Yo! Sushi (Islington)

This is by far the most incredible meal I have ever eaten. Looking at the comments below I'm astonished to see that such comments could be made on such a quality establishment.
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Anon
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, January 03, 2008

My wife and I recently ate here and had what was probably one of the worst dining experiences I can remember.

We were seated and immediately placed an order for Teriyaki Chicken, with steamed rice, and a couple of beers. The steamed rice and beer arrived quickly. But the rice was cold and clammy, and we were told it wasn't possible to heat it up. No explanation was given for this...

Shortly after, we placed a second order for sashimi because there didn't seem to be anything more than a few cucumber rolls on the conveyor belt..

At this point, we were told that there was no sashimi. This is a sushi restaurant and nobody felt that it was important to let us know before we sat down and had started placing orders that there was no fish!!

From there, things just got worse.. Almost half an hour later the teriyaki chicken still hadn't arrived and when we asked nobody seemed to know anything about it.. So we ordered again. We were so hungry by now that we ate it with our cold steamed rice.

We also ordered some gyoza prawn dumplings that tasted like... nothing. That was because there was, in fact, nothing in them..

All the while, we could see into the serving area and there were bits of old fish, seaweed and rice trampled underfoot into a sort of mush.

Everyone seemed completely hapless and incapable of doing anything or answering simple questions. The ultimate insult was that we left still hungry with a bill for £30..

I've been to Yo Sushi several times before, usually before or after a movie at the cinema next door.. And while I have always felt that the quality of the fish was poor to bad, I've put up with that in the interests of having a quick and reasonably healthy meal..

But this was so bad that it was actually insulting. I'm insulted that the owners have such a low opinion of their customers that they're prepared to treat them in this way. This represents a sharp deterioration in what was already a pretty ordinary, over-priced dining experience - and I won't be falling for it again.. Next time, I'll go to Wagamama next door.

As we were leaving we also noticed more people coming in - none of whom were being told in advance about the lack of fish in a fish restaurant...
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Revisiting this place 8 months on I still find the sushi to be atrocious.

I thought I'd not be so adventurous and just get take out - big mistake. Who do you complain to when you get served up such awful sushi?

I ordered the salmon and tuna box along with a separate box of tuna sashimi.

The salmon, whilst looking appealing, was quite tasteless. The tuna in the same box was no better.

The tuna sashimi in its own box had been cut wrong, whilst looking thick and juicy it was clearly lacking in any sort of flavour.

A quite tasteless experience with some rather dodgy looking fish.

Hopefully some other restauranter will notice the significant lack of sushi restaurants in Islington and this one will close down.

Avoid it - it's awful.
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Heath Hansell
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, June 16, 2006

i went there on a sat night at 10pm....you can happily go alone and feel ok...the sushi tasted good to me, and was fresh, so maybe they've taken heed of some of the harsh criticism on this site.

to my mind it's a tad overpriced but i'd go back again.
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Michael Harrison
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Sunday, May 14, 2006

I read the negative reviews but was craving sushi. Why, oh why did I not pay attention? It was all wrong from the moment I walked in and was told to sit anywhere. After waiting what felt like an age to order a glass of wine and craning my neck looking around for some service I got out of my stool and approached the vacant waitress who was rearranging the bento boxes in the fridge. I asked whether I could order a glass of wine and she seemed rather stunned.

The plate of salmon sashimi was okay, albeit slightly slimy. A safe choice of edamame was my next choice, but it was the most measly offering of edamame I have ever received with a total of about 12 undercooked beans.

The dishes rotating endlessly on the belt looked wilted and tired. There was no way I wanted to go there so I turned to the menu. I ordered a salmon and avocado handroll and a crispy salmon skin handroll.

The 'chef' handed my both rolls in record time. I felt the soggy 'crispy' salmon skin roll and knew instantly that this baby had not been made in the time I had been there. It was cold and drenched in oil. The first bite I took almost made me gag as I felt the cold cooking oil drip down my throat and had to wrestle with the rubbery salmon skin.

After about 5 minutes of trying to get the chef's attention I queried whether she had made it fresh or just grabbed it from the belt. "Belt" she replied. So much for the "made to order" claim on the menu. She asked if she could make me a new one but I was so repulsed I told her to throw it away.

The salmon and avocado handroll was fine.

However, I was so put off my lunch I couldn't eat another morsel. This was not helped by watching the chef a metre away from me hacking into plastic bags of the fattiest chicken I had ever seen and letting it spill out onto the stainless steel before he started hacking into it.

When I left the restaurant my coat reeked of cooking oil. Not what you expect from a 'sushi' restaurant.

The most disgusting 'sushi' experience I have ever had.
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Charger - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Friday, December 16, 2005

Went there at lunch to order a take away salmon and tuna box. The place looked like it was in utter chaos with the sushi taking approx 45 minutes to be prepared in a restaurant that had approx 3 tables containing clientelle. One other chap even threatened to walk away and get his sushi elsewhere.
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Heath Hansell
Tuesday, October 11, 2005

the food was horrible, the crispy salmon skin wasnt crispy at all, the miso soup too salty, not much of variety..service is slow.i wont go back.
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ng
Saturday, October 08, 2005

One of the nicer branches of this chain. Real sushi fans may consider the assortment a little dull and strangely mayonnaise now seems to feature quite prominently in their dishes. Not pleasant. Would also advise against desert. Although the little water taps at the table look inviting, don't forget you will be charged £1 if take so much as a sip. Great place to grab a quick bite before going to the cinema next door though.
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Jessica
Friday, September 09, 2005