Tokyo Diner

Japanese Restaurant in Covent Garden
Tokyo Diner image
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8 / 10 from 5 reviews
Address
2 Newport Place
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 7JP
Map
Telephone
020 7287 8777
Cuisine
Japanese
Region
Covent Garden
Nearest Station
Leicester Square
0.07 miles
Opening Times
Monday Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00
Tuesday Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00
Wednesday Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00
Thursday Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00
Friday Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00
Saturday Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00
Sunday Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00

Tokyo Diner is a popular restaurant serving authentic Japanese cuisine.

All In London Review

Japanese restauarant with Japanese diners....must be good!

In my continued quest for authenticity Tokyo Diner has been a firm favorite ever since I stumbled across it one hungover Sunday 5 years ago. The incredibly light, incredibly delicious dishes of edamame, or lightly cooked soya beans and salad futomaki did much to make me feel human again, whilst the low prices were perfect for my at the time student budget.

I’m happy to say that over the years quality has remained. Sprawled over three floors in Chinatown -an irony that still amuses me- the restaurant is always busy and can get noisy at times; reassuringly there are always many Japanese diners. The menu is vast and there is much to choose from for those who aren’t fans of raw fish, with lunchtime bento boxes, smaller snacks like spinach in sesame seed sauce, more filling dishes like Katsu-Don, where an egg has been cracked and left to cook over pieces of chicken or pork with rice, miso soup, and vegetarian sushi.

I’ve eaten many full meals here washed down with lashings of hot sake and plum wine for just under £20 for two people. As is custom in Japan staff do not expect a tip, in fact they are highly offended by it. There are notices on each table regarding Tokyo Diner’s promotion of sustainable fishing and refusing to serve tuna fish, an important, confident position from this standalone restaurant.

There are so many reasons to dine here, but the most basic one is this: at Tokyo Diner, if you finish your rice and want a second helping, they will bring it you for free; for if you are hungry, you must eat.

Reviewed by Leila
Published on Jul 24, 2008


Best For

Restaurants for when you're eating alone picture

Restaurants for when you're eating alone

Eating on your lonesome? It's OK we'll get you through this.

If you’re after a quick, cheap meal where you can go unnoticed, Tokyo Diner in Soho is ideal. Customers mind their own business while eating sushi and katsu-don, plus green tea and Japanese crackers are brought to your table for free.

The best places to eat Japanese food in London picture

The best places to eat Japanese food in London

We point you in the direction of some of London's best Japanese food

How many times have you walked past Tokyo Diner and not given it a second thought? If you’ve never been then the answer to that is too many times. This inexpensive restaurant serves traditional, authentic Japanese cuisine with an emphasis on curries. And they give free tea.

London's best budget restaurants picture

London's best budget restaurants

Great eats, on the cheap...

When a Japanese restaurant is popular with expats you know you’re onto something, and this bargain eatery set over three floors is one of the capital’s less appreciated gems. The menu has sushi, katsu curries and bento boxes, it’s open till midnight and extra portions of rice are free. If you needed further convincing they take sustainability very seriously, so they don’t offer tuna and their electricity is supplied by renewable providers Ecotricity.

User Reviews

Heather
from London

Jan 22, 2019

Tokyo Diner serves very authentic food. I had a tasty bento box and really enjoyed their sake and plum wine.
therose123

Nov 15, 2012

Beautiful food at reasonable price. Love the bento all i could fault is that when the restaurant is busy service sometimes get a little bit sloppy but all in all lovely food.
therose123

Nov 11, 2012

Busy line for lunch, service ok but food wow amazing and very fresh. Great lunch but try to come early for a table.
Anonymous

Aug 24, 2008

I am a Japanese national, but lived in UK for a year and ate at various Japanese restaurants here. I dined at this place several times, and it used to be a fairly good Japanese diner with inexpensive, everyday foods one eats in Japan. But this August, I am very disappointed. The rice is no longer Japanese type: it is long grain and not very white. We ate Teriyaki Chicken but it is just a chicken cooked with a soy source: it is not "Teriyaki" at all with the characteristic shiny surface, which "Teri" means. Some pieces of fried potatoes came with the dish, and they are very hot with red pepper. Japanese foods do not use much hot pepper. I think the cooks there are either no longer Japanese or trying to cater, not authentic Japanese food lovers but to those who are only curious about Japanese foods. As if to prove this, most of the customers who were there when I ate were not Japanese. A sign of good foreign restaurants is that there are many nationals of the country from where the foods come.

That said, Tokyo Diner is still a reasonably priced, conveniently located East-Asian restaurant. If you are not particularly fussy about eating usual Tokyo foods as I am when I go to a Japanese restaurant, I can recommend it. It is so much better than ubiquitous Wagamama.
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