Yakitoria

after all the bad reviews on here we weren't sure whether to go or not... but i'm glad we did.

The food was excellent (even though the portions were a bit small for the price)

The waiting staff were very attentive.

In fact the only thing we could fault was the portion size.

Highly recommend the mixed desert plate, the sesame ice cream and the Thai Basil grains were truly exceptional!
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Scott & Sonya
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 4
Sunday, April 06, 2008

Service: Good, quick to deliver menus and get drinks onto the table. Quite attentive.

Food: Poor. Ordered soft shell crab roll, had to send it back due to insufficient crab (approx 1 pea size of crab per roll), sloppy rolling technique (rice everywhere and uneven distribution) and padding with red pepper...seriously. Rainbow roll was average, insufficient fish for the price paid.

Cod and Sea Bass for mains, quite tasty but overpriced for the meager amount of fish offered.

Overall, it was a waste of time and money, do not go to this restaurant.
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The Hungriest Hippo - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I'm very disappointed in this place.

My partner and I visited Yakitoria recently. It started quite well with staff very welcoming and polite.

For starters we ordered the sashimi platter (very nice) and deep fried quid (which was very salty for some reason).

Main course was where it all started to go wrong. I ordered the Duck and my partner ordered the Beef teriyaki. One main dish arrived in resonable time but after 10 min there was no sign of my partners dish, the waiter knew we were waiting for a 2nd dishes so he went to check.

I waited so long my dish had gone cold. After finishing my dish my partner was still waiting for hers. At this point we were quite annoyed and said we couldn't wait for the other dish. We asked to speak to the manager who told us there was some 'mix up' in the kitchen.

He was really apologetic and offered to give the 2nd dish free of charge if we waited, but after waiting that long, we lost the will to live, so we asked for a discount on the bill ( which he obliged).

It's nice to see an establishment with good customer service when things go wrong but at the end of the day, we wanted an enjoyable meal.
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Pan Sakulsaeng
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 4
Saturday, February 02, 2008

I gave Yakitoria a second chance after having been there and been disappointed with the standard of the food. The yakitori, ironically the restaurant's namesake, were like eating rubbers on skewers.

I was part of a large party split onto a few tables, but I wonder, is it normal practice to take food from one table (which had been picked at and half finished) and move it onto our table? This was the response we were met with when we complained that our portion of chicken hadn't come. I know we were among friends, but we're human customers, not birds to be fed!

This was a Christmas set meal, which initially sounded divine. In reality, I'm pretty sure the mushroom soup was Campbell's with a few sliced chives sprinkled on top. The miso cod we were promised was good, but not much bigger than my palm to share between 4 or 5 of us. The quality of all the main course dishes were extremely mediocre and the portions were small, though they were reasonably generous with the cheap fried rice.

The only slightly redeeming features were the sashimi salad and desserts, although we were made to share between 4 what would usually be a portion for one (I know this having already been there). We had a couple of bottles of wine (I had 1.5 glasses) and paid £50 a head for the privilege as a result of the hefty service charge and drinks. The original price quoted to us was about £35 each.
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Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I went to Yakitoria for the first time on Saturday night with a big group of friends. The interior of the restaurant and bar was very nice - very modern and funky and clean. The staff were very welcoming and friendly, although we heard snatches of cantonese conversation (not entirely authentic Japanese)! My friend who organised the Christmas gathering chose the £35 set menu which was much easier for such a large group of people - about 30 of us!

To start, we had creamy mushroom soup which was nice and hot and eased our hunger, but which wasn't very 'Japanese' - a bit nicer than cup-a-soup; then platters of sashimi salad which the dressing I found too salty and which we had to share between 5 of us; followed by fried prawns drizzled in salad cream, again shared between us. The main course consisted of one bowl of fried rice between 4-6 of us, with a small plate of lamb cutlets - although cooked nicely, was a very small portion considering that it was a set menu per person, chicken teriyaki - a reasonably sized plate, and a piece of black cod which we had to cut up and divide between us! Another thing was that we had to eat rice on plates the size of saucers with chopsticks - something even someone who is comfortable using chopsticks would find difficult! Alongside a plate of chinese pak choi cooked in too much sesame oil. The dessert as featured on the menu was a platter for chocolate lovers - we had one platter between 5 of us, allowing us to choose 1.5 small dessert samples each!

Altogether, the actual restaurant, decor and staff were very nice, but the price you have to pay for shared portions is a bit excessive. I'm quite scared to see what the same set menu for 2 people would be like, especially the cod! - one bite of fish each??
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Monday, December 17, 2007

What a great experience. Our knowleageable waiter recommended an assortment of tasty dishes from their new menu - the sushi de luxe platter was a real treat for the price. We chose the Yakitoria favourites,as it appears on the menu, teppen seafood platter and white tuna tataki and can understand why they call them favourites. The quality and simplicity of the dishes is the key here. The mood was funky and all the staff very effeicient. It was exactly what we needed for a Saturday night out. This place has changed. Our biggest surprise was when we were invited to have a drink at the sexy lounge bar downstairs, which we never new existed. We had a strawberry mojito at 4.50 each. We will be back soon.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Sunday, December 09, 2007

Since previous visits, not only have the staff improved - they are now less intrusive, and hover around less - but the menu has recently been changed, for better. Prices are still high (but less so than before) and portions are small, but quality is very good and everything we ordered was delicious. Japanese food demands fresh, high quality ingredients so the prices aren't entirely unjustified. The location is bland and early in the week it can seem a little dead, but the service is now excellent and the interior design is spectacular in an odd way.
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GH
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, December 05, 2007

After a gym we visited Yakitoria for a lunch. Well, one can safely say it is geared towards more corporate clientele. It is located in a newly developed business complex and does not have any Japanese restaurants in the proximity – thus it is able to ‘go for the balls’ with the pricing. The portions are miniscule (even on the Japanese scale) and nothing special. In simple words, wont be going back – better value sushi can be bought anywhere else!
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TK13
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Sunday, December 02, 2007

We (my wife and I) went out last night to a friend's birthday dinner in Yakitoria. Having read the mixed reviews, we were a little apprehensive but chose not to question our friend, the dinner organiser.

Given the fact that there aren't many places in the Paddington area for eating Japanese cuisine, Yakitoria has found a niche and could sustain business for a while...

The decor is mediocre - the Apple PowerBook at the reception desk is a nice add, but the rest of the decor doesn't do the Mac any justice.

Within the first 30 seconds, disappointment had already entered our minds - behind the sushi counter, the area where you'd expect to find the Japanese sushi chefs stood 2 sushi chefs speaking fluent Chinese (Cantonese).

The menu options were basic and overly priced, with some western dishes thrown in with a hint of oriental fusion. Who on earth would think that beef steak and lamb chops would be a staple Japanese diet???

My wife's asked me to keep this review short so I'll try to speed things up:

Service - whilst I do believe in racial equality - having an east European serving me sushi that’s been made by a Chinese person just leaves an odd feeling in me. Almost as odd as having a large Nigerian lady serving me Sze Chuan Prawns! (I’m Chinese BTW). The waiting staff made every effort to make our stay enjoyable - but need a little more practice.

Menu - limited choice to begin with but when told more than 9 items on the menu aren't available…I originally wanted the assorted Sashimi with the sea urchin and was told that they didn't have any sea urchin, interestingly enough the same waiter forgot to tell another person on the same table and when the food arrived, they'd substituted with another item...poor communication. The menu is overly priced for what you get, portions are small. The £32 main course sirloin steak (under the “large dishes” section of the menu) was ordered by a member on the table, when that arrived we joked that his “starter” looked nice - so what's for mains???

To conclude - the restaurant location is nice. Convenient for taking your clients to if working in that area. The sushi price is a little more expensive that it should be but reasonable for the area, however the remainder of the menu is overly priced. The sushi quality is no way near the mark of where Yakitoria is trying to market itself at though.

If we had a "half price" voucher would we go back? No. If you want value for money and I’m not talking cheap meals, but rather good quality Japanese cuisine at a reasonable price, there are plenty of other Japanese run sushi restaurants a short cabs ride away.
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William
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Sunday, September 09, 2007

Like some other reviewers, we were told that not all of the items on the menu were available to order, which didn't make a great first impression - particularly as I had only called to book the restaurant about an hour earlier, and the missing items in question were the skewered meats after which the restaurant takes its name.

But it's difficult to find fault with the food itself - or the price, which by London standards seems reasonable enough. Certainly my Japanese guests were very impressed - although it's not strictly accurate to call this Japanese food: there's an element of fusion, which works very well. The desserts in particular were astonishingly tasty - particularly the apple crumble with azuki beans and yuzu custard. All washed down with Kirin Ichiban - the greatest beer in the world.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, August 30, 2007