We are from Australia and I wish I had read the reviews about this restaurant here first… before we went to Matsuri St James for dinner on saturday night, unfortuneately we also found it verrry disappointing as other reviewers and so not what I was hoping for to celebrate a friends special birthday.

I just so wish I had chosen from other recommendations for the evening, as nothing would have been more disappointing than this was…

It does not live up to it's reputation if it is considered a top London restaurant and the website makes it appear a million times more appealing and new than it actually is. ( as they do!! )

When we arrived we were asked if we would like to have a drink in the bar first while waiting for our friends to arrive.
We were taken to a small bar area just near the entrance… OMG it was not even a working bar, is not attended by a barperson, they bring the drinks from the bar downstairs. So while sitting at this bar waiting for our drinks we could see how filthy dirty the sink was and the glass shelves with alchohol bottles looked like they hadn't been cleaned or dusted in months, so our first impressions were not good. There was absolutely no atmosphere other than a feeling of disgust. We complained and decided to go to our table to wait instead.

The food was not good quality at all and can only be described as verrry average. The service was also lacking as we waited ages for our second drinks to come. I am used to all selections at a tepanyaki table being served in individual portions, Matsuri did that with some of the meat selections but vegetable selections were served on two plates to share between six – including sauces. Two bowls of steamed rice were served at the end when we had finished so not sure what it was meant to go with. Therefore my conclusion is the service of the meal is very inconsistant and not delivered in an orderly fashion.

Not what we would expect for a Japanese Tepanyaki London restaurant. Adelaide's Shiki Japanese… More