Harajuku Kitchen

Such a lovely little restaurant. You’re made to feel so welcome the second you step through the door - plus the decor is quirky but homely. There’s a general happy, buzzy atmosphere too. We were served by Jenni and Barbara and they were both phenomenal. Cracking service, very knowledgable on their menus and friendly and smily. The food is authentic and delicious; I imagine you could order absolutely anything and it would be amazing.

Me and my partner were visiting Scotland from Yorkshire for some mountain biking and came to Edinburgh for the day. This was a spot we’d seen and thought we’d give it a shot and we weren’t disappointed. The food was exceptional, so was the service. I had dreams about that pork belly (Rafute). Jenni and the team were fantastic and she even gave us a recommendation close to home which we will definitely try out! For the price, taste and atmosphere, we couldn’t have asked for a better evening for the last night of our week long trip. Thanks for having us 🙏🏻

Nice food, one of the best Japanese options in the city. The decor is pleasant with a trendy style but a bit small and usually requires a booking. A bit pricey compared with other places in the city and has a friendly and efficient service. Lost one star due to adding a 10% tip automatically to the bill. It should be up to the customer to decide whether to tip or not and not up to the restaurant.

We really enjoyed our visit and they were accommodating of our toddler who enjoyed the food too.

The food was absolute stellar, the staff is very friendly and the atmosphere is lovely. We did not have a reservation and they still were able to give us a table and managed service well despite the place being quite crowded. However, I think the portion size is really tiny and hard to justify for some dishes. But other than that, it was great. Don't expect large or filling portions, but excellent taste nonetheless.

Great food, amazing service. Staff were friendly and open to all questions. Our special requested Sushi sharing platter was delicious and well presented!

Absolutely Perfect! We visited for my mother's birthday and it absolutely made her day, best birthday lunch we have ever had. The food was incredible, the setting was amazing and Eva and Rich provided the best possible service. This was our first time eating at a Japanese restaurant so Eva kindly helped us navigate through the menu and help us pick the perfect amount of food. Rich was extremely kind, helpful and funny! Couldn't ask for anything more! Thank you.

cute spot, food was very fresh & delicious. service was very relaxed, maybe not the place if your wanting a quick dinner but was still enjoyable. will definitely be back !

Good food and service. All of the items we ordered were tasty but the special tuna karaage was absolutely delicious and should stay on the menu in my opinion.

Had a really nice dinner here with a friend a couple of months ago when we were visiting Edinburgh and were looking for something different. We checked Yelp and as I had this place bookmarked we went on a 10 min walk to check it out. The place was pretty full and was even turning tables. I had a raw salmon bowl on a bed of rice and my friend had gyozas and something else I can't remember. We both enjoyed our food and shared a nice bottle of wine. I'd be back for their lunchtime bento next time I'm in the area.

Definitely one of the best Sushi places in Edinburgh so far, and conveniently located near Tollcross and the Kings Theater. Not cheap so! We went there on a Friday evening and reserved a table. Lucky we did as it was very busy. Apparently they also do take away. I would think that they have space for about 40 people with a private function room in the back and its own toilet. I ordered Salmon Sashimi, Edamame Beans, Nigiri set with various choices and Cucumber and pickled radish Hosomaki. The hot green genmai tea is refillable and rice infused. Best green tea I have ever drunk. The staff was really helpful and always kept our mugs filled up with green tea. The plates came fast and the owner served us the assorted Nigiri set, explaining to us each of the selections. They only opened 3 months ago, such a real jewel to discover for all the Sushi lovers!

Commander Riker said, "Blondes and jazz seldom go together." I'm not sure how fair that is to blondes, but until Harajuku Kitchen I'd have said it was a good generalisation with regard to green tea. Somehow, it works. Harajuku Kitchen is a beautiful and ungimmicked Japanese restaurant more interested in a good dining experience than being a food theme park. In a delightful pale pink bomb of East Meets West, it fuses soft candlelight, gentle jazz, wooden flooring and chopsticks to create a relaxing and extremely enjoyable mealtime. Harajuku is the area of Tokyo best known for its funky street style subcultures such as Lolita, but the eponymous Kitchen is far more subtle in its decor. Kaori is a wonderfully cheerful hostess, seemingly thrilled with her establishment (rightly). The first time I came I was able to work by the window using the free wifi (mega Cressi bonus points) as the tea came in abundance. More recently, I came here with Moray L for lunch on a torrentially rainy day. Inside, it was peaceful and oh so warm. We could feel cosy, forgetting the world outside. Oh and the food! It's all very well having a beautiful and comfortable little place (little is the word!) but if the food don't cut the mustard then kind words won't butter no parsnips and... I'm mixing my analogies... In a foodie confusion caused by the joy of this meal. My tonkatsu was amazing - a goodly portion of delicious, tender pork and flavoursome rice of just the right stickiness to handle easily with chopsticks. The value is very good too; most dishes are under a tenner and if they're all as good as mine (Moray's chicken was to die for too) then you really can't go wrong. I'm just glad I don't live in Bruntsfield or I would never have any money. I think every meal would end up being bought from HK. Oh yes. Did I mention they do takeaway?

I'll admit this place is close to being 4 stars but a few things caused it to fall short. I think the biggest problem this place is its desire to serve all the dishes you order at the same time as you would in a European restaurant. I'm happy enough to get all my food at once, just not that happy for it to mostly arrive lukewarm. I'd be totally happy for the small dishes to arrive as and when they're ready given that they're being sold in tapas size portions. Other gripes included there being a fairly rubbish smell in the restaurant, as well as it being quite cold. Positive stuff! The food is good! Temperature problems aside I enjoyed all the dishes I ordered, the tofu was AMAZING! Why isn't tofu always that tasty? Also this place has some really tasty beers on the go, I had a delicious vanilla-y one with Japanese hops by barney's. Tasty! I'm not sure I'll be in a massive rush to go back to harajuku, but I'd be happy to go back again for sure.

This place has a lot of potential with a really delicious sounding menu, but the food could be done so so much better. My friends and I ordered a number of dishes thinking that - as usual in a Japanese restaurant - it will come as it's made. Unfortunately, we had a very long wait before all our food came out at once. (It was so long that some one asked us if we had even ordered yet!) When the food finally arrived, we found the rice extremely disappointing, it was too stodgy and dense (my friend said it tasted old) and while the salmon was good, my friend's tuna was not fresh. I ordered the agedashi tofu and was very disappointed by the taste, instead of being silky, it was solid and chunky and tasted very old. However, the dumplings were good. The one bright point was the tea and the dessert, the coconut ice cream and dorayaki were delicious. We only wished that the cups were bigger so that our server didn't have to fetch more tea for us so often. Overall, for the prices that the restaurant is charging it isn't really the highest quality. I won't have the need to visit the restaurant again.

I am so conflicted!! On one hand, I LOVE Harajuku Kitchen. Their pop up at the Stockbridge Market is one of my favourite Sunday traditions and gosh darnit, they make a mean gyoza! For their market fare: five stars across the board. It's reasonably cheap, consistently good and the service is always more than pleasant. If this was a cartoon, I'd have little heart googly eyes popping out of my head... So why the three star? Because this review isn't about my gyoza spirit animals - it's for their sit in restaurant. I want to love this place, I really do, there's a lot of positive happening within these walls but there's a few factors keeping it from heart filled googly eyes. The Good: The sushi here is pretty top notch - the sashimi is always great and the portions are sizable. Their rolls are really lovely, if not a bit simple for my tastes, but they do the classics and they do it well. The gyoza... for obvious reasons. The service is always DELIGHTFUL. The Middle Ground: Take a pass on the agadashi tofu. It's a great portion size but the cuts of tofu are far too big and it results in the dish being a lump of tofu-ie mess by the end of the meal. In fact, I haven't had much luck with any of the cooked dishes outside of the gyoza and aubergine. The Conflict: Of all the good, this place is ridiculously expensive!! I have no qualms about throwing down money for great sushi but when you've got Soul Sushi and Bentoya throwing down similarly great sushi, you need to be STELLAR to justify the price. Heck, Harajuku even tops the notorious wallet shrinking sushi from Kanpai. To be leading the pack in price, they should be leading the pack in quality and they just aren't. The consistency isn't there and so, next time I want to go on a sushi splurge, it's likely not going to make my list. Now if they could mix more of what they do at the market with what they do in the dining room, i'd be all in but as it stands, I'll just stick with my Sunday gyoza.

This place is going to become a new favorite. So, we committed the cardinal sin of arriving not long before closing time. The staff was super kind and encouraged us to stay (side note: check closing times because they close mid-day). This place is tiny and cute and obviously had good service, so it had a lot going for it right off. The food options looked pretty great and they had wonderful endless genmai tea. We ordered a selection of a few things, including sushi. It was probably some of the best sushi I have had in Edinburgh. Fresh, rolled tightly and looked beautiful. I also had some pretty great miso and a friend had a veg tempura udon soup that she reported to be good as well. Overall, there isnt much you cant like about this place. The prices are pretty decent for the food quality and the location is easy to get too. Thumbs up!

Amazing Japanese food served in a great environment (decorated by local Japanese artist). A bit on the pricy side, but my wife and I made the horrible mistake of sharing the chirashi sushi!! Should've ordered two!!

Service was great but the food was disappointing. The sushi rice had waaaay too much vinegar in it. You could hardly taste the fish! The vegetarian dumplings were rather chewy. It has the potential to be really good if they changed their sushi rice recipe and upgraded the quality of their food across the menu. Like I said, our server was awesome, and the ambience was great. It was quiet and they had nice, light jazz playing in the background. I really really want to give them a kick ass review because everything but the food was so great, but you go to a restaurant to eat, and it was just not great at all :(

Pricey but good sushi experience! Conveniently located near the King's theatre. Easy to make a reservation, nice decor, and good variety of sushi. We shared a chef's mixture platter, a bento box, and a spicy tuna roll. There was enough for two there without feeling uncomfortably full. The rolls were chunky and between all were able to each get a portion. Also had some white wine! Only down side is the cost.. can't eat here every night!

Let me start with I love this place. Now that we have established that, I can go on and talk about why. It has a simple and charming decoration, which gives a great Japanese atmosphere. The sushi is brilliant. Every roll is made out of fresh and tasty ingredients, with great combinations of tastes and textures, all beautifully rolled and presented on very nice plates. My personal favourite is the spider roll, lovely soft shell crab with crunchy lettuce and avocado, an absolute delight. The dragon roll is also very well done and tasty, its a must. For the vegetarians, or you just don't feel like raw fish, the garden roll is very tasty with tamago (sweet omelet), shitake, kanpyo (Japanese fruit shavings), Avocado and mayonnaise. It tastes as good as it sounds. As for non sushi food, the udon was fantastic. I also love the fact they have weird but cool Japanese drinks, like fizzy yogurt and some sort of japanese vanilla sprite that comes in a cool bottle... The staff are very nice and friendly, they even gave me samples of these drinks after I pulled a confused face. Verdict - Great and cool little place with tasty sushi, nice staff and many other interesting things worth trying. Parking is hard to find, and/or it costs, after 18:30 its free. The food price is on the high side but worth it. Enjoy :)

We couldn't get into the legendary Kanpai Sushi down the road (didn't book- fail), and fortunately we stumbled upon Harajuku Kitchen who had a spare table. We both had a teriyaki dish for main and it was the perfect portion, not huge but big enough. The rice was flavoured well and I guess I expected a sauce, but truthfully, didn't really need one. Reading others' reviews I regret not trying the sushi instead, but hey ho. Maybe next time. Reasonable prices and just a few minutes from the King's theatre, so super handy for pre-theatre folk.

Had a cracking meal with the SO and a couple of friends who had had the HK recommended to them. The food was absolutely lovely. Staff friendly and I really can't complain about anything... except that the beer and wine was a touch expensive... Basically meant that the drinks bill (2 beers and a bottle of wine) upped our bill by almost £30 which is fine but when that dwarfs the amount you pay for your food (£70 for 4) it feels a bit off. We definately could have drunk more beers too! Anyway - that aside, the food was ridiculously good value and delicious. Recommend any of the hot dishes as a filling main, and the big sharing sushi rolls were fantastic. Look forward to attending again and trying out some more of the menu, Harajuku KITCHEN, You were finger LICKEN I wanna eat your SUSHI, It must not be MOSHI... Your hot dishes were FAB Better than any KEBAB. I'll be back SOON unless the earth is destroyed in an unfortunate incident involving the MOON.

Well, I'm quite disappointed with food. My friends and I order rainbow roll and salmon sashimi. The salmon is quite pale and not fresh. The rice is coarse and too thick for the roll. However, staff is very enthusiastic and friendly. Although we have to wait for almost half an hour, the service is quite nice

I live nearby to Harajuku and go with my partner as often as once a week sometimes. I love Japanese food and used to eat it regularly, since moving to Edinburgh I have really missed it so I was happy when Harajuku opened. Even better, it has some of the best Japanese I've had anywhere. The menu has a wide variety of different dishes, it is interesting enough that I can eat there often and not get bored. They have a good selection of sushi and other dishes. Everything tastes really fresh and the space has a nice relaxed atmosphere. The staff are wonderfully friendly. It is also very reasonably priced! Some of my favourite dishes are the salmon miso soup, udon noodle soup with tempura vegetables, and the bento box is always great!

Harajuku Kitchen is the best Japanese food I've had in Edinburgh, and served in the coolest and most comfortable surroundings. Staff were lovely although rather slow and a bit confused. Food also came out in a somewhat random order as I am used to things like miso soup coming out before other food, and my miso (complete with onions and bean sprouts, but no seaweed?!) came last. I would love to have tried more but the prices were really quite steep - my dragon roll was £11.80, which is about £3 more than I've paid in the past. I also noted that their version of a California Roll was rather different from the classic, with the inclusion of mango and lettuce and a noted absence of avocado. Ultimately the food really was high quality and, despite ordering one roll and one miso, it was just the right amount to fill me up.

Move over wagamama this is now my favourite Asian place and even better it's independent - woot! When I saw dumplings, that was it. This was my light meal - yes I'm a sucker for these pork dumplings. I choose the vegetables version too, just to get my greens! Both were tasty, in fact the vegetable ones had a nice kick to them. I'll defo bring the other half here. no doubt about that. And I'm intrigued to try other dishes other than dumplings! The decor is really nice - east meets west. Wooden floors boards and paintings on the wall are simple enough to give it character. The menu is equally as good if not better as there is plenty to choose from. I don't know much a bout Japanese food but this could be an education that starts right here!

I am in love! I am a regular at a lot of the farmers markets around town and these guys now sell food at both the Grassmarket farmers market on Saturdays and Stockbridge market on Sundays. This is where I discovered them and had the pleasure to talk extensively with the owners of this great new Japanese restaurant. It's always a great pleasure knowing that the people who make your food are taking great pride in doing so. The gyoza dough is prepared from scratch as are the noodles. This is quite a treat and a pleasure to eat! The meat is succulent and of high quality and the vegetables too. I look forward to going to the markets to eat the yummy stir-frys and gyozas. The other day I had a takeaway from their restaurant and was equally pleased. I have yet to eat in the actual venue but can't fault the food. I highly recommend this place and their multiple selling points. Very pleased and now I want a vegetable gyoza! Drats!!

The karaage chicken was really delicious, very crispy and the pairing with the sauce is a nice complement. The dark dragon roll was not bad but the raw garlic in the spicy tuna mix was a bit overpowering and the dish would have been better without the raw garlic marinade. The salmon sashimi was really good, fish was fresh and the thick slices were so awesome. Overall, this is a nice restaurant for Japanese cuisine. Do reserve before going as this place is always fully booked.

We were Very Very disappointed by the host: we were led to the table and ready to order, then the lady told us the table was booked and asked us to leave as no any table available! No apology and no any service received at all!!! We have to go back the raining street! Really BAD customer experience!

My thoughts on HK are pretty similar to other reviewers - it's nice, but the price tag is rather high for what you get. I came in, oddly craving vegetables, and plumped for the stir fried noodles. I had big hopes for a tasty meal, but what came out (which took a long time) lacked flavour and was very much forgettable - a bit like my cooking at home! For ten quid (including drink), I'd like something more memorable than that.

Clean delicious Japanese flavors and a an interior decor which directly reflects the food. Service was good and the sushi fish was nice and fresh. Very much enjoyed our dining experience as it was a nice light, flavorful, authentic meal in contrast to many of the other options around the area.

I've had sushi all over the world. This sushi is right there with what you find sitting on the grocery store shelf. The rice is very unappetizing. Way to thick and over cooked. It has a mouth feel of minute rice. The fish for being on a city next to the ocean did not taste fresh. The only fish that was really delicious was the salmon. DO NOT order the rainbow roll. At first I thought my daughter was over exaggerating when she gagged. She was not. Worst roll I've ever had. I would not recommend it ever eat here again

Pleasant surroundings, friendly service and good sushi.

Had another lovely lunch here 2 weeks ago. Couldn't fault it. Thank you Kaori. You have a brilliant restaurant. Really nice staff. Very friendly. We were lucky to get a seat! The place was packed!!

Food was good. We had dumplings and sushi. However the girl who took care of us, Amanda, was rude and condescending. Not a pleasant dining experience.

Excellent and intimate place for dinner! We ordered sashimi, nigiri and giozas. The sashimi was outstanding! I hate japanese restaurants were the sashimi looks like "cigarette paper". At harajuku Kitchen we got a decent-sized and tasty sashimi. I love that! The nigiri and the giozas were also good. Nice service, moderate prices (japanese restaurants are usually pricey). Definitely a place I would like to come back in the near future!

The only thing I can say about this place is heavenly and if you are go and try anything on the menu you will be saying the same this is the best sushi in town also the staff are really helpful if you have never tried sushi before they give a very detailed description to help you make the right choice

Great place, great staff, great food. We got lost on the way and called staff who were so helpful. After that, the food didn't disappoint! Will definitely be back.

The food is brilliant! Try the slow cooked pork belly. And the sushi, of course. It's got a lovely relaxed atmosphere, great service, and perfect size. Really excellent Japanese food, but not a trace of arrogance. Go!

I always butcher the word nigiri even though sushi is my fortay and I was born in Japan. Finally got to stop into this charming little Japanese bistro for a quick lunch. I must say I do like the place. It has a very attractive decor that reminds me of the Pacific Northwest ( Seattle , Vancouver ect ) and I knew immediately that it would be tasty. I was greeted by a lovely waitress and was allowed to pick my own table . The menu is a good size , not to small not to big. I ordered a simple lunch of Tuna nigiri , salmon Maki and a sweet potato tempura hand roll. I do prefer the simpler rolls because usually if the simple rolls are good at a place the rest of the food is bound to be . I especially liked the tuna nigiri . It was a different cut from the fish and was a bit firmer but also melted in your mouth. Usually your tuna cut is very soft and easily comes apart but having a bit firmer cut that has the characteristics of the normal sashimi cuts was very refreshing! I am told by the owner that it is cut from the belly of the fish and that they buy a whole fish from the market and the chefs prepare it and cut it all themselves. Note, most sushi places do not buy the whole fish they buy specific cuts and then take from there. This is very unique to a place like Edinburgh that doesn't have your sushi places like Seattle or San Diego or of course Japan. I'd stop in just to try different cuts from the fish and promote places that do this. The salmon maki was also quite good and the salmon was nice and buttery in terms of texture . I quite enjoyed it. The tempura hand roll was also yummy just a little to much rice for me but that's ok. The tempura itself was perfect. I do wish the wasabi was a bit hotter but I know it's hard to find real wasabi . I did get to chat a bit with the owner who told me about their up coming plans and a little bit about the business and such. Nice gentleman . I will be coming back to try some more of the dishes. Just remember this place is a Japanese Bistro not a sushi restaurant so there is more to try here then just sushi, and I have a feeling it will be just as good if not better!