Japan Centre Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Everything was super clean food was quick."
• "The Salmon sashimi block, however, is worth the money and is really good."
• "The best wagyu udon I've ever had!"
• "The sushi looks amazing."
• "The best salmon sashimi in city is here! I usually ask the fisherman to slice it freshly for me."
• "The sushi was great!"
• "The fresh sushi here is fantastic."

Cons:

• "We had lunch in the Ramen restaurant and were unimpressed."
• "I was very disappointed with the tempura."
• "The food was not properly re-heated because they individually heat up the hot food in a microwave."
• "The sushi rice is so hard, and frozen as ice."
• "The ramen is almost like the instant noodle they sell off the shelf."
• "The food inedible, overpriced trash."
• "The Chicken Katsu curry looked nice but the chicken was chewy and dry."

Service

Pros:

• "The staff are always really helpful and friendly, especially at the bubble tea place when you enter."
• "Mr, Suraj who was the supervisor on duty was very helpful and friendly to help me while deciding my order and he made my visit even more enjoyable."
• "Very friendly staff and nice atmosphere."
• "Friendly guy serving at the tills."
• "Staff are incredibly friendly and helpful."
• "Staff are very helpful!!"
• "The front of house were kind and welcoming."

Cons:

• "The manager so rude!"
• "The staff(which I assume is the manager or shift leader, quite tall, male) is super RUDE!!!"
• "I’ve also noticed staff being rude."
• "Service is quite bad, especially the staff at the tills."
• "The 1st counter’s staff attitude is horrible."
• "Unfortunately, one of the new staff members let the place down entirely yesterday evening! She was extremely rude/ mean towards a customer in the queue in front of us including using racist comments."
• "The staff looks very unhappy, and when I took the tea it is leaking, so I need to turn back to reseal. She even did not apologize for it."

Price

Pros:

• "The prices are high but not as high as I would have thought and the quality is really good so it's worth it."
• "The prices are fair considering they're all imported."
• "All the stuff was really delicious and had reasonable prices."
• "Tasty and price was reasonable."
• "Visited yesterday, the food is amazing and relatively well priced."
• "Great food and quality, definitely worth the prices and the detour to visit it."
• "The food was outstanding and great value for money."

Cons:

• "For some of the authentically Japanese products had some crazy pricing."
• "The prices of grocery products are higher compared to other asian/Japanese groceries."
• "Lots of interesting food/home products to look at but prices are on the expensive side."
• "Nice place for browsing but very overpriced. A small sushi tray is £6+ and I’m talking 3 pieces in it."
• "Very pricey as for me (6 pieces almost 6£)."
• "Anything there is too pricey."
• "The food is definitely over-priced."

Atmosphere & Location

Pros:

• "It is great to have a store in London with Japanese food. The shop has a lot of choice."
• "Easy walking distance to get to from Trafalgar Square."
• "It's also right next to China Town which is awesome!"
• "The centre is easy to find, take the street opposite Bubba Gump and go past the Prince Of Wales Theatre on Oxendon St and the Japan Centre is on the corner on the first left opposite the Odeon cinema."
• "Must visit place for anyone that likes Japanese food and more!!!"
• "For all the Japan lovers it's an awesome place!!"
• "The environment was super nice and aesthetically pleasing and had calm music playing in the background."

Cons:

• "The seating arrangement is too messy, eating too close to the fridge for cold foods."
• "The seated area is small and busy but quite friendly, with people seemingly happy to share what space there was."
• "There is also (as us to be expected) no service downstairs which if you are using an online translator or expecting a call might be an issue."
• "It felt unsafe."
• "The shop also doesn't seem to be logically laid out, with chilled drinks all over the place."
• "Accessibility wise, there are steps to traverse down to get to the shop from the street, and I did not see a lift."
• "The layout has been completely changed since reopening, I preferred the downstairs supermarket layout."

Product Selection

Pros:

• "Nice little store packed full of japanese treats."
• "They have an amazing variety of Japanese foods and objects."
• "Great Japanese made products: food, ceramics, object d'art, magazines, skincare and beauty products and much much more!"
• "You’ll find a lot of Japanese delicacies and condiments."
• "Definitely best Japanese alcohol selection I have seen in London."
• "Huge selection of sushi and sashimi and other Japanese food along with a whole bakery section for Japanese desserts."
• "They have a great collection of ingredients for cooking, and fresh produce that can be hard to find elsewhere."

Cons:

• "WARNING! Non vegan items labelled as vegan."
• "Some of the snack are made in China."
• "There's some things I thought Japan center would have e.g detailed origami paper but there's only the kids or beginners designs."
• "I bought some Chinese knock-off snacks that are really not at all Japanese."
• "They don't really have everything Japanese, but they do have a wide variety of same products that are very cute."
• "I wanted to shop for ebisu beer cans and Pokka green tea (specifically Pokka brand) which were available online but they didn't have any there."
• "Been going to this place since 2006. Sadly, they stopped importing most original Japanese sweets and now sell some Taiwanese dupes."