Watatsumi

Very good food with a nice variety within the menu – you have both your typical japanese food (sushi, sashimi etc) mixed with more modern western dishes (eg a very good gresham duck) so nice all-round choices. Decently priced wine/sake list so pretty good value for money (which can be an issue in particular with higher-end japanese restaurants). Slight downside is lack of atmosphere partly as the place doesn't tend to be packed most of the times

I had a great dinner with friends there, it's tucked away and you can easily miss it, but I'd consider it to be one of my favorites. I prefer the more quieter restaurants where you can talk and hear, and this is a great restaurant for that.
We had the selection platter, served on a model wooden boat and ordered a selection of mains for sharing, and found the food to be better if not the same compared to other equivalent japanese restaurants like Nobu or Zuma.
It's a quieter place and we went on a weekday evening, so not sure if it has a “buzz” at weekends.
Lovely atmosphere, excellent attentive service.
Not many people seem to know of it, and worth a try. I'll be back there soon.

I don’t understand how this place could have been awarded a 1 star – I’m not surprised it was almost empty.
Its really a long way away from authentic Japanese food. There are no Japanese people working in this place.
We had a Japanese Mojito which tasted like they had used some type of powder to create the taste – like drinking a cheap canned drink – hardly Japanese.
We had the tasting menu which was one the most boring meals I have had in a long time – there were no good points – bland would be my best description – by the end I was just dying for it to be over.
One of the dishes involved tempura for which there was not tempura sauce – just can’t believe anyone could think that would be anything but greasy – to be honest they might call themselves Japanese but this really has very little to do with authentic Japanese.
The place was less than 1/5th full but it took a long time to be served we were there 2hour 30 mins – there were a lot of staff – they seemed to spend most of the evening cleaning which did really add to the atmosphere.
Basically nice location – interior is fine – pricing looks reasonable but no quality – stick to the authentic places.

Subdued in the noble environs of Northumberland Avenue.

Watatsumi was a visit planned but not researched as it were, but with Northumberland Avenue as its “environs” one did not think too much of the need to do so.

And so on arrival we were greeted by the grand arches, and the heavy and high ceilings of the restaurant which sit alongside the Club Quarters Hotel. It is already a slightly strange and cavernous room with large pillars, and squared off in such a way that I imagine the designers would have found it trying to deliver anything different to what it is currently, which is slightly awkward space somehow, without really knowing why. There are two seating areas and two other large corners, one taken up by the “raw” sushi bar and the other by the drinks bar!

Anyway and so to the food and menu which looked as any other in terms of being Japanese fusion with no real surprises. For a Saturday evening, it was certainly not as full as any restaurant would wish to be, though a trickle of customers, some vaguely off the street, did continue gradually throughout the evening, but never enough to get past the two thirds full mark or indeed to provide any sort of atmospheric bustle.

The staff, were really as a result, over attentive and not in my mind stylistically up to the mark if one were to rank this as a Nobu or Zuma wannabe. The food similarly was just adequate but no “pizzaz” as I imagine one would be looking for, though I would not in anyway discount it as it was competently delivered.

So it seems there were all good intentions for what might have been a high or higher end Japanese venue, but whether its aspirations were indeed higher than what it seems currently, I am not sure is clear.

All in all we ate reasonably well, and strolled out back onto the Northumberland Avenue, across the back alleys of Charing Cross train station, and onto Adam Street which seems to be the only or nearest place to park given the ubiquitous double yellow lines of this particular patch of town.

Go try it perhaps if you are in the neighbourhood, but I wouldn't venture to make an outright proposal just yet.

As Watatsumi had just opened, I managed to secure a booking on a Saturday night (in December) without the dreaded 2 hour slot requirement!

I booked on the basis of the team having had experiece at Zuma, Roka & Nozomi and hoped for the best.

We were not disappointed and all agreed that overall, the food, cocktails and service was exquisite!

Although the restaurant is small the decor is very crisp and clean and you do not feel hemmed in.

The cocktails were beautifully presented and a great balance of flavours in all 4 that we tried.

We did not opt for the Omakase (tasting menu) but instead ordered a selection of items from the menu
for the 4 of us.

We highly rated pretty much everything that we ate and it was easily up there with Zuma, Roka or Hakasan.

We particularly enjoyed: the Yellow tail Tartare (fantastic contrasting crisp cucumber with citrus flavoured and melting textured tuna), the crispy calamari and the soft shell crab both dusted with shichimi ponzu (although they did taste different) were beautifully crisp and dry and the grilled fillet of beef with teriyaki and truffle dressing (this was so good and so beautifully cooked that we had to order another helping of it as we alll enjoyed it so much)! We also had a selection of cut rolls all of which were excellent.

The only flaws we could point to was the black cod, although delicious seemed very slightly undercooked and did not flake off completely smoothly and we expected greater things of the Wagyu Tartare, which did not overwhelm us as the other dishes did.

The staff were extremely pleasant, knowlegeable and helpful, although they did explain that as they were already fully booked they were starting to introduce 2 hour slots…

Am sure this is going to be another hot London spot and we are going to struggle going forward to get a table or to avoid the 2 hour slot.