opinion. both me and my friend couldnt believe how bad it was. so will never return.
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4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Ambience: not as nice as shown in pictures, the glass table gives a canteen feeling

Chef: we were told that the chef(s) were not Japanese.

Service: the Japanese girl that served us was NOT as patient as she should be for this kind of restaurant. She never refill the tea and shows impatience throughout, especially when we asked what certain things on the menu means.

Menu: a bit strange. Not Japanese. The dinner offer has risotto and stuff, weird to be served in a Japanese restaurant. The menu is difficult to understand generally. Weird names given to food.

Food: Really quite mediocre. Especially when the plate with sashimi arrived fresh from the fridge and the plate was chilled. These were pre-prepared before the evening, and it is really not nice to know that your sashimi is not freshly cut. I would imagine more traditional Japanese hot food on the menu but none of them appeared on menu. The menu offers some sushi (the haiku dinner set) and a strange, western dinner set. the a la carte is quite restrictive. We had a five course meal I think and none of the course was tasty....

Dessert: dessert is extremely horrible - our waitress said it was flower ice cream when the other said it was white miso ice cream. none of us finished it up, they mix with a very bad chocolate cake. Sometimes I think if you just do a simple green tea icecream that is good enough, too ambitious and no heart put into the food.

Overall, I was hoping for a good, fine dining Japanese experience with clients but it really was not the case. It is quite a strange combination of things really..
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CA
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Thursday, September 24, 2009

I can only concur with the reviewer before me - this place is not as special as it should be.

Taking the 50% deal on a Tuesday night at the bar, the first observation is that it's a well designed place with nice booths. Service is slow and whilst there seemed to be lots of staff, they were more focused on looking after the peoiple in the booths who weren't eating with 50% off!

The food started well - nice sashimi plate, delicate soup with tofu and some pickles. So far so good. Some delicious cubes of belly pork followed & were the highlight of the meal.

It then got worse. A pretty bland steamed salmon with watery carrots and daikon - the worst bit being two massively overcooked shrimps complete with griitty intestinal tract - inexcusable in a place like this.

The nigiri sushi had fried tofu in it - practically a sin in Japan, but hoisted on us gaijin's with inpunity (my girlfriend went to school in Kyoto and reads/speaks fluent Japanese, so I'm not making this bit up)

Pudding was average - the sort of thing you get at a bad wedding - ice cream and strawberries with a cube of some strange chocolate mousse stuff. You don't even get tea at the end. Need I say more?

Wine list is good and the staff are friendly - the end on a positive. Nice from far, but far from nice!
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Coops
6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Went for dinner to Soseki last night and although I really wanted to like it, it fell short on many fronts.

We choose the £50 menu (as they were offering a 50% discount on it) and some of the dishes were very good (the chicken/custard, seabass soup and veg tempura the highlights). However some of the dishes including all the sushi we tried were a little bland. At £25 the food was not bad value but at £50 it was well overpriced in my opinion.

Service was friendly but a little slow & they could do with more toilets. Only one each for men & woman which leads to small groups of people hanging around waiting their turn. Again no problem in a pub but in a restaurant with these prices it surprised me.

The plum wine served over ice made a refreshing change to sake.

On a positive note the place looks great and is a very relaxing place to spend an evening.
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Chris - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

We took advantage of the 50% discount offer. The meal was good. Our waitress was very polite and friendly. The atmosphere was calming even though it was a busy evening. However, the drinks, not on offer, was way too expensive (eg. £5 for a bottle beer). Without the offer the food too would have been expensive.
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Me
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Sunday, April 05, 2009

I have been there with two other friends to have Haiku course.

It was an excellent course food and enjoyed full course.

There are varieties in this course and tasted different level of sensitive Japanese food.

I would recommend this restaurant and this course (any course seem very attractive).

The atmosphere you get is also really perfect. Interior is good, too!
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angeldelight
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, March 13, 2009