Top Authentic Japanese restaurants in London, United Kingdom

Me and my friend usually go to the Soho Eat Tokyo but this time we wanted to try the other branches. I was first sceptical about this (I don’t know why I just got that feeling) but at the end we ended up going. In the beginning they welcomed us, and we ordered our food which came very late compared to the Soho brunch. My friend got the chicken bento and I went for 6 plate of sushi rolls. When they served some of our food, we had to keep asking them for the other dishes or why it was taking longer than it should. We also asked for two cups of water many times and they only gave it to us after asking them the 3rd time. Once we got all of our food, my friend tried his chicken and it was bland, plus the rice he got, was very watery and uncooked (mind you we’re both Asian in an Asian restaurant). As for the sushi, the salmon didn’t taste fresh, rather frozen, and not to mention the California roll was disgusting. The rice on the sushi was uncooked and dry. THE WORST SUSHI I HAVE EVER HAD. The flying fish roe didn’t taste nice and all I could taste was water and rice. The prawn tempura roll was okay but I wouldn’t get it again. The only thing I liked was the aged gyoza; even tho I can make it better and fresh at home. When we asked for the check, me and my friend paid individually and I kindly said “I don’t want to pay for the service change”, the man replied angry “why”. That was the first time a waiter got angry over service charge. If it was America, I would’ve have understood it but in this country, this isn’t the case: I only pay service charge if I see a good atmosphere, great service and great food which this restaurant failed to do. He asked me twice why I wouldn’t pay for it and I only said because “it was slow” because didn’t want to fuss about the other stuff. Once he said fine and told the other stuff about it, I paid for my check and quickly left. I could tell through their eyes that they were shaming me but I don’t care. Maybe change your services AND the quality of your food and, you’ll have me as a regular paying for that extra service charges.

Got takeaway - some of the best sushi I’ve ever had! Will return.

It is okay Ramen if you consider it’s in middle of London, but if you expect something really nice authentic Japanese ramen… idk
But the sides were quite nice, Karaage and Crispy Gyoza

Although Kanada-Ya is my go-to, I had been curious about ippudo for a while and decided to go out of convenience. As we had big bags on us, we decided to go to here as Kanada-Ya is a very small restaurant and can be a bit crammed when it is busy.
Unfortunately, it did not compare to Kanada-Ya. The broth at ippudo wasn’t bad per se, but lacked the richness and umami flavour of Kanada-Ya’s broth which definitely has the depth of something that has been simmered for 18 hours. It tasted fine, but it wasn’t mouth-watering. I wasn’t left craving more after I finished.
Also, I was greatly disappointed by the portions. Two tiny bits of pork in the bowl and a massive heap of noodles. It didn’t feel very well-balanced. The slices of pork are not massive at Kanada-Ya either, but you at least get about 4/5 slices and can eat the pork periodically instead of having to eat one piece at the start and the other at the end of the meal. I was sad to see that there weren’t more pieces of pork hiding under the surface. I forgot to ask for ‘normal’ rather than the standard ‘firm’ noodles, but they were still on the harder side of firm and not enjoyable for me to eat.

This is for me of one the best sushi places in London - sushi is just great at very reasonable prices. Would recommend the crispy salmon roll !
Might be difficult to find if you don't know, but anyway busy with locals. As they have ~5 tables might be a good idea to book ahead on weekends. Tables are a little too close to each other, had the feeling all neighbours could hear our conversation!

Food is great but the restaurant is simply too small and cramped. Service is commendable

I was hoping for more on their ramen but broth was weak and noodles too thin
I order the spicy one and once I mix the spices the flavour of the broth was completely gone
Gyozas were good enough

We loved Eat Tokyo, service was perfect, food came out fast. It was nice to sit downstairs and watch the chef make the food fresh. We went for lunch at 12pm, shortly after queues built up outside, so recommend going early for either sitting. Once seated, no one rushed us and we enjoyed ordering per plate. We ate loads 😋 thank you.

The best sushi in London and fair price/quality policy. Rice is wet and fish is super fresh. Will definitely come back!

Had a ramen there soup was quite room temperature
Quite sad with one unfriendly staff but manager managed the store and customers really well he was so nice
Dont let one bad apple spoil the rest :(

Irasshaimase! My favourite Japanese restaurant in London. It mimics the Ippudo restaurants in Japan so well. The food is great, the staff is nice and attentive. The ramen is just amazing! I'm never disappointed by it. Full of flavour. And the egg is always boiled perfectly, not like other places where the egg is too hard boiled. Even though this is a chain restaurant, this is as authentic of a Japanese restaurant as you can get.

First time eating at Eat Tokyo on a quiet weekday afternoon (no queues). The food menu is huge and the prices are reasonable. They cater for budget eaters as well as those who want to splurge on Wagyu. The sashimi (raw fish) is very fresh, food is freshly prepared which is great, but unfortunately I found the food generally to be tasteless despite being fresh. I can confirm the previous reviews with the tables being extremely sticky despite being cleaned. The chicken with skin on had a lot of fluff/feathers poking out so it wasn’t properly cleaned pre-cooking. Food is mid, at best. I wouldn’t eat here again.

Great atmosphere, great food, great everything. The ramen is so good, warming and delicious, gyoza are crispy and very tasty. Sake very tasty and lots of choices. The service was great very helpful and friendly staff. Definitely recommend if looking for some good ramen at a good price.

went for lunch after watching the Chinese New Year parade and got super lucky as we were first in the queue. Service was fast and good, it was extremely busy. The food was nice and very very good portions for the price. Lots of options on the menu, with photos. We were sat near the sushi bar so could see the chefs making everything, it added to the ambiance. Would go again. I recommend taking a bento box to try a few things for good value, and the takoyakis.

Always a great experience here, great food especially for the affordable price. Even more impressive for the area, but all Eat Tokyo locations are worth the low price

As always, the food from Eat Tokyo is delicious, no matter which branch you go to, it's quality will always be the same, fantastic.

The menu can be a bit daunting, as there is an extremely large selection of food and drink to choose from, but no matter what you get, it'll be tasty

One of the advantages to trying food at different Eat Tokyo locations is that they have branch specific foods, dishes on the menu that are available only at that specific branch, an example being, one branch specialises on super tasty and authentic ramen, so try different places and find the "location" specials.

Staff were exceedingly helpful, quick to take an our very quick to produce food and drinks, super helpful at all times.

Wow!! First time trying the food here after hearing amazing things and I was not disappointed!!! We ordered the akamaru modern ramen which was amazing with a really rich and dense flavor, and amazing toppings, and we had the goma g flavored cucumber which was INSANE and the age-tako yaki which honestly stole the show, the sauce on those appetizers was absolutely incredible!
I will defo be going back here, was not disappointed at all and thought it was really fairly priced for the quality of the food we had! Plus the service was great and we only had to wait for a table for 5-10mins on a Friday night which i was very impressed by

Came here for the first time and I can honestly say one of the best sushi I have had. Waiters were friendly and very nice, will definitely be returning! I wouldn’t recommend the bento boxes as I haven’t seen good reviews on them but highly recommend the dragon roll, sexy lady roll and the black cod sushi

really cute casual Japanese dining experience. it is great value of money with great portion sizes, especially in London and compared to all of the other restaurants in covent garden. the interior was beautiful and authentic, and the kimono uniform added to that! and what a selection of food there was; their menu resembled a mini biography in itself. would 100% recommend

Food was excellent and the staff were extremely friendly and attentive. The ambiance felt cozy and the food is made in full view of where you eat, which is a very nice touch.

Overall, cannot recommend this restaurant enough and will definitely be dining here again soon!

Fresh and delicious! Lovely little local sushi restaurant, kind and attentive staff serving deliciously fresh, great quality food. We had the lunch specials which were so filling and such great value - will be back again for sure.

Nice food, quite high quality comparing to other Japanese restaurant in the UK.
If the chefs are not talking in Mandarin loudly to affect the dinning experience, it could be a great restaurant.
P.S. The toilet is quite disgusting

Highly recommend this restaurant fine food at a very reasonable price!
Sevice is outstanding.

I think this is one of the best ramen you can get in London, and it was the best Karaage I’ve tasted! Very juicy and tender, and well seasoned. I would have liked Kewpie mayo with it but the sauce was great.

The classic chashu pork tonkotsu was so warming and rich, and great for a winters night. The pork was very tender and a bit fatty, super delicious and the noodles were very thin, and nicely cooked.

I would possibly would have preferred the spicy one or the special of the evening only because there were no pickles or sourness to cut through the richness of the tonkotsu. Another thing to note is it’s a bit pricey! (£13-20 for a ramen) but for the karaage alone it was worth the experience. The service and atmosphere were nice too.

On Monday we went for lunch at 12.30 and soon the restaurant became full. We ordered big portion of deep fried food and tempura for starter. For mains fuji spicy chicken donburi, and chicken and salmon teriyaki combo donburi, which were massive, that we had serious difficulty to finish.
But most of all the food was very tasty, colourful and shiny makes you whet your appetite. And with food comes miso soup.
We ended up with bill only 41.50£ for two. We definitely recommend this restaurant and be back when in neighbourhood.

Really nice sushi! Lovely restaurant with clean and fresh interior, friendly staff and great food. We had a sushi platter to share and some hot starters. The sashimi was fresh and the portions were good. I would definitely recommend. Really enjoyed the plum wine spritzer as well!

I've been coming here for years, but I often forget to take pictures of the food as I tend to eat it first...
I haven't had nicer sushi from anywhere else and I can't stop going back-- lucky to live locally!

The staff are friendly and welcoming, and never mess up an order.

I won't even bother trying another sushi place for as long as I'm in London.

Such a nice place with delicious food!
We were greeted with friendly smiles and made to feel welcome, which was a good start! The staff were also very accommodating. We came in with a baby and pram, and they made space for us and even had to assemble a high chair, they obviously dont get babies in there often, we appreciated all the effort though.
Then came the food which was delicious! We got caught up in eating the food so quickly, so i have to apologise for the photos of the half eaten plates 😄
We would definitely go again, the food was very good, the staff were great. Definitely worth a visit!

Pretty decor, staff were wearing traditional attire and you could see the chefs hand rolling the sushi.
Bento box was delicious really good value for money

Mmm absolutely delicious and quality Japanese food. Special praise goes to the quality of the sushi rice - it was perfectly cooked. Up there with sushi Tetsu’s. Kampai is definitely one of the best Japanese restaurants I’ve been to in london. A hidden gem well worth the trip up to north London :)

Lovely restaurant with cool deco, feel comfortable
The sashimi and sushi are fresh and delicious. I recommend sashimi, really lovely. Personally I found sea bass and tuna are the best
Sushi is yummy, even the veg one. Among the five flavours, I enjoy the salmon skins the most
Staff are friendly

Booked via a groupon deal and added a couple of additional dishes on the day. The food was good but we were only in the restaurant about 35 minutes. Drink prices were very high with a small water for £3.50. Very difficult to park in the area.