Yakisoba Yakisoba
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."

YO! Sushi

YO! Sushi

Main Concourse, Victoria Station, Terminus Pl, London, SW1V1JT, W1C 2AA, United Kingdom

Tea • Sushi • Asian • Japanese


"As mediocre as YoSushi is, I am so glad they 're right around the corner from my office. Anyone who knows me can vouch for my random and insatiable sushi cravings at least once a week, so even though it isn 't spectacular, Yo will sell me the raw fish on rice that I so desperately need. The sushi is of a quality just greater than the supermarket variety. Edible, sometimes quite yummy, but barely actually sushi . The fish is ok, the rice is decent, and the variety is fine, but when compared to *nice* Japanese places with career sushi chefs who have been doing this all their lives, you can see that Yo is in a completely different ball-park. Quite good for what it is, but you should be sure you know what it is before you get your hopes up too high. The hot food is a bit better than the sushi, with katsu, yakisoba, and various other cooked items available most of the time. My main caveat for this branch of Yo would be the totally awkward waitstaff that serves the dinner rush. We sat through the most bizarre and confusing explanation of their hot-food ordering policy that turned out to be a complete fabrication, and I 'm still not even sure I understand what he was trying to say. A few minutes later, there seemed to be an extra dish of chicken teriyaki floating around that someone had ordered but not claimed, so the waiter came round and put it down in front of us. You want? Um.... no we 're ok with our noodles and nigiri, thanks. You sure? You try and if you don 't like, I don 't charge you. No, thanks very much but we 're just finishing up. It 's nice chicken with sauce. You try it. *walks away* It was clear that they had made an extra order of the stuff and they were trying to get rid of it. I don 't know why they didn 't just put it on the conveyor belt because it did look nice and someone would have undoubtedly taken it. My husband tried a bite and told the waiter it was too sweet for him. I said, Dude, I would have eaten that! and he confessed that it wasn 't actually half-bad, he just didn 't want the aggressive salesman to win. So, Yo is decent as long as you take it for what it is. The real thing that keeps me going back is the copious amounts of vouchers they keep emailing me; I would have a hard time justifying the expenditure for such a mediocre dining experience if it wasn 't for the 40% discount coupon they were kind enough to send me. Keep it up with the vouchers, Yo, and this could be a lasting relationship. More out of need than out of want, you understand, but as long as I can have some raw fish on rice for less than the sticker price, I 'll be there."