Jin Kichi Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Excellent food quality (black cod in miso paste is an experience)."
• "Cozy and utterly delicious. Probably the best Japanese food I’ve had so far in London."
• "Amazing Japanese restaurant! I would recommend 100%...it’s very clean, the food is amazing especially the sushi if you are a sushi lover."
• "All grilled dishes were delicious. Small, but tasty. Perfect with a cold beer!"
• "Best sashimi I've had for a while."
• "The quality of the food is fantastic and in particular the sushi is some of the best I have ever had."
• "Their grilled black cod fish is the best fish I have ever eaten and I love fish."

Cons:

• "The chicken thigh skewers used a rather non traditional onion instead of leeks, which naturally tasted weird."
• "The nigiri I tried was maybe only slightly above average."
• "The ambience is below average and the food was no longer special."
• "Food is flavoursome, really small portions compared to the price."
• "Average sushi. Should have gone straight to the grilled fish and forget everything else..."
• "Sushi was average and yakitori was limited."
• "The ox tongues were burnt, tough and bitter."

Service

Pros:

• "Service was attentive and considerate and the environment was busy and vibrant while allowing intimate conversation and dining."
• "They know how to do 5 star service here! impressively the cutlery and plates are refreshed with each new course."
• "The staff were friendly and sat us down at the bar."
• "Feels very authentic and the service is good."
• "The staff are friendly and the environment is relaxed."
• "The staff themselves are extremely friendly and accommodating."
• "Service is courteous and prompt."

Cons:

• "Suffering from a typical London syndrome - rushed service."
• "Combine that with getting our food order wrong, and 'not understanding' when we asked for service to be taken off and I wasn't very impressed."
• "Disappointing; the food was truly excellent but the service was downright rude."
• "The service overall was good, not excellent, missing the humbling experience you have when visiting Japan."
• "Small portions, bad service but a 12% service charge."
• "She was not friend, and very cold… not sure if it was busy or she might be stressed out."
• "Our waiter was really rude about it quite obnoxious and insolent like 'its coming god' clearly doesn't know how to speak to customers."

Ambience

Pros:

• "Walking into a mini set of Isle of Dogs or Old Boy - whatever floats your boat."
• "Seatings are very small, but it brings you exactly the feeling of how a yakitori place or sushi restaurant in Japan is."
• "There is no place that feels more like home to me."
• "Little jewel in the heart of Hampstead."
• "Unassuming place that feels a little like Japan."
• "Very cozy and intimate restaurant with great food and very good service."
• "Nice cosy spot with friendly casual atmosphere, really really good."

Cons:

• "And the environment was so-so."
• "Small place, which becomes an issue when there's the overhanging stench of fish."
• "Also, the downstairs room really is not a nice place to sit."
• "The downstares is a bit dinghy and it's a little pricey, but it's otherwise great."
• "There isn't loads of space so it can be a little cramped (especially if you're at the 'bar' area)."
• "Yes, the environment reminded me of some yakitori shops, especially how crammed everything were, but that alone means nothing."
• "We were asked to please pay and leave because the next customers are waiting (after we had been there around 30 minutes)."