Edamamé Reviews Summary

Atmosphere & Setting

Pros:

• "Atmosphere is great, staff extremely helpful and lovely."
• "A cosy and very authentic Japanese, really casual atmosphere."
• "A little piece of Japan in the centre of Oxford."
• "Great intimate setting, with very special first-come first-served speciality menus."
• "Amazing Japanese food, wonderful enclosed atmosphere."
• "A really cosy and vibrant atmosphere inside Edamame!"
• "Unique in Oxford; a tiny homestyle Japanese eating house that offers an extremely high standard of food in generous portions for very reasonable prices."

Cons:

• "Extremely overrated (you'd know if you've been to Asia)"
• "The place is quite small and cozy."
• "There are limited seats, and the space is so small and loud."
• "Because the restaurant is small you will almost always see people queuing to get in."
• "The service feels a bit rushed because of the queues and space limitations."
• "You can't be afraid of sharing a table with strangers, and you need to pay upfront and usually feel pressure to give up your space when you're done."
• "The place isn’t that spacious and there is only one toilet."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Highlights are the eel sushi, miso soup and the frankly mandatory Asahi lager served with ice cold frosted glasses."
• "This is the best Japanese food I’ve had outside of Japan, no other restaurants come close."
• "Salmon teriyaki was amazing!"
• "Everything I’ve tried there has always been delicious and of very good quality."
• "The food was absolutely delicious. In fact it's probably the best food I have tasted in months."
• "The quality of the salmon was exceptional, and the teriyaki sauce was far from standard--in fact, I think it's the best I've ever tasted."
• "The best sushi this side of London."

Cons:

• "The sushi was nice but it was way too overpriced for what you get."
• "This is not authentic and more like western style sushi, the sashimi, egg omelette and sushi is at freeze point which shouldn't be the case."
• "I thought the beef was a bit tough and lacked sweetness."
• "Lack of taste, octopus pieces in takoyaki was too hard as well."
• "And the food taste so average and not clean, I had a bad diarrhea later the daytime after lunch as the pork we ordered is not fully cooked and taste a bit weird."
• "The chicken karaage is overdone, chicken katsu dry and flat like a Viennese fried pork chop."
• "The chicken had the same texture as cat food and the miso broth wasn't tasty."

Service

Pros:

• "Staff were really friendly and accommodating, including finding space for our push chair."
• "The service was incredibly fast, adding value to our overall experience."
• "Super friendly service."
• "The staff were friendly and quick."
• "Good food, patiently and cheerful staff willing to listen to customers, excellent service even though in peak hours."
• "Staff are super friendly."
• "The staff was exceptionally friendly, creating a cozy atmosphere."

Cons:

• "We don’t feel welcomed at all throughout the whole time."
• "Yet we are all charged service fees, but we were being treated so badly."
• "We felt rushed by the staff and treated as if all that was important was getting us through the meal as quickly as possible."
• "Having added a compulsory 10% gratuity to the bill is shameful (even for groups of 2 people!)."
• "Your staff never asked me how the food was and never apologised to me regarding the bill."
• "The waitress kept asking people to leave the restaurant once they finished eating, to the extent that it’s basically rude."
• "But the staff is rushing us all the time and a bit racist."

Value

Pros:

• "Pricing is reasonable and portions are satisfying but not huge."
• "It's price is affordable as well, compared to the other Japanese restaurants in town."
• "Prices are modest. This is not a fancy place, so it will suit students."
• "The food was tasty, and price was really reasonable."
• "Very reasonable prices."
• "Great quality AND quantity of food with a generous price."
• "Well priced and good value for money."

Cons:

• "Just don't know why this restaurant got good reviews. Price is high and quality is low compared to similar Japanese restaurants in London."
• "A better service could have been provided to justify their service fee."
• "Poor value for money."
• "Food was good, but slightly on the pricey side."
• "The prices of some of the dishes have increased by 25% or more."
• "I can't really see the value in the food but just in the idea of the restaurant itself."
• "Food was good but not superb enough to compensate the waiting time and the efforts to get the cash."