Yashin Ocean House

Gorgeous food and service!
Apr 30th, 2023

Me and my girlfriend stopped in here after a friend who visited London told us the nigiri was great. We sat down and gf went to the restroom and the server immediately asked if I wanted edamame. I told her we would take a look at the menu once we were situated. The moment my gf got back to the table, our server walked up and asked if we wanted drinks. I was a bit taken aback because we had clearly not opened a menu yet, but kindly reminded her that we would take a look first. She was pleasant, but seemed fairly stressed. We have both worked in the food service/fine dining industry for several years, under good and not so good managers/owners, and I couldnt help but notice how nervous she was even though we were 1 of 2 tables (we came in only half an hour after they opened). I ordered the Shinning Sake and the lady ordered a glass of wine. A young man came over and poured the sake, and spilt a fair amount on the table. I made a joke about the size and cumbersome shape of the bottle to try and make him feel comfortable but he kept his eyes down and gave no response, again seeming to be very stressed. It all started to make more sense when I saw the manager (or owner?) interact with one of the servers. He was rude and I could tell the girl was uncomfortable as he barked something at her and then muttered under his breath. Throughout the meal our server continued to CONSTANTLY check on us, but acted un-confident and even uncertain in things as simple as removing a few empty dishes from the table. She also constantly tried to upsell us. Told us we probably wanted the 12 piece nigiri even though we specifically asked for 8 (we ordered several other dishes), and even apologized for the nigiri taking a while and suggested we order more food even though that was the last thing we were waiting on (of course it came out less than 2 minutes after we declined another dish). After we left, I took a peak at the google reviews and unfortunately confirmed my suspicions about the owner/manager. Our dishes were decent, although quite pricey for the quality, but I would avoid giving this guy your money. I felt bad for the poor server but thought at least she is getting our automatically added gratuity, only to read reviews from a former employee who said the owner keeps all of the credit card tips. What a shame.
Apr 28th, 2023

Apr 7th, 2023

Food : 4/5 | Service : 5/5 | Atmosphere : 5/5 More
Apr 6th, 2023

I booked this restaurant as a birthday treat for one of our group members. It was 12:30 on a rainy Easter Monday afternoon and the place was empty. But the staff were very welcoming and the airy, spaciousness of the restaurant was a nice ambient setting for the afternoon. The style of the restaurant was a well executed homage to the origins of the venue. It was previously a stable and there is a horse statue inside the restaurant. They have an open kitchen concept and have nice decorative elements around the restaurant in keeping with its original features. The service was exceptional. Fabio was so knowledgeable, clearly articulated the menu to us and entertained our toddler throughout the lunch. The other staff members were also delightful and friendly. The food also was in keeping with the excellent service. We had a variety of sushi dishes, as the tasting menu I had anticipated in ordering was only available during the dinner service. But we did not feel like we missed out. Each dish was carefully curated and well-balanced. We did miss the wasabi and soy sauce that we have been accustomed to having at Japanese restaurants, but we were informed that each item was already seasoned correctly. Which we would agree. We ordered the salmon donburi set, the omakase 8 set, prawn croquettes, octopus and for dessert crme brle, matcha tiramisu and baked cheesecake. We also had a variety of sake (cherry bouquet, prince and yashin). Our favourites dishes were the miso soup (very creamy and smooth); the seared salmon sushi in the omakase (melt in the mouth), the delicious prawn croquette and the matcha tiramisu, which was not overly tea (matcha) flavoured as you find in other restaurants. I would highly recommend eating at this restaurant and would certainly return.
Apr 8th, 2023