Harden's survey result
Summary
“I keep going back to Roka, and have never had a bad meal there” – so say fans of Arjun Waney & Rainer Becker’s slick Japanese-inspired venues, which are celebrating their 20th year in 2024. “Despite increasing competition, it remains a good choice, with sound cooking and good-value sushi, sashimi and robata dishes”; and despite perennial complaints that they are “way overpriced for tiny portions”, quality has held up well. All that said, service is more often “amateurish” and “erratic” than it once was; and long-term fans have a point when they say the general performance is “not as good as it used to be” – the 2024 openings will be in Bahrain, Germany and Greece and there is growing impression of ‘the same old, same old’ in its original home market.
Summary
“The pan-Asian food is yummy… the black cod is exceptional” and the “buzzy” atmosphere is “stunning”, say fans of Arjun Waney and Rainer Becker’s svelte Japanese-inspired venues, where “you can either sit at the counter watching the kitchen (great if you’re just two), or at a table”; and where “a typical meal is sushi or sashimi as a starter then a robata (charcoal grill) dish for a main”. Its ratings slid this year, though. Never cheap, prices are becoming “sky high”; the cooking is “not as reliably good as it once was”; and there was the odd incident of “shocking” service.
Summary
“Nailing it every time” – Arjun Waney and Rainer Becker’s upscale Japanese-inspired operations endure on a deceptively simple formula of “great buzz… awesome food”. Centre stage are the “expertly prepared” small plates – “a lovely combination of hot and cold Japanese-fusion dishes” featuring “gorgeous sushi, sashimi and robata” (from the centrally placed grill) – that are “pricey yet exceptional”. As an offering, you could quibble that “it hasn’t really evolved” in recent years, or you could say ‘if it ain’t broke, why fix it?’
Summary
“The original Charlotte Street site is the best”, but, in fairness, all the branches are superb when it comes to Arjun Waney and Rainer Becker’s sleek Japanese-inspired group, where “a visit always feels like a treat: from the slick service to the buzzy atmosphere to the consistently good food”. Sushi and luxurious bites (for example black cod, yellowtail with ponzu and truffle oil), mostly from the robata grill, are the backbones of the menu. The odd report was slightly downbeat of late (“it was less good than normal, but to be fair they had just reopened post-lockdown with new staff”), but the dominant view remains that a trip is “always a lovely, fun experience” (and some regulars tip a stool at the counter as the best perches).
For 33 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 Roka, Aldwych House?
Restaurant details
Roka, Aldwych House Restaurant Diner Reviews
"We should be tired of black cod with miso at these prices by now. Ambience is all corporate card. Service indifferent. Sushi is fresh. But the robota....they have a diehard forumla of glazing everything with soya sauce, yuzu and sprinke with sesame seeds.....Westernised Japanese as opposed to fusion Japanese. All very 90s now."
"We should be tired of black cod with miso at these prices by now. Ambience is all corporate card. Service indifferent. Sushi is fresh. But the robota....they have a diehard forumla of glazing everything with soya sauce, yuzu and sprinke with sesame seeds.....Westernised Japanese as opposed to fusion Japanese. All very 90s now."
"We should be tired of black cod with miso at these prices by now. Ambience is all corporate card. Service indifferent. Sushi is fresh. But the robota....they have a diehard forumla of glazing everything with soya sauce, yuzu and sprinke with sesame seeds.....Westernised Japanese as opposed to fusion Japanese. All very 90s now."
"We should be tired of black cod with miso at these prices by now. Ambience is all corporate card. Service indifferent. Sushi is fresh. But the robota....they have a diehard forumla of glazing everything with soya sauce, yuzu and sprinke with sesame seeds.....Westernised Japanese as opposed to fusion Japanese. All very 90s now."
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