Ikeda

This was my second time here and I loved it. If you want something special, definitely come here.

The most authentic Japanese restaurant in London that my family loves! As Hong Konger in London, we have high expectations on Japanese food but it always let us down here in London. It’s definitely not a cheap restaurant but it worths every penny u spend. Attentive staff, good ambience, fresh sashimi and nice food. We all give a thumbs up, including my picky teenage children. Will surely recommend it and revisit. Our teenagers ate a lot yesterday and that why the bill was a bit pricy.

Hands down the best Japanese cuisine in town and impeccable service too. Pricey but worthwhile.

I was blew away by how authentic the food was. The quality and the service were impeccable. Love every dishes we had. It was my friend regular place, according to him the food has been consistent throughout the years. You will not regret any dish you have ordered.

Best sushi in London hands down The quality of the fish is great and the staff is very knowledgable . We had the sushi and sashimi set as well as some extra plates . The octopus starter and the aubergine miso plate were the highlights🤤🤤 As for the sashimi you cannot go wrong , it’s all super fresh and tastes great! Great for a special occasion. A bit on those expensive side for sushi but definitely worth it .

An experience focused on quiet fine dining. Sushi was on point. Service was attentive and pleasant. A lovely discovery in the hustle bustle of London.

Had: agadashi tofu, chawanmushi (highly recommend), tuna sashimi, the sushi rolls (seared tuna just melted in the mouth), prawn tempura + pork cutlet. Amazing sushi served authentically, would 100% recommend and can’t wait to return to try everything else!!!

High end cuisine, fairly priced, actually lower than I would have expected. I came here with my friend who has visited it so often that she has already tried everything on the menu and she ordered everything. Apple sake is rather special comparing to all the plum sake jn Japanese cuisine restaurants, it is sweeter but in a refreshing way, and doesn’t have the sour alcohol taste as in the plum sake. Highly recommended Everything is quite high standard. Really enjoy Kobe beef. Would be better if the menu has more dessert other than ice cream and mochi ice-cream. Would come again and tried out chicken 烧鸟next time, and perhaps the wasabi ice cream

Service at this place was uniquely terrible. Our waiter, who said he was the owner of the restaurant, admitted that he 'could' help us add 2 chairs to our table but was choosing not to! It's expensive too: minimum £50 spend per person at dinner. Don't go here!

Service at this place was uniquely terrible. Our waiter, who said he was the owner of the restaurant, was incredibly rude. He stated that I was not a regular customer and therefore won't comply to my wish to add 2 chairs to our table. He even had the audacity to admit that he 'could' help us but was choosing not to! BEWARE: minimum £50 spend per person at dinner. Ridiculous pricing. Been here a couple of times before and NEVER again!

Excellent. We were recommended to this place by a friend who's a bit of a gourmet, and we really owe her for this. The food is mind-blowingly good. It is expensive but every penny was well spent. At first we were a bit concerned about the price so we ordered conservatively, but what we had was so good that we had to order more. In the end we ate two portions each, plus dessert. Everything we had was excellent, we can't think of anything that wasn't, even the sides like pickles, cucumber and ginger that we usually never touch were so good that we uncharacteristically ate them as well. Even though we usually don't eat oranges the ones given to us were so delicious that we finished all of it. We left literally nothing on our plates. I want to give the details of how good every dish is but then this review would be too long. The staff were attentive and gave us good recommendations on what dishes have fresh ingredients on the day. We left the restaurant feeling elated. This place has spoiled me when it comes to Japanese cuisine.

I did not have a good experience at this restaurant. I had dinner at Ikeda when I was visiting London with a friend. We were craving sushi, and happened upon this restaurant while walking to find another one. We saw the Zagat rating inside the door and the older Japanese couple eating at a nearby table, so we assumed it had to be a relatively good restaurant. But it was a mistaken assumption on our part. After we were seated, we were brought some sort of small tuna appetizer. Then we ordered some sushi, sake and edamame. The sushi was OK, not mind-blowing by any means, yet very very expensive. When we got our bill, we saw that we were charged 2 pounds for the tuna appetizer that we did not order. We were also charged 2 pounds for the water we ordered with our meal - which was regular tap water brought in two tiny glasses. Seriously? 2 pounds for each glass of water? The following week after i got back to the U.S., I checked my credit card bill and found out they charged me twice for my meal. Now I'm going to have to call my credit card company and dispute the additional charge they put on my card. I think these people are shysters. I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone. Stay away!

Though the sushi this restaurant serves is authentic, we are not impressed with other dishes such as tempura and noodle dishes -- and the service (more below). Their green tea and miso soup are tasteless (really surprising for an authentic Japanese restaurant) while they charge high prices for both. (Based on a friend's recommendation, we tried a nearby restaurant in Piccadilly called Yoshino, which offers a good lunch menu -- and its tea and miso soup and service are all far better than at Ikeda.) But the main reason for the rating above is that we were turned away in late August when we showed up for a confirmed lunch booking due to a renovation project which had run over. Ikeda had our contact details, but we received no voice mail and no email from the restaurant advising of the works overrun. (One of the staff said he "tried to call" me, but my phone shows no record of having received an attempted call, and there was in any event no voice mail left.) Given the advanced state of technology options today, it is shocking Ikeda did not deliver a message to us about the closure. Instead, all we got was a perfunctory apology -- not even an offer to rebook us on a future date. I sent them an email detailing our experience which they did not even acknowledge. Very disappointing. Given this unsatisfactory attitude, we cannot recommend this restaurant.

I will have to disagree respectfully with the above. I ate at Ikeda three times in the course of two weeks when last staying in London. I cannot speak to the reviewer's experience with water, which surprises me, but I can affirm that the people who run the restaurant are terribly nice and not "shysters", at least from having spoken to them at length about Japanese cooking and the restaurant. I would have to imagine that the double billing is an honest mistake. It is a family place, the oldest surviving Japanese restaurant in London. The mother is the owner, one brother is the maitre d' and the other the chef. As for the sushi, we are very spoiled in the United States as far as quality goes, but Ikeda has some of the best that I have eaten in London. Certainly the restaurant is expensive, which fits with the area and the generally high cost of good Japanese food in London. The cooked dishes are superb, with a very talented chef behind the counter; if you ave any doubts about the quality of preparation or the attention aid to freshness, take a seat right there. The tempura is superb and light, the amuse-bouches are delicious (and worth it), there is a superb seared toro dish and a lovely grilled eggplant. Sorry Haley T. had a bad experience. -- Chris Weitz