Ikkyusan

The most crispy Oyakodon (chicken with egg on rice) exclusively with Eggshell in there if u r a special customer. The staff was nice enough to cancel it off the bill. But quite dusty around the decors, esp the bamboos bit.
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Anonymous
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The food here is really nice (I particularly recommend the Thai jungle curry!), but the bills are always a little steep. A meal for two cost around 30GBP, one main dish and one side dish each, no drinks.

And the service is pretty poor. None of the waitresses I encountered on any of my visits were very polite - each time we were pointed to a table, had menus slammed down in front of us before we were even seated, then left to it. No thanks or goodbyes as we left either (in fact, I don't ever remember being spoken to by any of the waitresses...?). It's the main reason I won't visit again.

The upstairs of the restaurant is very nice (if you're ever lucky enough to be seated up there) - light and airy, traditional Japanese style seating set into a raised wooden platform, tasteful artwork on the walls. But the downstairs, by contrast, is cramped, dark and decorated with fairy lights and bamboo...it's a bit tacky.

I definitely think that if they employed happier staff, I'd go there again, regardless of price or decor. But as it is, I don't really appreciate spending so much on food, then sitting in the dark to eat it whilst the waitresses ignore me.
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5 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Wednesday, July 20, 2011

It looks good outside and inside and the variety of dishes on the menu is impressive but the quality of food, service, and value for money is low, making this restaurant a nasty tourist trap, a place you do not plan to visit again.

The only real Japanese item on the menu, sushi, was pretty bad. Maybe it's time to change the name of the restaurant?

Out of the three items from the dim sum / starters section we tried, only the wontons were worth eating, spare ribs are better avoided. Curries were OK, probably the highlight of our visit.

Service requires quite some improvement; i.e. our dishes arrived at very different times, with the last one arriving after the other dishes were almost all gone.

To sum up - gives Chinatown restaurants a bad name.
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4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Monday, December 27, 2010

Shocking service, stay clear. The food is nice, but not worth the upset the waitresses/waiters cause you.

No thanks.
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Angela Bell - View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I have been here so many times because of the soft shell crab sushi and the ramen soups. This was my LAST visit.

The waitress in black, I'm not sure if she's a manager, but her attitude was ABYSMAL. Considering how much competition there is and how many lovely restaurants (with much better food) there are in London, I am seriously unimpressed.

We asked for green tea and more menus, ignored both times, the waitress grunted and moaned and slammed the bill (without us even asking for it) onto my mothers fingers.

I am never coming back here, and I think this waitress needs another occupation, as she clearly doesn't like people.

Plus we were overcharged by £15.
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Nina Goldberger
2 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Good food but very very bad service! Waitresses were ignoring us throughout the meal.

Our 4 small dishes were dumped on the table stacked on top of each other. No explanation what is what.

End of the meal we were asked if we would like anything else. We asked for dessert menu. Instead the menu waitress put the bill on the table?

And yes adding the service charge without letting customers know. Funny! The bill plate has a sticker that says tips are appreciated. Isn't service charge enough?
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3 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Thursday, July 15, 2010

I ate at Ikkyusan many times over the years and while the food is consistently good there are several issues with service. They have defaulted back into the practice of including a service charge in the bill without actually mentioning it and not showing the prices of your order. You see a big total and leave a tip on top of the already included 12% service charge.... simply a bad practice and very off putting. Change this and you have a really nice restaurant.
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Peter
6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Friday, May 07, 2010

I ate at this restaurant yesterday and thought that the food was superb. I was impressed with the decor and the service. We sat on traditional Japanese seats which I thought was good, after all it is about experiencing Japanese culture and food. Thank you again Ikkyusan, I'll be back.
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Joanne
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, April 01, 2010

Food was passable but not great. But the worst was service. Didn't get any dim sum (ordered 4) because they forgot to bring it! So only managed 3 out of 7 items ordered, then they added it to the bill! Getting the attention of a waitress was also difficult, they seem to stand around doing nothing. Not coming back. Not worth the price either at £30+ for a katsu don, some sushi and drinks.
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4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Thursday, December 03, 2009

A flash overview: Prime location - at the heart of China town, a menu with a mixture of standard Thai, Chinese and Japanese food (an an equally mixed decor). Over priced. Reasonably fast service but with unfriendly(?) attitude (more details below).

We spent around 95 pounds for three (service included voluntarily), set menu.

Food: A lot of effort was spent on presentation. The sushis were moist and reasonably tasty. Sashimi was standard and so was the chicken in teriyaki sauce. The tapioca bubble was slightly lumpy (ie the core was still hard).

I am inclined to reserve my suspicion against those places offering more than one cuisines on their menu. But I haven't tried their Thai or Chinese food so...

Service: One of the reasons for us to choose that menu was the green tea ice-cream which reminded my little friend of her trip to Japan. We were puzzled when each was served two scoups of pink-coloured ice-cream with some-berry flavour. Had we not double-checked (excuse me, is this green tea ice-cream?), we would have never known that the green ice-cream was sold-out. No apology was deemed necessary either (!).

The staff on the floor seemed to be all Chinese speaking females. While one can't fail to appreciate their efficiency, i.e., you got what you ask for in reasonable time, their attitude was that of those who doesn't love their (working) life too much. Having said that, this is nothing new compared to that in half of zillion Chinese restaurants around town. I later started wondering if it's just a cultural difference, not an working “attitude” per se.

As a round up, the price should be halved to put the restaurant to its correct position in the market.
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Charlotte
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Sunday, August 09, 2009