Sen Nin

Restaurant looks nice from the outside but the food speaks for itself for the rating. Was over salted by obvious amounts and dishes were greasy.

The all you can eat Sunday Sushi buffet was great. I wouldn’t say a huge variety but there were about 7 different ones. All tasted amazing and were cooked fresh and always replenished. Also a Japanese Chicken Curry, yummy rice and a noodle salad.
My friend had the Thai Beef salad and opted out of the buffet. He really enjoyed his as well. For £10.95 I could not go paste the all you can eat though.
Restaurant is clean, tidy and really lovely and modern. Loved it! ¹⁰⁄₁₀.

Starters were fine. Mango mojito was fine. The real disappointments were the mains. So mean and stingy! Aubergine main was three measly slices of aubergine on a tiny bed of peppers and mushrooms. Cod main at £20 was ludicrously miniscule. We were so hungry that we had to order another portion of edamame for some much needed protein and filling up. A shame as the actual flavour combinations were pretty good. Service and surroundings unremarkable. We quickly called for the bill and disappeared for a crêpe at Le Chez Boulanger. A much better decision and great value.

The venue itself looks pretty good. Fairly narrow but with large windows along the side street. Open kitchen and teppanyaki grill with seats around at the back. Like the modern décor.
Ordered some noodle dishes. My chicken teriyaki soba noodles was disappointing. Just bland and completely unexciting. Big white chunks of chicken breast that had been just heated in a warm wok with some shredded veggies and then some noodles thrown in and a little squirt of brown sauce (I guess that was the teriyaki bit) added at the end. The ingredients were decent enough but just heating some stuff together in a wok doesn’t = chicken teriayaki. It was so boring.
A few days later I made chicken teriyaki myself. Take some skin on deboned chicken thighs (not breast), flatten, marinate in salt and ginger, pan fry skin side down until crispy brown, turn over, add a splash of sake, steam for a few mins. Make a sauce of honey, mirin, soy sauce. Add to the chicken and pan fry until sauce is thick and caramelised all over the chicken. Slice up the chicken and serve on rice or noodles with veggies, whatever. The point is it tasted fantastic. Flavour and texture abound.
Sen Nin could do this too and be so much more exciting. It has all the right ingredients but needs to up it’s game. It needs to stand out a bit more with focus on the cooking, just generic and bland renditions won’t cut it. Wasn’t cheap either.

My friend and I saw this restaurant last week and while walking down the street and both thought we should try it. The place was busy and the sign said £10.95 all you can eat sushi buffet. The American in me was like, «oh yes!» but I was left disappointed with the selection as it isn’t truly a Japanese restaurant. It was a hotchpotch of sushi and pan-​Asian cuisine.
Menu: I can only comment on the buffet menu and I was very disappointed with the amount of selection at the buffet table. They had salmon sushi and several maki rolls to choose from. At the end of the buffet table, there was some generic fried rice, Japanese chicken curry, and noodles. The chefs finally brought out some tuna sushi 2 hours into our meal. There were no starters, no desserts. Is it that expensive to serve up some miso soup? All together, there were around 6 items to choose from at the buffet. Perhaps, that’s what you get when the buffet is this price.
I also looked at the à la carte menu and it had a lot more variety; with pricing between £5-£20. Items on the menu included, Tom Yum soup, Thai beef salad, and pandan chicken.
Atmosphere: Despite being disappointed with the food, the place was clean. As it’s a corner shop with lovely windows, we sat and people watched while eating our food.
Service: The service was lacklustre and slow. It took the server 15 minutes to get our drinks and again for the cheque. My friend asked for soda water, but was given the wrong glass size, the manager later told us. There were 3 servers on the floor, but I felt like only the manager/​maitre d’ was working. Here’s a question for Unilocalers, would you pay service charge at a buffet?

Close to perfect!
I’ve walked past this place a lot, it being my nearest sushi/​Teppanyaki place. However it always looked quite pricey and unwelcoming. Well that all changed with new management and a focus on value for money. I spotted a poster outside the window that said a few words that you never see associated with Sushi in London.
It said. Sunday buffet. Unlimited Sushi. All day. I did a double-​take. Did it really say that? There is a sushi place near work that sets you back £14 for 8 tiger rolls. Surely even if this wasn’t even very good sushi, these’s no way it was this cheap. Anyway, as somebody that likes to try things I decided to plan a trip here one Sunday.
I’d been to the gym earlier than morning. Obviously because exercise enables you to eat more. We were greeted by whom I assume was the manager, and told to just start helping ourselves. Initially it looked like a mountain of choice, till you realise that some of the platters are duplicated. Even then it was still a good range. Lots of salmon, tuna, egg roll, fried sushi rolls. There was a fair amount of choice. Added to that, Katsu curry which was perfectly decent. However the Chicken Yakisoba noodles were dry and not very pleasant.
The price for this all was £9.95. I was wowed. We’d ordered tap water and some drinks so I was expected a small service charge, but non was added. This was appreciated. The price has increased since I went just over a month ago, to £10.95, but that’s still a bargain for all you can eat sushi. And you can think of it as a small 10% service charge on the original price.
In all, I’ll definitely be back. I just hope that they add and alter some of the buffet dishes over time so the experience keeps feeling fresh.
As for the other stuff they offer, it’s arguable that they’re losing money running a buffet all day Sunday, but from how full the restaurant was prior to this offer, it didn’t look like many people visited, so what they lack for in price, they’re probably making up in higher footfall.

One Tuesday I entered this establishment in a rush with my dinner date, we were headed to a show at a nearby pub-​theatre and thought we’d have a quick light meal to see our pangs through the muggy evening.
With 1 hour 10 spare we thought we’d be fine.
There were plenty of empty tables, but the maître d, looking at his computer, gave us a doubtful look; we implored him that we would be swift, as we had places to be, thankfully he obliged us.
Delighted that we arrived on half-​price Tuesday, we took a seat, perused the menu and promptly decided what we desired. 15 hungerford minutes later a waiter presented himself at our table. We ordered, and our delicious, tall mango sake mojitos arrived promptly. The length of the cocktail and warmth of the evening loosened our tongues and delicious drink became delicious conversation… Until we realised it had been 40 minutes since we made our food order!
I called a waiter to our table insisting that we must have our meal immediately. They must have heard me in the kitchen, as no sooner had I finished my diatribe, my delicious and well presented dragon roll, miso combo and my dinner date’s salmon ceviche salad and tuna tartare arrived at the table.
While the meal was delicious, mouth-​watering, and half priced we had to engulf it at breakneck pace, I was as hungry as a peregrinating pelican and imbibed my fishy meal as so. With this metaphor complete we paid and flew to our show 15 minutes late!
My advice to them would be if you expect me pay the 19% service charge you should employ more people to provide some actual service.

I can see Sen Nin has been getting caned on Unilocal and although I can understand some of what everyone seems to be saying, I still find it a bit harsh!
Like others, a friend of mine had a TopTable thing going on, so we got 50% off food though I didnt know that until the end. Hmm. why was our bill still £50/​pp then?!
I thought the sushi here was actually good, not a massive fan of sashimi normally (where’s the Maki and Fotomaki at?) but I thought it was good here, but that could be because Mr Toptable voucher kept ordering sake bombs which I did find pricey at £5 each. It suddenly occurs to me why the bill was so big — bugger.
It was busy, but the staff were quite attentive and we didnt have to wait long for any of the courses.
In conclusion, I would go again if I was in the area and craving sushi but tbh I wouldnt make a special trip, although they do a Sunday sushi buffet which I like the sound of!!!

As reviewers have mentioned this place is available at a discount on toptable and that’s why I thought I would give it a try. I actually ended up choosing the Sunday sushi buffet instead (£10). It was fine and there are nice big windows but as mentioned service was quit odd — took age sot get our drinks, for example. I think it would be quite expensive and not great value to eat here without some kind of deal.

Great spot, delicious and very reasonably priced considering the quality. Came in randomly and it was top quality sushi. I had the California roll which was made fresh in front of me, massively recommend it, and my boyfriend the spicy beef salad. We both loved it and will be back. My new favourite on upper st.

We found a deal for this place through Toptable, which gets you 50% off food. It’s quite a big restaurant, but rather empty on a Saturday for lunch. We ordered both the prawn and the vegetable tempura for starters, then the Sushi Moriawase and the Dragon Roll for mains. I don’t think it was anything special as far as Japanese food goes, but it’s a nice establishment with enough space so that you don’t feel crowded against the next diner and open windows to people-​watch everyone walking by on Upper Street. I also got the fried rice which is surprisingly nice (it’s not just a plain side, it’s well cooked enough to be a main dish, in my opinion) and I also highly recommend getting the jasmine tea (comes in a big traditional teapot).

The boyfriend and me stumbled into Sen Nin for dinner yesterday, because of him having vague memories of the place having Teppanyaki at the table and the experience being quite scenic and ejoyable.
So, apparently that feature is long gone, and we’re left in a very non-​authentic feeling, oddly empty at dinner time Japanese restaurant. Nevermind.
The menu was quite small but at the same time confused, ranging from a tiny, MASSIVELY overpriced selection of sushi and sashimi items, none of which were any more creative than the usual salmon, tuna, prawn nigiri, to some noodle dishes and Thai curries (?!).
Having a feeling for what was going to happen, and also being quite a small girl on a January «try to shed the Christmas weight» half-​hearted resolution, I try and keep the ordering to the minimum and only get a bowl of plain rice and some salmon sashimi, while my boyfriend orders a chicken noodle dish.
The waiter that looked after us (possibly the manager?) kept telling me that what I ordered wasn’t enough for one person, and suggesting he’ll have a sashimi platter made for me, which I thought was really rude! Even after I remarked, more than once that yes, I know what sashimi is, and yes, I’ve had it many many times before, and no, I didn’t want any more food, he didn’t seem convinced.
My food was average at the very best, and my boyfriend’s chicken noodle dish was just plain gross. The portion was pretty tiny, and it was priced at a mind-​blowing £13, considering I couldn’t have distinguished it from the cheapest Chinese take-​away noodle dish.
Also, despite us being basically the only customers there, it was really hard to get the waiter’s attention when we were ready to pay and finally leave the place. Despite the terrible, rude service we had to pay a service charge, which I really resented considering how awful the whole experience was.
Definitely never coming back, and had to forget about the whole experience thanks to the delicious cocktails at The Four Sisters next door, review to follow :)
Run, run run!

This place is in our neighborhood, but I was never really curious enough to try it. When it showed up on a voucher site and had a total revamp, I figured, why not. I had a voucher for a £45 meal (per person) for the price of £20 per person. So I expected to be eating what would have been a £45 meal.
Maybe I’m being nice by giving it 2 stars…
The service was bad. It seemed kind of lazy. The restaurant was only half full (or half empty), and the two waiters were having a really hard time coping. I’d have more sympathy, but they did a really lousy job with everything– from serving food on time to setting down the utensils. They thought they could make everything better by saying that our food was coming soon, when it wasn’t. I could tell we weren’t the only unhappy costumers.
Our meal came with a margarita, soup, a salad or roll, and a «premium» dish. All of the portions were tiny. The roll looked like it was slapped together. And my «premium» black cod was two thinly sliced cod steaks, which were at best, just okay. And this meal was supposed to be £45! We would’ve been ripped off. It was clear they knew we were voucher customers. Ya know, if they left a better impression on me, I would’ve gladly come back. It was clearly a lost opportunity for them.
We left really disappointed. Now I’m not so curious any more.

This place is so mediocre… their sashimi is decent enough, the unagi nigiri is ok, although it could benefit from more taste. The nigiri sushi is a total rip off here. Expensive, with small pieces of fish. The Gyoza are completely forgettable (very slimy), and the so called japanese pancakes have way too much mayonnaise (huh??). The spicy tuna isn’t spicy. Booooooring !!!
The house sake is drinkable, but nothing to write home about, although at 10£ per 250ml, you’d expect it to be the good stuff, which it ain’t.
As I said. Mediocre, overall. Pfff. #wasteofmoney

No one was Japanese at this place, not the chef nor any of the waiting staff. The Teppanyaki chef there was trying really hard to be entertaining, waving the knives and forks about for the cooking, but that’s just NOT the Japanese way — they don’t show off, it’s an art to them and it’s definitely not a light entertainment.
The guy decided to flick some eggs about to show us a few tricks — which was fun — but then he just chucked it down the drain! What a waste!
The second time he tried to show off was to flick some eggs at my friend — to see if she would catch it with her mouth. He ended up flicking his whole KNIFE at her body… that was shocking and lucky for him, nothing happened and we were the only customers left by then.
Ok fine, maybe he was tired and god knows how many flicks and tricks he’s had to do the whole day — but then don’t bother showing off! There’s really no need to start chucking your knives at the clientele…
Anyway the food was just crap as well — fresh I guess but the Wagyu beef was a bit overcooked and the taste of everything we had ordered (lobster, scallops and black cod) was just really bland and boring. It also wasn’t good value either because it’s actually quite expensive for London — with the air of just a fast food joint. Definitely won’t be here again!

Seriously unimpressive for sushi.
I came in here on a Sunday afternoon with someone who told me it was good for bento. When we sat down, we saw some other people finishing up what appeared to be bento boxes, but when we looked at the menu, it only had starters and sushi on it.
We just went with the flow and ended up ordering a load of sushi that ended up being quite expensive, as sushi tends to be. The seaweed salad wasn’t available, which I thought a bit odd for a sushi restaurant. They brought us gyoza instead of yakotori. Then they brought us prawn tempura instead of vegetable tempura.
A couple sat down about midway through our meal and asked the host, straight up, why he hadn’t given them the special Sunday menu. Thus solving the mystery about where the bento boxes were.
By this time, my companions and I had eaten just about all the things that arrived at our table and — by the way — were completely underwhelmed by everything. Considering we paid £80 for our meal, hearing that there was a special menu on that we weren’t told about at the start was a real kicker.
If you run specials, you should tell your customers about them — because the ones who just randomly settle on your establishment will assuredly hear about these specials at some point during their meal, be thoroughly pissed off, and then leave less-​than-​complimentary reviews on Unilocal

Nothing special here. Average sushi.

I have to say I had wanted to enter Sen Nin and get a feeling of Teppaniaky for a long time.
Passing by the windows and seeing the fire flames behind the Cook /​MC’s back was quite impressive.
So when we entered the restaurant, I had great expectations… and was not disappointed !!!
The teppaniaky meal deal is a bit pricey (20£), but worth it, with the show and all. We tried the chicke, beek and squid, and the three of them were perfectly cooked with amazing sauces.
The squid on its own was really impressive, very nicely presented.
Sushi was great as well.
As we were with more mature people as well, I was afraid the whole show thing would be too much and a bit overwhelming, but in fact it was a great part of the meal, and only lasted some 10 minutes.
I’ll go there again — possibly with visiting friends and family !
Itadakimasu !

From the interesting interior to the seats around the teppanyaki, this is a great place to eat if you want a different atmosphere from the usual conveyor belt Japanese restaurants.
I went with a friend, not a group, and it was perfect for just the two of us. Our chef did his magic at the teppanyaki and our food was perfect — fresh, tasty and filling.
We had their lunchtime special, which was around £10 each, excluding drinks. Definitely a restaurant I will be returning to.

Say what you want about teppanyaki, that’s it’s a fad, it’s overpriced. Whatever. I had one of the best meals I’ve eaten in ages and it was because of a crazy little chef called Leo.
He clapped, he flirted, he made the whole table laugh and bond. He gyrated, he grinded a little and gave a lotta bang for our buck. At these places, who you get as a chef is really important. You can have a quiet meal or you can have a chef like Leo pretending to be a pole dancer, winking and calling everyone baby.
And the food. ZOMG! We ordered the seafood gyoza and the tempura to start, these were good but mediocre. But the egg fried rice, he whipped up in front of us was a dream. The squid and the red snapper… amazing. But the king prawns and the lobster were the best I’ve ever tasted.
The prices are not cheap, but not exorbitant and they are generous with the portions. You will not regret splurging a little for SEN-​NIN.
Just make sure you ask for Leo, he’ll show you a good time ;-)