Category: Bistro
Okawari in Chinatown has been replaced by a new,shiny Japanese restaurant with the (from an Austrian perspective) very unfortunate name Ga Ga Sushi. To be fair,Okawari desperately needed a makeover and it really worked out very well.
Albeit maybe slightly pricier than Okawari,it is definitely more stylish,the food is better,the portions more than generous and nicely presented and the personnel is incredibly friendly.
We went there for a quick pre-theatre dinner and were perfectly happy (I would in fact highly recommend Ga Ga Sushi for West end pre-theatre). I apologise –in my chaotic ways I have lost the restaurant bill and they don’t seem to have a website yet,therefore I will have to estimate the prices,my memory is gone.
To combat the worst hunger we started with a good portion of Edamame beans (3.50). This was followed by some maki:the spicy tuna ones (4?) were nice but not spicy and for the eel avocado maki (5?) they could have been a bit more generous with the eel but apart from these minor things both were really very tasty.
We felt like more fish and rice and went for the donburi with tuna sashimi (Tekka Don) (9?),nicely cooked rice topped with loads of fresh tuna which melted in the mouth. It came with a portion of very pleasant soba soup on the side.
The best dish though I thought was the nasu dengaku (5.50?) –grilled aubergine with miso –the lovely sweet taste of the miso with the soft aubergine,delicious.
Unfortunately,in all of their renovation attempts,they forgot to redo the toilets…(if you have ever been to the loo at Okawari you will know that that is not good).
Ga Ga Sushi is still too new to reach a definitive conclusion about it, it could go either way I suppose,but I will give a cautious green light and hope they will keep their standard up (and (please!) redo the loos…).
- Food: 7/10
- Ambiance: 6/10
- Service: 7.5/10
- Value for money:7.5/10
- Chances of returning: 80%
- Verdict: new,very promising Japanese pre-theater option in Chinatown
16 Lisle Street
Chinatown
London W1D 6
I could only recall Leong’s Legends Continue and Empress of Sichuan along Lisle Street,oh,not forgetting See Woo grocery store as well. Will drop by for a quick snack the next time round,thanks for the heads up!
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DO not go to this restaurant. If you like TERRIBLE customer service then go ahead,but the staff and the worst in the whole of London. The woman who served us was just ridiculous. She wanted to MAKE us share tables with other people (only 2 of us) which we said “no thanks,we’ll wait”which is reasonable because we are paying to eat so we are entitled to our own comfort…she straight away replied with “Well then it you will have to wait for a very long time”and stormed off. Great welcoming service isn’t it?
Anyway,once we were seated she literally threw the menus at us on the table and to say the least,we were made like we were not welcome there. My friends who also went to this restaurant a few hours after me,said they experienced the same issue with this woman and another staff who would not let them choose their seats and not even a word of “thank you”after they paid the bill and left,they just grabbed the money and walked off again as if they were not welcome. DO NOT go to this restaurant!!!
Hi Jonny,I am sorry that you had such a bad experience at this restaurant. I only went there once and they were very friendly. let’s hope they get rid off this staff members then,sounds really awful!
Hmm,will be heading down next week. Let’s hope that I won’t have the same experience as Jonny. Will report back!
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Good luck and please let me know!
This is a badly managed and poorly run restaurant. Staff are unhelpful and the manager or lady acting like a manager is rude and obnoxious. The food tasted good but the portions of sushi and sashimi were tiny for the price. I eat sushi at least once a week and have done for years and this place has the worst service and smallest portions I have ever come across. The sushi restaurant that used to be here was quite a good place but I will not be going back here.
Hey R Jacobs,it seemed I was very lucky when I was there,I’ve been hearing a lot of bad things about Ga Ga Sushi recently…Thanks for your comment and letting me know about your experience!
Sounds like the service and food is hit and miss. I’d also read some horrible reviews before I went and I had an ok time. The staff were very good when I went and though some of the dishes weren’t great,some were very good…