Harden's survey result
Summary
“Let your friends know you’ve been, and they’ll ask about the clientele before wanting to know about the food…” – Richard Caring’s notorious, LA-style, bling-fest in Mayfair (which reportedly cost £15m to fit out) is most “definitely a place for those eager to see and be seen”. Fans also believe its luxurious menu of Asian-inspired fish and seafood (heavy on funky sushi, tempura, and gyoza) is plain “awesome” too. But to a large proportion of reporters, it’s “awful – just awful” – exacting “extortionate” prices to deliver “some weird-and-not-always-felicitous flavour combinations” to “a horrific stew of Mayfair types”.
Summary
“Let your friends know you’ve been, and they’ll ask about the clientele before wanting to know about the food…” – Richard Caring’s notorious, LA-style, bling-fest in Mayfair (which reportedly cost £15m to fit out) is most “definitely a place for those eager to see and be seen”. Fans also believe its luxurious menu of Asian-inspired fish and seafood (heavy on funky sushi, tempura, and gyoza) is plain “awesome” too. But to a large proportion of reporters, it’s “awful – just awful” – exacting “extortionate” prices to deliver “some weird-and-not-always-felicitous flavour combinations” to “a horrific stew of Mayfair types”.
Summary
“Crammed with people taking selfies, dodgy-looking businessmen and hapless, concierge-victim tourists”, Richard Caring’s “bling bling” Mayfair venture is a bad case of “too much spent on the decor and not enough concentration on the food”; and, with its huge prices and “appalling service (unless you’re spending £000’s)”, it can end up feeling like “a horrendous rip-off and an all-round horrible experience”. More upbeat reporters do find its luxurious seafood format “memorable… just best enjoyed at someone else’s expense!”. Top Tip – “the best ambience is at lunch, at dinner it changes quite dramatically… not in the most positive way”.
Summary
“It’s certainly an experience”, and no-one disputes that Richard Caring’s “flashy and brassy” Mayfair venture is “good for people-watching”. But while for fans the “amazing” interior and “sublime and sexy” sushi, robata and Asian seafood, all justify the monumental expense, there are too many critics for whom it’s “the most overpriced, over-rated restaurant in London” – “a trashy, vulgar hellhole filled to the brim with people dressed for cameos in a cheap US cable-TV soap opera, and not for anyone with the slightest disinclination for being fleeced rotten!” Maybe the best advice is “go once, get it out of your system, then leave it to those where money isn’t an issue...”
For 30 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
Have you eaten at Sexy Fish?
Restaurant details
Prices
 Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £41.00 |
| Filter Coffee | £3.00 |
 Extras |
|
|---|---|
| Bread | £2.00 |
| Service | 12.50% |
1-4 Berkeley Sq, London, W1J 6BR
Opening hours
| Monday | 12 pm‑11 pm |
| Tuesday | 12 pm‑11 pm |
| Wednesday | 12 pm‑11 pm |
| Thursday | 12 pm‑11 pm |
| Friday | 12 pm‑11 pm |
| Saturday | 12 pm‑11 pm |
| Sunday | 12 pm‑10:30 pm |
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