Rik's reviews
Review of Japanese Canteen
09 Dec 07, 21:27
Good for a quick snack 
Japanese Canteen do exactly what they say on the front of the shop. They make fast Japanese food for you to eat in or take out. The portions are generous and the food is generally good - although the last time I went, the chicken and ginger was literally 80% ginger and the chicken wasn't of the best quality. Try the chicken katsu curry, it's a lot better!
The price is quite good, £5.50 for a good serving of Japanese food, although the drinks are pretty expensive.
The set up of the place is very basic, chairs and tables look like they've been taken straight from the local sixth form, the staff aren't particularly friendly, the only reason for coming here is for a good quick Japanese snack.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Wagamama
10 May 07, 11:08
Awful service 
I am a fan of Wagamama's food - they do very nice Japanese noodles - and the Islington branch is my local branch, which I tend to go quite a lot. So why am I giving it two stars? The service there is, on a very good day, of an average standard, on a normal day, mediocre, and on a bad day, absolutely abysmal. You can wait ages to be served. Ages to get a bill. Wrong meals. Wrong drinks. Overcrowding. Forgotten orders. Lukewarm meals. It's as if the staff are playing some kind of Beadle's About stunt, but the sad thing is that they're not. And yet, I still go, and each time I come out slightly more disappointed. They would have received a single star normally, but the food pumps them up one.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Wagamama
01 May 07, 16:39
Terrible! 
Wagamama's service never seems to be their strong point. All the London restaurants seem to suffer from bad service and the only time I've had good service at a Wagamama was in Manchester. Usually the reason that I go to Wagamama's is the high quality, tasty food - I'm kind of expecting bad service now. Not a good business strategy for them I'm sure, but the staff never always let them down completely. Anyway, I went to the Soho Wagamama during a mid-week lunchtime, a particularly quiet time of the week, so I was slightly hoping for better service. But I was totally wrong. Admittedly, we were in a large party of about 8, but still, the food shouldn't take an hour to arrive. We shouldn't expect forgotten drinks, forgotten meals, meals arriving at completely different times (half hour between them), unhelpful staff, etc.
Okay, so service isn't their strong point, but the food will be good I thought. Again, I was wrong. I was served a lukewarm katsu curry, with a thick layer, similar to the ones you get on custard, that you get from microwaving meals. Not nice. I strongly believe that my meal was microwaved and not to a correct temperature. Why they need to microwave my meal when I'm expecting freshly cooked food, I will never know? I thought my opinion of the Wagamama brand couldn't be damaged much more. The visit to this branch certainly proved me wrong.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.