Squid Tempura
J Sheekey Outside Terrace at the Atlantic Bar

J Sheekey Outside Terrace at the Atlantic Bar

3335 St Martin's Court4AL, London, United Kingdom

Wine • Fish • Drinks • Seafood


"I was really excited to have a seafood meal in London's theater district, so I decided to ignore the negative reviews on Open Table and focus on the positive ones on Trip Advisor. Unfortunately, my experience at the restaurant was a letdown and quite expensive. Despite having to wait a bit at the bar because our outdoor table wasn't ready, the alley table we were seated at was charming. I didn't mind too much when the bottle of wine arrived before the cocktail we ordered, as it was a minor issue. However, I was incredibly disappointed to have been at the restaurant for 90 minutes with only some oysters and one starter being brought to the table. The staff mostly ignored us on a slow Monday night, even though we were there for dinner. We would have been satisfied with just oysters and wine after a show, but we were hungry and left waiting for our dishes, which took a long time to arrive. In fact, the diners who came in after us for post-theater meals had finished eating before we even received our food. Perhaps it was an off night for the kitchen, but considering the high bill we received, I expected a more timely delivery of our dishes without having to repeatedly ask for them. Additionally, the fries/chips we ordered arrived cold. I wish I could say that we had a fantastic seafood meal in London, but the truth is that we only enjoyed the oysters and wine, while the rest of the meal was disappointing for the price we paid. There are much better places in London where you can spend your money."

Sushiya

Sushiya

19 Dalry Road, Edinburgh, EH112BQ, EH11 2BQ, United Kingdom

Food • Sushi • Asiatic • Seafood


"Sushiya is nestled between two other much bigger buildings on Dalry Road near Haymarket and if you blink you 'll probably miss it as it 's only around a third of the size of its neighbours. My little sister is somewhat obsessed with all things Japanese, so when she came up to visit last month, she jumped at the chance of eating at an authentic Japanese restaurant. We had Inari and chicken Yakitori for starters (along with a cup of very unremarkable green tea) which were both very nice but perhaps a tad too pricey at what amounted to £3 a mouthful. Fearing the same cost/size ratio from the sushi we opted to order from elsewhere on the menu. I had chicken teriyaki (with a bowl of miso soup) whilst my sister plumped for a bowl of chicken ramen; and by bowl I mean vat that dish was freakin ' huge! Both are fairly staple dishes for a Japanese restaurant and were equally acceptable if not outstanding but what struck me about both (especially when taking into consideration what I said about the size of the starters) is that this place 's portion control is way out of whack the mains were huge and I struggled to finish mine, my sister gave up halfway through. That 's not the worst thing in the world but I can 't help but feel that I would have been happier paying slightly less for a portion I could have comfortably managed. That 's not to sound like I 'm being cheap (besides the non sushi mains a very reasonably priced anyway) it 's just that I 'm begrudged to leave food I 've paid for. As opposed to stole. Obviously. The service was okay and the waitresses were friendly enough but we did wait for around forty five minutes for our main courses to come. As for its facilities, the interior is small but well kept. It just about barely escapes feeling cramped when full but that 's the kind of setting you come to expect from communal eating bars like these. Size then is an obvious limitation for small lunch bars so it proved to be somewhat surprising when customers were continually turned away due to the establishment being full despite the fact that there was an unoccupied reserved table big enough for a party of seven who (I learned from overhearing the waitresses) were already over half an hour late. Surely this isn 't good business sense; I understand that a reservation of seven is certainly better than the prospect of no custom at all but at the same time there needs to be a line drawn where you lose your reservation and it 's your fault. The seven eventually swaggered in with no hint of apology or excuse as to their tardiness. I hated them a little bit. Whinge and moan from me then and it 's certainly not directed at the restaurant itself it 's more because a) I deplore lateness and b) I really want to see little restaurants like this stay open; they 're three a penny in other parts of the world but we genuinely don 't have all too many of them in the UK and it 's poorly behaved customers along with the reluctance to discipline them (i.e. by cancelling their reservation) which threaten their very existence. All in all then, Sushiya proved very acceptable for a Saturday lunch. I 'm not all too sure I 'd go out of my way to go there again, or that the mood would ever strike me to just pop along; but for aficionados of Japanese cuisine, it 's certainly worth a look. The Water Situation: Water served happily and without fuss."