Aji Zen Canteen

Lovely dinning environment. Good service too. As an Asian, I would not say the food is authentic but quite good averagely.

Not a bad place for quick ramen, especially if you are on the go for scenic spots around this area. Wonderful proximity to the London Eye, Big Ben, and the Westminster Abbey. The ramen is msg-​filled and noodles are Chinese style. Don’t drink the soup unless you want to be extremely dehydrated. Still a convenient placed in the hub of attractions.

We were hungry for ramen & gave it a try, less than 1 block from our hotel. It was okay, not great, a bit too salty the soup. Remember to lift your hand up to order! It is open quite late at night! I had the Miso soup, the pork was a bit too fatty.

Traveling from San Francisco, I couldn’t help but crave some Asian food during my 5 day trip in London. I found this place on Unilocal — one of the closest places to eat to the London Eye without having to deal with the crowds (came in about 6pm on a Saturday), so very quickly received attention and a seat.
The service is great — attentive staff and very respectful even though we sat around waiting for one last party member to arrive for about 20 minutes.
Had edamame to start, and a juice (Orange, carrot, ginger). Tasty stuff, but seems to be just a touch pricier than other places of similar quality — somewhat expected due to its adjacency to the London Eye.
My brother had the curry katsu plate which looked pretty delicious (they fry their dishes pretty well in London, generally speaking). The chicken cutlet was crispy and the curry was fair.
I had their egg fried rice, salmon, and a salad. Pretty basic ingredients here, but fairly done. The salad could have used a little more variety or dressing. The fried rice and salmon were good.
Not many sushi options at all, so keep that in mind when you come here. They have a lot of noodle options, but according to previous reviews they didn’t look so popular. Safest bet seem to be their fried dishes, and drinks.
Nice ambiance — comfortable seating — spacious.
Bottom line: come for some fair tasting fried food, drinks, and comfortable atmosphere. A good pit stop before or after the London Eye busyness.

Terrible food. Super overpriced. The staff were friendly and the enviroent are fine. Good place to hang out, not to eat.

We stopped in for quick bite and drink after crossing the bridge and a waling tour of the area.
We only had spring rolls and gyoza so can’t comment on the larger plates.
Clean, quiet, and prices were reasonable.

I don’t tend to have ramen outside of Japan because it tends to be expensive and/​or not quite the genuine thing.
Ajizen fits both these categories.
The selection of food on the menu is decent but of course I only wanted to try what I consider is the best winter dish — ramen.
I selected the miso ramen which is my favourite. It’s served in a large bowl, points there.
I’m not sure how much onion they put in the dish but I’d bet it’s at least half a large one. Far too much onion. They should consider using spring onion (green onion) instead.
The soup is average, which isn’t bad outside of Japan.
The noodles are clearly not fresh as evident by the shape they take in the bowl. My best guess is these are the ramen noodles you can buy in the freezer in a Japanese supermarket. This isn’t necessarily a negative, depends on your expectations.
Your mileage may vary, depending on what you have experienced to make a constructive comparison.
Oh, did I mention that it’s expensive? Even compared to Australia!

Food was very salty here, we had udon and the soup was undrinkable. Not sure why other people claims this is actual Japanese food — they obviously never had real Asian food or they have low standards in London, which is also possible because the food we’ve had in London haven’t been any good.
Pricey for the food that we got. Service was okay. If you’re starving, turn the corner towards the London eye for a plethora of options.

Good value. Friendly service. Food was good as we needed something to overcome jet lag. Nice location and fun sushi conveyor.

We had a great lunch here with my wife and two small kids. Very family friendly, quick service, and reasonable prices. I had the chicken yaki soba, which was excellent, and my wife really enjoyed the chicken katsu curry. Definitely a good place to check out on a day by the river.

Getting rained on during our big bus tour, we hopped off for some lunch. Right across St. Thomas hospital near London Eye. Casual Japanese with reasonable prices.
Choose your protein, broth, & 3 garnishes.

Food is delish and reminds me of how real asian /​Japanese food is cooked back home in the heavily asian based community in the city /​area of the San Francisco Bay Area. Food is a solid 4 stars.
You must follow the rules to understand the restaurant’s concept of fresh food delivery to your table (see pic).
As for the service — there were only 2 servers who busted their behind to not only serve dishes and bus tables, but also acted as food quality control. For instance, in the open kitchen, a cook handed a server an appetizer which she refused to serve the customers since it wasn’t cooked to standard. She actually yelled at him! Quite amusing and thought of what you would expect out of a «hells kitchen» episode with chef Gordon Ramsey !! Great job on her part to keep food consistency! The restaurant rules however do not warrant 5 stars for service since it is up to the customer to be responsible for menu /​service requests. However, the customers can clearly witness that the servers are workhorses. They deserve a solid 4 stars.
I would definitely recommend ajicanteen to anyone who enjoys authentic Japanese cuisine. Although the restaurant doesn’t offer sushi on their menu — it really doesn’t need to since their flavors are superb!

Ordered a gyudon and ebo yakisoba with a side of cold tofu.
The cold tofu just wasn’t very smooth at all.
The don was just the sum of its ingredients. Mechanically prepared, and utterly boring. The side of wakame had absolutely no taste.
The yakisoba was way too oily and didn’t have enough veggies.
Last time I came the gyozas were not crispy on the outside, and the ramen was decent but didn’t seem to have enough in it.
While the service was okay, the waiters didn’t even know the names od the dishes we were trying to order even though it’s right on the menu!
Not coming back…

Ended up here post-​Yelp event that was near Waterloo station — just did a quick Nearby Restaurants search and Japanese food sounded tasty enough, and I had been craving ramen noodle soup for months.
We were seated quickly enough in the canteen style place, open seating with picnic tables. I liked that the menu layout made it easy to follow their soup setup — you pick a noodle, your soup base, your meat or veg and three garnishes. My concoction was ramen miso with slow roasted pork and bean sprouts, seasonal greens and shitake mushrooms (£8.95). Husband got his usual, chicken katsu and we shared a side of chicken dumplings.
Our orders were taken right away and Asahi bottles (£3.95) came out quickly. Then we waited and waited and waited for our side to come out about 25 minutes later. A bit long to wait for a flash fried side of dumplings. Our entrees came out about 10 minutes after that — well mine first then husband’s about 4 – 5 minutes later. As is their casual, style modelled after these types of restaurants in Japan (there are even instructions painted on the wall that direct you to raise your hand when you’re ready to order — we didn’t do that and it still worked out).
I was disappointed with my soup broth — it was too thick and had an overwhelming cinnamon-​like smell and sweet flavour. The pork was excellent and plentiful though. The seasonal greens ended up being spinach which I happen to dislike in its cooked form, all wilt-​y and slimy. Loads of mushrooms and sprouts though. The dumplings were so-​so, nothing exciting there other than they at least arrived piping hot. Husband really enjoyed his katsu but he was also starving by then.
Our total was £28 for two beers, a side and two entrees. For a super casual, canteen style eating that seems steep, but the food quality was fairly good (my personal tastes aside). I don’t know if it is a chain, but it felt like one by way of décor and atmosphere.

My partner and I were headed for the London Eye when we saw this restaurant. Because it was a weird time (neither lunch nor dinner hour), the place was almost empty. We sat down on one of the many clean tables. After awhile, someone came by and offered us water and menus.
I ordered, I think, a teishoku-​style meal. I can’t remember everything right now, but I do remember that my meal came with all the usual sides we get in Japanese restaurants in Hawaii. However, what I didn’t expect was that the miso soup would be SO GOOD! I was also impressed by the tasty teriyaki beef and «real» rice. (There is nothing more disappointing than going into an Asian restaurant outside of Hawaii and being served Uncle Ben’s rice. Pretty sure he isn’t Asian!)
My partner ordered just a California roll and watched me eat my HUGE meal. Every now and then, he stole something off my plates, tried it and declared it, «Good!» This meal was almost as fabulous as the London Eye views!
The reason it has only 4 stars is the service. It was hard to find them once they delivered our order to our table, and they took so long to bring the check, I joked with my partner, «Maybe, it’s free!»

Service was incredibly slow. It seemed like only 1 – 2 people were working the floor and as a result we waited forever for everything including the check. We just wanted to get out of there. It also was unusually hot and it wasn’t until we were about to leave that we noticed the air conditioner started to cool the place off.
Ramen was okay. Broth was fine but noodles were a bit soft. I’ve had better but it gave me a quick fix.

Ok food

I’m sorry for rating this place 3 stars & dropping it’s average. Cool spot on a good corner location right around the London Eye and across the Westminster Bridge from Big Ben/​Parliament. Coming from Southern California I’m spoiled by all the ramen/​noodle places in various ethnic communities all over Los Angeles.
I had miso ramen with chicken, pickled ginger, & half a boiled egg. It was 82 degrees outside but that didn’t stop me from having hot soup. I was happy to see that chicken was an option for the protein selection, that stuck out to me. Other than that as the rating system states it was «A-​OK».
Side note they have wi-​fi here so it was convenient as I had my iPhone 4 with me but no service & I turned off my data roaming since I was overseas. From there I was able to FaceTime & Skype friends back home.

The best places are those that you stumble upon with no preconceived notion about the restaurant. We came here with low expectations since we were in the thick of tourists near the London Eye and the Westminster Bridge, but we were cold and tired; the sight of this noodle bar looked like a cozy heaven.
This place is easy. You pick your noodle (Udon, Ramen, Soba, etc), then your broth (Veggie, Chickien, Beef, Miso broth, etc.), then you pick your toppings. My husband was the winner with his panfried Yaki Udon with Prawns, but my ramen was also tasty. The place has a cafeteria feel and the service was fast and efficient.

Aji Noodle bar is really great. Their menu is mainly noodle based as you can imagine (!) and the restaurant’s menu and feel is based on the ramen bars in Japan, or so they say. I have to say, I didn’t feel like I was quite in Tokyo but you cant have it all eh?
The food was really superb. I’d say it’s possibly the best noodle place I’ve been to for a while. I was looking for and express lunch, nothing to serious and really enjoyed my seafood noodles. Much better, much tastier than big chains like Wagamama.
Another winner for County Hall — avoid Ned’s Noodle Bar and come here instead!