it hasnt been open for long, but i was wondering what people think about it. personally, i really like it...

Well I love japanese food and when I heard about this restaurant opening in Sheffield I was delighted. Before this I'd been going to Ginza Teppanyaki on Mansfield Rd in Nottingham and that one is fab!

Unfortunately, I have had a crummy experience of this new place... saw the review in The Star, organised a works party to go there, booked the teppanyaki table a week in advance, then got a phonecall 3 days later to say that they'd messed it up.

They were extremely unhelpful concerning trying to make alternative arrangements for me and so I just feel really naffed off now.
It would just be nice to receive a decent standard of customer service sometimes, I dont mind the fact that they made a mistake, just that they did nothing to resolve it!

I think I will stick to Ginza in Nottingham. Hope the rest of you have more luck!

that Ginza place?! its tappenyaki place init?! yeah, ive been there.. the food aint great... ive had my fair share of japanese food and i would only recomend that place if you had no other alternative. the sushi wasnt fresh, seem to me that it had been there for days! if you know ur japanese food then wasabisabi is prob the place to go in this area.

gutted about the lack of customer service u have experienced, but so far i havent had any problems.
i had the teppanyaki yesterday, it was delightful. it was def one of the best meals ive had in a long time. you have to try it, i strongly recomend it...

Well customer service is as important as the food and seeing as it took them 3 days to let me know that they had double booked me... I'm starting off with a negative experience of the place. Only the restaurant manager can sort out my impression of the place I'm afraid.

Glad its not been this stressful for everyone though.

Originally posted by starchild
Why do you always have the exact same post count as me?


Yet again, the suspense is killing me.


:D

Why do you even CARE about his post count? Post counts don't even matter, it's post QUALITY that's important, not how many posts you have under your username.

to be fair, the restuarant has only been open for about 3weeks. you cant expect it to be perfect first time. they are bound to make mistakes somewhere along the line. its early days, its abit harsh if your holding grudges already! i do think that informaing you 3days later is acceptable at all... but it shouldnt be the reason why you wont be going. its a really nice place to go, the food is great! think you should try and book again and hopefully they wont double book...

I am going on Saturday to WasabiSabi. Any recommendations -should i book ahead - what are the differences beween the types of cuisine (have never eaten Japanese before)

Now for a brief OT Aside

Originally posted by Rich
Why do you even CARE about his post count? Post counts don't even matter, it's post QUALITY that's important, not how many posts you have under your username.



Geoff, the man is right - Can we have a performance quality indicator instead of a post count,

Not sure how you'd do it - Some neat algorithm that takes the Gunning-Kincaid index, and weights it against a concordance of building block words and some kind of back pass filter that negatively weights masked swearing, text speak, or other poor quality indicators.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
Not sure how you'd do it - Some neat algorithm that takes the Gunning-Kincaid index, and weights it against a concordance of building block words and some kind of back pass filter that negatively weights masked swearing, text speak, or other poor quality indicators.
Or you could just get people to rate posts.

This is way off topic now.

hiya, i would def advise you to make a booking... im becoming quite the regular there!
teppanyaki is where the food is cooked in front of you... i like it but when its a busy night it can get very hot!!
i would recomend the sushi if you like fish esp the salmon! its soo fresh! otherwise try the ebi tempura (deep fried king prawn) tasty stuff... try it out, there is something for everyone there

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
I am going on Saturday to WasabiSabi. Any recommendations -should i book ahead - what are the differences beween the types of cuisine (have never eaten Japanese before)

I'm new to this so please bear with me!

I am going to WasabiSabi on Sat night too and was told when i rang last night that they only had a few tables left for teppanyaki so i recommend that u give them a call first .

This will be my first japanese meal as well and i'm not sure what to expect, how expensive it will be, what i am likely to be eating (other than it being japanese of course!) or anything!!

well they have a range of stuff, par example

noodles, soup based noodles, sushi, sashimi (raw fish), tapas, deep fried veg/prawn, you can get these really cute boxes with a salad, rice, deep fied veg and either salmon or chicken skewers...

*drool... making me hungry now....!!

Here's the other thread on this subject:

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7805

Quite a few reviews in there.

A quick boost to this thread - Mr Z and I went there last night for a celebration meal.
Brilliant. The staff who booked the table lacked the ideal customer service basics but our waitress was very helpful, explained a lot to us and was friendly.
First time I've had the real deal raw everything, I love Sainsburys california sushi but having real raw octopus was interesting, not so good with raw prawns though.
The lychee juice was just divine.
We had starters, main meal and desert ( green tea and sesame ice cream with fruit), with drinks it came to £58 for two of us.
All topped of with a trip to the cinema to see National Treasure, excellent!!

New to this forum. Went to Wasabisabi earlier this year - was nice to finally see a Japanese restaurant in Sheffield. As with all Japanese restaurants in the UK, turned out to be pretty expensive! Reasonable decor and a reasonable standard of food. Seem to recall seeing somewhere that it won some sort of "Restaurant of the Year" award which I thought was a bit generous. Overall a very comendable attempt at bringing Japanese cuisine to Sheffield (given the very limited "fresh" seafood available to the UK)

Sheffield needs a few more 'forward thinking' restaurants/places like wasabisabi to up its profile when being compared to other cities on a regional if not national level -nottingham/leeds/manchester has embraced the concept of Japanese restaurants for years.

With some decent clubs nights (UG, The Pin Up Club), bars (Forum, Takkapuna), etc around, and hopefully more to come in 2005 (look out for Mao - a new 'forward thinking' chinese restaurant from the people behind WasabiSabi as mentioned, in the press), I'm sure Sheffield will have more to shout about - and rightly so. Bored to hearing about how great Leeds/Manchester is!!!!

just wanted to say that we went for the first time on saturday and thought the food and atmosphere was great.will definately be going again,if you havn't been i would recommend it:)

Is it japanese? what kinda stuff do they sell is it sushi etc?
Cheers Craig
Food Critic:)

yes its japenese, sell all different things we had to ask the very helpful waitress for advice and she picked a great variety of things for us to try, noodles, sushi, vegetables and meat tempura(in spicey batter). i had deep fried icecream for desert which was great.

I havebeen there, the foods delicious!!!
I had some tempura and mm mmmmmm

Is it still good?

We've booked to go there soon.

Have been a few times now. Each time to the tepanyaki room. Consistently enjoyed it.

We went there as a group of ten for a friends birthday, food was alright, but service was absolutely terrible! Birthday girl's starter turned up at the same time as someone elses dessert. I few other people have said the same - service in groups is poor - yet when they've been as couples it was fantastic.

Been quite a few times, always been good. Last time was in January.
Tepanyaki side is good for a group, but personally found it rather expensive and wasn't really bothered about some of the courses. Restaurant side has always had good service which, for me espeially the first time I went, was quite important because I definately wasn't a sushi/japanese food officiando!!
The staff were very helpful and explained everything well.
Seen a couple of well known people in there too...Michael Vaughan (cricketer) was sat next to us last time(not that I'm really bothered...hate cricket!!!:hihi: ).

I love the place, the food is always good, the staff are great too.

I few other people have said the same - service in groups is poor - yet when they've been as couples it was fantastic.

I've been in a group of 15 and it was fine, some slight delays but they can't make 15 starters all come out at the same time.

my oh and i are thinking of going there for our anniversary - i take it it's deffo a good idea then?

Was very impressed when i ate there

Bit of a rubbish question for you... are there loads of vegetarian choices available? Never had Japanese food before, but it always looks so nice!

My Japanese friend went there and was disappointed because she realised it was Chinese run/owned - not sure precisely which here - and she didn't get the authentic Japanese style food/cooking she thought she would. But she also realised that average Sheffielder wouldn't be able to spot this so they could sell whatever they liked.

My Japanese friend went there and was disappointed because she realised it was Chinese run/owned - not sure precisely which here - and she didn't get the authentic Japanese style food/cooking she thought she would. But she also realised that average Sheffielder wouldn't be able to spot this so they could sell whatever they liked.

I guess sushi, yaki soba noodles, saki, tempura isn't very Japanese. They don't eat those sort of things in Japan! I can't believe The Independent newspaper recommended the restaurant on several occasions.

Judging by how busy they always are when I walk pass in the evenings, there must be lots of gullible 'average Sheffielders' out there... Shame on you.

Hey ho - back to me fish n' chips and pint of ale.

my oh and i are thinking of going there for our anniversary - i take it it's deffo a good idea then?

I'll let you know after we've been on saturday.

:wink:

Judging by how busy they always are when I walk pass in the evenings, there must be lots of gullible 'average Sheffielders' out there... Shame on you.




Well, if I like a good tasty meal then I must be gullible:huh:
I personally don't care if it's chinese, japenese or Kazakhstani, as long as it tastes good and is reasonably priced and the service is satisfactory.
Wasabisabi ticks all these boxes for me and I'd recommend it.

My Japanese friend went there and was disappointed because she realised it was Chinese run/owned - not sure precisely which here - and she didn't get the authentic Japanese style food/cooking she thought she would. But she also realised that average Sheffielder wouldn't be able to spot this so they could sell whatever they liked.
You won't find any sushi place in the UK to be of the same calibre of those found in Japan. A proper sushi chef has to be trained for several years, and to be able to kill something like blowfish to get rid of its poison. So no... I don't think that you will find a properly trained sushi chef in the UK. I don't think anyone can afford sushi in the UK, to be honest. I think if you want to try anything of that hgh standard, then you may want to try Nobu in London. I remember reading a book on him that he has trained in Japan before. He also have some kind of Japanese heritage too. Proper authentic Japanese food comes with a price unfortunately. A lot of Japanese places found in the UK are of the home-made kind. I wouldn't call sushi by Yo Sushi proper sushi either. Even if you go to SE Asia, (not Japan), you will also find that they are not made by proper sushi chef either...

Someone told me of a restaurant in a hotel somewhere which does serve a good decent sushi set. I can't remember where, or whether the owners were Japanese, and just served a home-made variation of the cuisine. I've been trying to find this out for a long time actually. lol...

I guess sushi, yaki soba noodles, saki, tempura isn't very Japanese. They don't eat those sort of things in Japan! I can't believe The Independent newspaper recommended the restaurant on several occasions.

Judging by how busy they always are when I walk pass in the evenings, there must be lots of gullible 'average Sheffielders' out there... Shame on you.

Hey ho - back to me fish n' chips and pint of ale.
What? They *do* eat those things! It won't be found in a proper sushi restaurant in Japan, probably. I think soba noodle is cheap eats in Japan, and they do serve it in small eating establishments. I remember travelling with a Japanese friend in Kyoto and he mentioned that, restaurants in Japan specialises in cuisines. So you won't find sushi in a noodle restaurant, say. The sushi found in the UK are probably a version diluted and accepted in the US. It is already Westernised. Things like Californian roll, I don't think you will find that in Japan, somehow. It is already adapted Americanised food.

I don't know what people expect actually... cos authentic ethnic cuisines are rarely found in the UK, when there has not been a market for it. Most food are adapted to the Westerner's taste. Curries are considered as gravies, and not seriusly hot curries. Sushi are based on what little fish type you can get in the UK, and not those found in Japan, and its nearby waters. Even Chinese food are based on what little SE Asian ingredients can be found by the supermarkets or suppliers, or importers. Being that authentic in ethnic food is actually quite hard, when the supplies cannot be found in the UK. Either you up the price of the food, to get imported food in, or you adapt the recipes based on similar ingredients found available in the UK.

I guess sushi, yaki soba noodles, saki, tempura isn't very Japanese. They don't eat those sort of things in Japan! I can't believe The Independent newspaper recommended the restaurant on several occasions.

Judging by how busy they always are when I walk pass in the evenings, there must be lots of gullible 'average Sheffielders' out there... Shame on you.

Hey ho - back to me fish n' chips and pint of ale.

Your snobbery suits you. Wear it well.

(given the very limited "fresh" seafood available to the UK)
Never been to Billingsgate market?

Sheffield needs a few more 'forward thinking' restaurants/places like wasabisabi to up its profile when being compared to other cities on a regional if not national level -nottingham/leeds/manchester has embraced the concept of Japanese restaurants for years.

With some decent clubs nights (UG, The Pin Up Club), bars (Forum, Takkapuna), etc around, and hopefully more to come in 2005 (look out for Mao - a new 'forward thinking' chinese restaurant from the people behind WasabiSabi as mentioned, in the press), I'm sure Sheffield will have more to shout about - and rightly so. Bored to hearing about how great Leeds/Manchester is!!!!
I wouldn't say Mao is a forward-thinking chinese restaurant. Somewhere like "Red Chilli" is forward thinking, and it is upping its game by introducing a different regional chinese cuisine. I think this has actually changed the market. I noticed that quite a few chinese restaurant in Manchester's chinatown has also upped its game and introduced Sichuan dishes too.

I think comparatively, Japanese food is still in its infancy in the UK, compared to Chinese food. If there is a demand for Japanese food, then maybe it'll create a higher quality in the future.

I guess sushi, yaki soba noodles, saki, tempura isn't very Japanese. They don't eat those sort of things in Japan! I can't believe The Independent newspaper recommended the restaurant on several occasions.

Judging by how busy they always are when I walk pass in the evenings, there must be lots of gullible 'average Sheffielders' out there... Shame on you.

Hey ho - back to me fish n' chips and pint of ale.


Erm - the above post was suppose to be tongue in cheek. End of the day it's about the quality of the food, service, and value for money of restaurant what matters.

And I agree with Bago about his comments on food being 'Westernised' for the English palate. I've been to China and ate in restaurants there; and believe you me it was very different to what we have here. Again, end of the day, the restaurant trade is a business which caters for their customer's needs...

Erm - the above post was suppose to be tongue in cheek. End of the day it's about the quality of the food, service, and value for money of restaurant what matters.

And I agree with Bago about his comments on food being 'Westernised' for the English palate. I've been to China and ate in restaurants there; and believe you me it was very different to what we have here. Again, end of the day, the restaurant trade is a business which caters for their customer's needs...
Apologies, sense of humour failure.

Now I can see it. I'd better cut down on the self-righteous pills again.

myself and hubbie weren't impressed. we went a few months ago. Hubbie had been wanting to try it for ages and it was his birthday choice. Service was terribly slow, it was very busy but atmosphere was like a canteen. The food apart from the starter was rubbish and not very tasty and it was very expensive for what we had. All in all i wouldn't go again. The inter thai restaurant is far superior and much friendlier.

I wouldn't say Mao is a forward-thinking chinese restaurant.

If it was it didn't last long, it's canged it's name already, I don't know if they do that same food though, which was very nice on the one time I visited it as Mao.

As for Wasabisabi not being very "authentic", is any restaurant realy authentic once it's taken out of it's home country ? Italian food, in Italy, is completely different to anything you get here, burgers in the US (in non-chain restaurants), are actually edible and a decent meal.

If it was it didn't last long, it's canged it's name already, I don't know if they do that same food though, which was very nice on the one time I visited it as Mao.
I can't remember exactly what they served, but it is hard to target that kind of market, when the demand is not quite there yet... It's actually very hard to "pitch" taste, and the population's perception of what is classed as ethnic food. Which I find weird in a way...

As for Wasabisabi not being very "authentic", is any restaurant realy authentic once it's taken out of it's home country ? Italian food, in Italy, is completely different to anything you get here, burgers in the US (in non-chain restaurants), are actually edible and a decent meal.
That's the thing, how do people know if it was authentic or not? I sometimes cringe whenever I read a comment about a foreigner coming into the country to try the ethnic food, only to be then told that it is not even ethnic food by the home country it is supposed to be from. People then think that eating establishments cheats their customers, but then they fail to think about how authentic is authentic? Where is the level of authenticity supposed to lie? Businesses cannot operate on using the highest quality on importing highest value ingredients to operate a eating establishment. Most may just operate on what is found locally but following recipes which adhere to a certain style of ethnic food cuisine.

I bet burgers are actually cooked from fresh meat in the US! Which is a good thing, even though the ones we get here are more likely to be processed.

I LOVE Wasabi Sabi...AND LOVE the fact that its usually busy, despite not being at the trendy end of town.

I don't think its expensive...and yes it may have a canteenesque (thats not a real word is it?) atmosphere, but I think that is part of its social appeal.

Cannot recommend the teppanyaki table enough for a fantastic alternative night out

It is expensive but the lunch menus are not too pricey and the food is good. I can't complain about the service, it's the first time in my life that someone has bowed to me!

I bet burgers are actually cooked from fresh meat in the US! Which is a good thing, even though the ones we get here are more likely to be processed.

Burgers you make yourself from fresh meat are fabulous.

The ones served in Uncle Sams on Ecclesall Road used to be good, but I can't vouch for their current fare as I haven't been there in years.

it hasnt been open for long, but i was wondering what people think about it. personally, i really like it...

i really like it, ive only been when the chef cooks in front of you

but i so hungry when i left, it does not fill me very much:) :)

Is Wasabisabi On London Road Any Good?

Really like it here.
Not been for the teppenyaki though. I normally go for the gyozo dumplings and nigiri sushi and banana fritters.

OMG the teppenyaki at wasabisabi is the best most delicious food Ive ever tasted!

Have such a laugh as well sat around having you own personal chef tossng bits of egg at you to catch in your mouth! HAHA

The teppenyaki at wasabisabi is THE BEST meal ive ever had! Throughly enjoyed it and had a great evening! princesskim..do you have hollow legs? how can you go home from teppenyaki not full?I had the duck, chicken and beef option (number 5 i think) and with 9 courses I was absolutely stuffed!!!!

have to say its probably one of my favourites restaurants in Sheffield....both the teppanyaki and the normal service are fantastic, especially the sushi.....yum !

btw.....the service is fabulous!

I've been there a fair few times and the food is really good, service and presentation of the food is spot on - and I have a friend who's mad about Sushi and she says that it compares very favorably to any she's had anywhere else.

As far as I'm aware it's the only place in Sheffield of it's kind, I really would recommend it (and no I don't work there or have any buddies who do!).