Matsuri St James's

1 out of 10 stars

We (4 friends) visited Matsuri 06/25/2009 and unfortunately it was an unpleasant experience.

Most important: The food was way under par, ranging from a refrigerator cold starter (vegetable salad) to a completely overcooked teppan main course (lobster and seafood). The entire meal was completely without any taste whatsoever, everything was bland.

The service:
We all had the same set menu, but the waiter kept arbitrarily cleaning our "table", some were left with 2-3 empty bowls/plates in front of them as they had finished the course, but the waiter kept bringing new courses instead of clearing the table.

Value for money:
None whatsoever. we paid £100 pp and the food, service and ambiance was unfortunately worthless.

The details:
- Vegetable salad, julienne in a vinaigrette, refrigerator cold, tasteless
- Soup, served in a teapot, virtually tasteless
- Salad, mixed salad, with tasty vinaigrette (only tasty component in the entire meal)
- Sashimi, salmon, scallops, tuna. All from frozen fish, carelessly sliced, too thick, salmon not properly cleaned (the brown, unpleasant, fatty layer had not been removed). Served with wasabi and soy sauce, no ginger.
- Tempura, 4 slices of carrot, one aubergine (all tasteless) + one prawn - OK
- Teppan with asparagus, carrot, scallops, lobster, scampi and squid. All but the squid were overcooked and underseasoned.
- Fireball ice cream. Expected it to be spicy, it wasn't.

I visited the Matsuri some years ago and it was pretty good, now it has lost everything.

I apologize for any spelling mistakes as English is not my 1st language.