aqua kyoto

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 9 reviews

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240 Regent Street (entrance 30 Argyll St),
Soho,
London,
W1B 3BR

(020) 7478 0540

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aqua kyoto
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Reviewer jesspeters
28/02/2012
The lunch here is absolutely incredible. Me and my colleagues went on Friday and couldn't decide what to order so the waiter put together our lunch for us.

The service was attentive but subtle, food was great and that view is unmatchable in central london..

Strongly recommend the black cod! Will definitely be returning!

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Reviewer howardsmith
27/02/2012
One of the best lunches I have had in London in years, there was four of us with 2 that had never had Japanese food, were looking at the menu not having a clue, the waiter offered to design our lunch, which was fine by us, over the next 2 and half hours we had a wave of different dishes, full of flavour, like the seared scallop - wow, king crab, black cod, had us all just simply amazed! Shrimp tempura won over all of us and not just the 2 of us who were using chop sticks for the 1st time.

A quick ciggy break on the balcony over Regent street looking down on apple store had us all even more smug than an iPhone user!

Finally don't turn down dessert, choc tarts and ice cream was just a wonderfully way to finish an amazing afternoon, also not leaving with a bloated stomach, but with containment of a great shared experience. hmmm
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Reviewer LondonEm
06/12/2011
I am not sure if our poor experience was due to visiting on a Monday night,but everything about this place is ridiculous.From the bored staff( way to many If them It took 3different waiters to walk us to our table-like pass the parcel).
To the food-summed up In 2words: overpriced and boringly bland.
The worst tasteless excuse of a cheesecake we ever tried.Horrible!And if my partner was not a polite chilled out guy-I would have insisted on not paying.
If the chef was ElBuli trained-they would have never existed.
Sad place with grand desires that will never be achieved .
Not to be recommended- and your money are better spent in any tourist trap and will go a long way.
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Reviewer Jen405
12/11/2011
I went with a friend Thursday evening for a cocktail or two.
We waited 15minutes to be served and it wasn't even busy.
The bartender (obviously new, short with long blonde hair) was incredibly slow and persisted in serving people before us that had not been waiting as long as us. When I pointed this out to her she was very surly and there was no apology. The cocktail, Kyoto Breeze, was not worth the wait.
We had our drink on the roof terrace, which doesn't even have a good view, and were surrounded by chavs.
I may have to go back and try the food, hopefully we will get drinks delivered to our table a bit quicker!
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Reviewer ben_hardman
11/07/2011
We went here for Lunch on Friday, we were in a group of 30 and all had a set menu. The food was average at best and the head waiter was probably the rudest I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. The portions were tiny, under-seasoned and served with a scowl. It felt like they were trying their best to ruin our day. On a positive note, their are a wide range of cocktails which are good but based on the service and food, it will be a long time before I go back
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Reviewer lucasid
20/07/2011
I work in the restaurant trade. At a restaurant like Aqua, you really shouldn't go if you can only afford the set menu. For a group of 30 at lunch, you should really go to a pub.
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Reviewer ben_hardman
20/07/2011
Lucasid - you don't have a clue! The set menu at Aqua cost £110 per head plus drinks. If you work in the restaurant trade, you should know that. We normally go to Hakasan (which is always exceptional) but wanted to try something different. We learned our lesson. P. S. Can I say the 'you should eat' in pubs comment is just plain silly.
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Reviewer sig23
10/02/2011
Sometimes I need something out of the ordinary when eating out.
I can say aqua kyoto fits the bill perfectly. I really appreciate the fact that the tables actually have some space between them.
Other good quality restaurants I could mention pack the tables so close together that you are almost on top of each other.
The dish that impressed me the most was the twice cooked crispy pork belly with langoustines.
The waitress who served the dish was so knowledgeable , I really enjoy being helped through the menu with out being left to feel stupid.
I asked the waitress which wine would suit our order, without hesitation she said the Barbera Riva Leone Piedmont, I checked the cost and thought I wasnt being ripped off.
The dessert of plum wine and fruit sushi rolls are a very original way of ending the meal, the fruit sauce was great with the rice rolls.
On the whole a very pleasurable experience.
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Reviewer Jell
19/11/2010
aqua kyoto has an attitude. Not necessarily a good one either. It's a shame because the food is actually quite nice and our waiter was good but we had to give the name of our booking 4 times. We were then told to take a place at the bar and they would call us when they were ready. This never happened, no apology and we then had to give the name again. Seriously guys if you are going to give a cool competent image, live up to it. Food was gorgeous, but everytime a dish was served, it was the wrong one, or 2 out of the 3 sushis were wrong. Our servers did apologise for this. And then we had the experience of the bar. Possibly the most pretentious bar staff you will come across who made you feel like you were lucky to be served, which we were because service was so slow.
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Reviewer lucasid
20/07/2011
Alas, attitude comes with places like Aqua Kyoto. It's even worse in NYC. If you don't want "pretentious" staff, you'd be better off at a place like Criterion, Avenue, or Langans. Not trendy London hot spots.
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Reviewer Roshi
30/10/2009
This place is simply cool - never seen anything like it!

And the food is pretty good too. The sushi was like nothing I've had before- really fresh, full of flavour and delicately presented.

Leave room for the Green Tea Tiramisu for dessert.
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Reviewer dianact
30/10/2009
I went there with colleagues on last Tuesday and I have to say, the best Japanese food in town!

The unique sushi with far superior to anything I have tasted in some of the other top end restaurants.

We had a tataki platter with foie gras sushi which we kept talking about the day after, the black cod and the beef tenderloin were mouthwateringly delicious.

I had a cocktail with sake, gin and sherry which came with a piece of cheese and grapes. It looked good but it tested even better and I can say the same about the dishes too.

We definitely will be going back!
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