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Inamo

Address:134-136 Wardour Street W1F 8ZP, Soho
Tel:020 7851 7051
Website: Visit Inamo website
Price: £38.00 Wine: £14.50 Champagne: £45.00
Opening Hours:Mon-Sun 12N-10.30pm

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Pioneering a new approach to service, Inamo aims to take the frustration out of ordering & paying. The concept is simple: each table doubles as a ‘computer screen’, with menus projected onto a touch pad enabling you to send your orders straight through to the kitchen/bar & request your bill at the end. And if conversation dries up, there’s always the option of a game of battleship to pass the time. The setting is suitably high-tech too, with bold colours & funky futuristic furniture. Gimmicky yes, but thankfully the concept hasn’t usurped the food, with chef Anthony Sousa Tam (ex-Nobu & Hakkasan) delivering a top-notch selection of pan-Asian dishes; starters of melt-in-the-mouth truffled marbled beef & punchy Vietnamese chicken spring rolls are fantastic, while a main course of Chilean sea bass with mushrooms & creamy truffled soy is a faultless pairing. Whether it marks the beginning of a service revolution remains to be seen, but for something a little different, Inamo is well worth a visit.

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Reader reviews of Inamo:

Helen P.
Reviews: 1

Helen P. (30s, Female, London)

Inamo certainly has a novelty value with its computerised tables and waiterless ordering system. There is staff on hand if you need assistance and they were efficient and happy to help. The food however, was pretty disappointing. I tried the dishes recommended and although it tasted OK was disappointed to find that the Vietnamese rolls were deep fried (the description didn't mention how they would be cooked and the projectoin on the table was too grainy to tell). The marbled beef was chewy, tasteless and swimming in olive oil and was quickly sent back as it was almost inedible. The blackened cod however, saved the day and was delicious. Overall, the concept is original and fun but the food was not good enough to warrant a second visit.

1 November 2008
Overall:5
Food and Drink:5
Service:7
Atmosphere:6
Value for Money:6
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Ela T.

Ela T. (20s, Female)

17/09/08

The concept of digital ordering is certainly new which is the sole reason I came here. You order via your table on a digital system where you can also change your tablecloth colour & pattern, play games with your partner, peek on the chefs on the webcam or even order the bill or a taxi-service. (Just make sure you get a tissue to wipe the little touch pad because the waiters absolutely do not clean that bit – we checked them cleaning two tables to make sure). The decor is nice with tinted lights to create a nice atmostphere and apparently the ground level has a capacity of 60 ppl with 70 ppl capacity in the basement bar.

There is only a catch. Value for money is rock bottom as each dish costs £6 upwards (steak would cost you around £15 as a main course) but the portions are minute. The service standard really leaves much to be desired – the manager must've thought good experienced waiters/waitresses aren't needed because you'll mainly be ordering from the "touch-table".

Service is dire. When you book this place they assign you a table to sit at and it seems that no matter what you want you'll be placed at that table. I arrived at 6.30pm and the place only had about 6 customers, out of a ground level capacity for about 60. However, we weren't allowed to sit at the cushioned sofa bit at the corners because…they have parties arriving at 8pm!

During the meal, the waitress tried to take away my dish as I was still holding food with my pair of chopsticks. The waiter who gave me the cardreader machine when I asked for a bill actually disappeared after giving me the machine!! He was so busy helping a new group of arrivals! They had 5-6 waiters/waitresses that I could see and I didn't understand why this guy had to leave our table for that? In the end I did the whole process myself, including printing the merchant receipt and the customer receipt. My dining partner also commented that I could easily have clicked refund on my card straight away since the waiter didn't bother coming back until we both got up and left.

In summary: The idea is good, the food is ok but nothing to be praised for. It isn't authentic and portions are small. Value is lacking and service needs a lot of help.

It's safe to say I won't be coming back again and I won't tell my friends to come here… More

20 September 2008
Overall:4
Food and Drink:7
Service:1
Atmosphere:7
Value for Money:2
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