UCHI Reviews Summary

Category: Japanese restaurant London

Address: 144 Clarence Rd, Lower Clapton, London, E5 8DY, United Kingdom

Phone: +442033024670

Rating: 4.0
based on 127 reviews.

Service

Pros:

  • "The gentleman who greeted us found that we were seated quickly and well catered for."
  • "Service is friendly and 'modest' and for the birthday dinner excellent as we kept 'scatter gun' ordering as the night drew on without problems."
  • "Service was speedy and friendly."
  • "Staff were super accommodating and helpful."
  • "The staff are incredibly kind and helpful, making you feel right at home."
  • "Service was so lovely - attentive but not intrusive."
  • "The service was great, I don't understand what other people expect when it comes to service but as long as people are kind and bring the right order, I'm happy."

Cons:

  • "This place needs to drastically improve its customer service experience."
  • "The worst experience ever. The waiter got our order wrong: instead of one soup and a starter he brought two soups."
  • "We waited 30 mins, not a single well-dressed staff member spoke to us."
  • "Nobody came to take our order until 9, at 9.50 no food on the table yet."
  • "Took 10/15 min just to get water and once we had our food there was no service after that."
  • "Shame the service was so poor. Desperately trying to get the waitress’ attention for drinks, and then to order desert."
  • "Service was slow, we had to ask several times for our drinks and they forgot one of the plates."

Food Quality

Pros:

  • "The sushi is very high quality and the vibe is really nice."
  • "Some of the best food I’ve had in London, and definitely within the sushi remit!"
  • "The menu was a culinary delight, featuring exquisite sashimi and sushi."
  • "The chicken yakitori & kara-age were both beautiful - very juicy & full of flavour."
  • "Food was flawless, tempura broccoli in black rice sushi.. delish'."
  • "The food is absolutely delicious and outstanding."
  • "Fantastic. Fresh fish. A refined menu with some more unusual Japanese options."

Cons:

  • "Edamame was dreadful old and stal reheated in the microwave, shame."
  • "The pork belly robata was two small, fairly nondescript blobs for £8 (£4 per mouthful!)."
  • "We weren’t impressed by the £4 ‘pickled’ carrots."
  • "Salmon roll was made from something like salmons underbelly fat."
  • "The sticky fried rice balls were a bit stodgy so maybe miss those."
  • "Food turned up covered in blue cheese."
  • "The tempura vegetables were very heavy and not tasty."

Price

Pros:

  • "Great service and food. It's a little bit pricy but definitely worth it and I will go back for sure."
  • "Can run a bit pricey if you want to try everything, but you get what you pay for!"
  • "Very imaginative, good service and reasonably priced; we over-ordered and it cost about £35 per head including an alcoholic drink and service charge."
  • "Pretty high end sushi with low end prices."
  • "The value for money is decent overall, I’d say."

Cons:

  • "However the prices are extremely high for a local hackney restaurant."
  • "That puts the price at £6 per piece which is simply a rip off."
  • "We were sat in a corner facing a wall on a little wobbly stool and for that amount of money it felt like we were ripped off."
  • "Also the food is average, small portion and overpriced."
  • "Food was pretty good, well cooked, small portions, quite expensive overall."
  • "The menu is quite small and food is very pricey for the quality."
  • "It was massively overpriced for the quality/quantity."

Ambience

Pros:

  • "Really cute interior and food to match."
  • "Lovely decor and excellent food."
  • "The decor is fab, every aspect of the design is well thought out and comes together beautifully."
  • "Beautiful atmosphere, beautiful food, really quick and efficient staff."
  • "It’s peaceful so you can actually enjoy the atmosphere despite it being busy on a Friday eve for dinner."
  • "The atmosphere is beautiful. The concept is beautiful.. the design elements are very beautiful."
  • "Such a picturesque restaurant with a relaxing mood."

Cons:

  • "Uchi’s awful front of house management and unfinished decor being the amuse bouche of our evening."
  • "On a side note, why do lighting designers insist on these downward spot lights?"
  • "It makes a really unsettling ambience which wasn't very enjoyable late at night."
  • "Uncomfortable stools facing to a wall away of the main room with no view. Atmosphere is noisy and somewhat disorganised."
  • "Also terrible ventilation and whole restaurant was smoked out all night."
  • "Ambience works great too, although a lot of the seating is on bars which makes for a poor experience."
  • "Unfortunately it was a little loud, and some of the tables were poorly made, wobbling around."

Management

Pros:

  • "The staff were all nice and friendly, service was a little bit slow but it's newly opened and they're quite busy so it's understandable."
  • "Every-time I have been the staff have been very helpful and polite, my girlfriend is a celiac and they have always accommodated her with no problems."
  • "A beautiful experience! The setting and welcome from the staff were outstanding, as was the service."

Cons:

  • "The only reason I haven’t given 4/5* is that the maitre d’/manager was repeatedly rude to more than one staff member in front of us."
  • "Manager is a total joke"
  • "The manager's manner was aggressive."
  • "The manager sent the waitress back saying that she was too busy to come and speak with us."
  • "This is one of the most horribly managed restaurants I've ever seen."
  • "Management should seriously consider the purpose and employment status of their waiters otherwise they will lose out on business."
  • "My 30th birthday was ruined by unfathomable management and greed that I have never experienced in a restaurant before."

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