Sushi Hiroba

Très bon restaurant de sushis, la nourriture est excellente et le service est rapide et agréable.

My favourite sushi place in London. Prices are reasonable, food is very good and the service is kind and fast.
We have been there many time and were never disappointed.
Only downside, it is closed on Saturdays (maybe that changed in the meanwhile)

This Japanese Restaurant on Kingsway tempted me for a long time since I walk by everyday. It’s interior design and cosy atmosphere give a positive first impression.
However, the service quickly changed this impression when they did not provide us with a menu and we constantly had to fight for the staff’s attention.
I ordered the spicy chicken ramen, since I love spicy and ramen soup (what could go wrong?). To my dismay, the soup had no flavour and tasted just spicy. The vegetables and chicken didn’t seem too fresh either.
In my frustration I ordered the spicy tuna roll. The roles were oversized (in a bad way — impossible to eat) and had (the same?) unpleasant taste. The overall quality of the ingredients (rice, cucumbers) were not impressive.
Unfortunately I did not have a good experience at Sushi Hiroba.

So I have just come home from having dinner here with my sister and her boyfriend. I was starving and I said and I quote «I reckon I could eat £50 tonight!» In the end I ended up spending £32 and I’m still hungry (including a green tea and coke).
We picked here as we were meeting in Holborn and my sister fancied sushi, I did too once she planted the idea. I found Sushi Hiroba, looked at the website, read a few reviews on here and thought why not. Wish I had read more reviews now, top one I didn’t realised was from 2009! My own fault.
Where to start, why 2 stars? We arrived at 9ish. It wasn’t busy but it took 10 minutes to be seated at the conveyor belt. We had to ask for wasabi and to order drinks, which took ages to arrive. There weren’t many options on the belt. All the hot dishes were stone cold. We ordered hand rolls which were quite good, these arrived before our drinks did. The service in here is abysmal. The same dishes kept coming around. Yes we could order off the menu, but the reason for coming to a conveyor belt is to help yourself and stuff your face. My sister’s boyfriend wasn’t keen on the look of the sushi so ordered a rice dish, which in hide sight I should have done as his bill was half of mine and he was full after.
The only redeeming point was the spicy salmon roll, it was delicious. I also had another one called dynamite, which was pretty good too, but the crispy bits had been out too long and were a bit chewy.
Lesson learned, should have gone to Kulu Kulu!

When a friend suggested this place for a weeknight dinner, I reluctantly agreed and had very low expectations because the website makes it sound like Yo! Sushi, which is fine for takeout or at the airport but not how I’d choose to spend £30 and a social evening. However, the comfortable but stylish décor and surprisingly good sushi won me over.
It’s probably realistically more of a 3.5 star place, but they get a bump because they had uni, which is hard to find in London (albeit insanely expensive uni — £5 for one piece! I’d never pay that in DC or NYC, but in London, Soviet rules apply to sea urchin). The menu is pretty Westernized, but they have more of the weird things that I like than the average London sushi joint.
We ordered a lot of sushi and small dishes for our group of four — all a la carte as we didn’t sit by the conveyor belt (because who knows how long those little plates have been scooting around the loop?). I mostly went for sashimi — amaebi (sweet prawn) and surf clam, plus my overpriced but delicious (OK, not the best I’ve ever had — it would pass muster in NYC but probably not Tokyo) uni. The sashimi I ordered all had very generous portions — nice big pieces. I also had soba noodle soup and seaweed salad, both of which were good. My husband’s toro looked nice. One friend got the big chicken curry, which was in fact big. They have a reasonably-​priced wine list — we went for an unoaked Aussie chardonnay called Woolloomooloo, partly because the name was fun to say (it’s named after an area in Sydney if memory serves).
The prices here are reasonable — perhaps they cater to students, as it’s not far from LSE and some other universities — although a lot of the people there were in suits. For the four of us, the bill came to just over £120 including a bottle of wine and a few beers, and we were all quite full.
I’d probably come back here for a low-​key dinner with friends — nothing on the menu is groundbreaking or earth-​shattering, but it’s fresh, reasonably well-​made and reasonably priced with pretty nice décor and friendly staff.

I’m going to start this review off by calling myself a convinced sushi aficionado. Japanese food is easily one of my favorites, and merely seeing a Japanese Restaurant wherever I go gets me excited. As such, and because it’s so close to where I work, I’ve had the chance to go not once, but three times with coworkers.
My thoughts after these three experiences? Well, overall, it’s definitely a good place to get a bite, since the food is pretty delicious. But something seems to be off-​putting… the service was passable at best, maybe? Of the awful lighting? The fact that I’ve had way better sushis before?
Whatever it may be, this is an average Japanese restaurant. Nothing out of the ordinary.

We stopped in here to grab a quick bite on a Saturday night before heading to a Christmas party. They are very quick, but mostly because it’s one of those sushi bar restaurants where the food is put out on sushi boats and you can grab plates of food for varying prices. We weren’t near the sushi boats, so we ordered off the menu.
We ordered:
12 piece sashimi
2 piece Tamago nigiri
6 piece tempura vegetables
3 piece tempura soft shell crab
Spicy tuna roll
So the service is pretty good, we could get the attention of the servers quite easily even though we were tucked into a corner. Food-​wise, the sashimi was probably one of the best things. The salmon was great and the scallops were delicious. The tuna and hamachi were okay. The Tamago was nice. The tempura vegetables were a bit undercooked. The soft shell crab was also tasty. The spicy tuna roll was kind of disappointing. It’s almost as if the rolls are made up really far in advance (even the ones you order), as the rice was just a bit wrong.
So if I need a quick dinner and I’m in the area, I might come back. But we’d probably just order a lot of scallop sashimi and soft shell crab. With the amount of good sushi restaurants in London, it’s hard to justify coming back.

Food Poisoning. Both Myself and my dining parter. No Bueno

Come before 10pm and enjoy the sushi bar or a table. Excellent either way. Enjoying hot stone bibimbap with veggies and sashimi of course. Roche Merlot was great yesterday (house wine) and enjoying the Aripala Shiraz this evening. Tomorrow??? Maybe just lunch.

I love this place. I’m a huge sushi fan but would never have considered coming here if not for a friend inviting me to dinner.
We sat at a table not at the carousel and indulged on a variety of sushi and sashimi, all of which was fresh without any fishy smell to it. I especially like their warm plates which are a brilliant idea for when you want to have sushi and can’t eat a whole chicken and rice meal. These guys have you totally covered with their little plates of menu items which ordinarily come as a rice and meat dish but instead are served on a little sushi plate at a fraction of the cost. Brilliant!
Sadly I haven’t been back here since as it’s not really close to anywhere I need to be on a regular basis but next time I’m in Holborn or perhaps visiting the National Gallery, I’ll see if it’s possible to stop by for lunch.
Also, 10% discount for students. Score!

I found this below average. Service wasn’t great. I checked in on Unilocal app and a offer on my phone come up for something like 10% off which was nice to see.
When I went to pay the lady gave me attitude saying they don’t do Unilocal anymore and they didn’t want to honor the 10% off… umm well you give students a discount so why can’t you do it? its not a huge amount but its the fact they didn’t want to honor something which was an agreement between Unilocal and them… if they don’t do Unilocal offers anymore thats for them to contact Unilocal.Its not my problem… needless to say the sushi was below average and wasn’t worth the money I paid for it. I don’t know why this place has as many stars as it did. The quality of the sushi was not great. Im not coming back. Plus I just read below about someone getting food poisoning from this place… hmmm…NO…End of story.

DO NOT COME. Myself and two of my friends all got food poisoning. Spent the next 36 hours throwing up, dizzy, queasy, and with explosive diarrhea. Need I say more?

DO NOT COME HERE. STAY AWAY. My two friends and I ate at the carousel last night… one of my friends started to feel queasy soon after we left the restaurant. The other maybe two hours later. I thought I was fine until I sprinted out of bed at 3 am to vomit. The result… all three of us spent the entire night and most of today hugging the toilet and cursing Sushi Hiroba. Never before have I experienced food poisoning so terrible. The sushi looked suspicious and it tasted pretty mediocre (fishy) as well. Seriously, don’t come here. Don’t take the chance. The sleepless night full of cold sweats, shivering, vomit, and much more is just not worth it.

I don’t know why, whenever I see conveyer belt sushi, I think it is going to be a not-​so-​impressive sushi restaurant. It might be different in Japan, but I have never been wrong in US or UK using that rule. Sushi Hiroba is no exception. I went with a large group of friends, so we tried their a-​la-​carte menu. They offer a mix of Japanese and Korean food. I ordered some rolls and I just remembered they were not so good. It was quite cheap by London standard, but for good Japanese food, you usually have to pay more.

For one thing, the price is really good for the quality. I love sushi and even though I love 30 minutes away in East London, I often come here for takeout on the way home from school. I’ve sat in before and service was quick, even when my friends were randomly ordering bits and pieces. The 10% off student discount doesn’t hurt either.
You wouldn’t think it would be so good from the outside, but give it a chance.
There is a sushi carousel and mostly bar seating there, which I try to avoid because I know I will spend way too much if it rolls by me. Unlike some of the other reviews from a while ago, I love it here. I am from New York and not having relatively inexpensive sushi at my beck and call is difficult. I quite like this place. It has tobiko sushi on the menu, which isn’t everywhere. Now if only they opened up nearer to me.
Also note, it’s open until 10:30 on Sundays, when almost nothing else is. This past Sunday I went in at 9pm and it was packed. I also like when I see a majority of Asian diners in a sushi restaurant because, as my Japanese best friend back in NYC told me, it’s a good sign that you will like it.

Quite an unassuming façade, but once you walk through the doors you realise this place will be a good.
We were swiftly met at the entrance and show to a place at the bar. The hostess explained you need a reservation but not if you wish to sit at the carousel. The sushi carousel is quite long and doen’t reek of the cheesiness of other places.
Food looks and tastes great. I was with a Japanese chef friend of mine who promptly explained all the dishes not familiar to me.
Great place already looking forward to coming back.

I try to avoid this place, but with limited dining options around Holborn inevitably I do end up here. The sushi selection is limited, not great, and its «freshness» is questionable. I usually stick to the hot food — the chicken katsu curry with rice which seems to be a safe option.
Service is brusque and at times rude… you’re better off going to Itsu around the corner for cheaper, and arguably better sushi!

Loved the food here. You can sit at the sushi bar or get a table. Prawns were super. Price is not bad either. We were tucked away round the corner so service was not amazing. Will go back one day.

Meh, I’ve had better sushi.
Not sure I understand the rave reviews. Sushi Hiroba is just a really average sushi bar, a notch above a Yo! Sushi, and much like it’s futuristic peer Sushi Hiroba also has a conveyer sushi belt. While conveyer belts are a nice novelty they often do not come with quality sushi.
The sushi seemed fresh enough and the vegetarian udon soup I ordered hit the spot for a frigid London night. However, the gyoza were too deep fried (it would have been much better if they were steamed and the pan fried).
The prices are also reasonably low… making sushi more accessible to all which I suppose in the grand scheme of things has to be worth a few stars.

I do not like this place.
Me and my mates met up and googled the closest japanese restaurant we could find in Holborn. We ended up here (unfortunately).
Visually, it was good… but that’s it. I had high hopes for the food. I decided on the sushi off the conveyor belt, whilst my friends decided on ordering hot food. I can only speak for the sushi, which was STALE and a complete rip off! The service wasn’t that great either.
I will not be returning. That. Is. All.

Located in central London, the Sushi Hiroba is a nice place to go! Prices are comparatively low (Maki set for about 4£ — remember, you are in London!), service is great and attentive. Definitely a good choice for a quick stop to enjoy delicious Sushi in an enchanting ambiance!

Hmm…
Ok.
Let me start by saying that I go from completely full to ravenously hungry in a matter of milliseconds. Not 13 minutes after telling Lizzie that I could not possibly force feed myself any more food due to the filling nature of my steel-​cut oatmeal breakfast, I was practically gnawing on the leather chair in search of long lost calories.
So not having to talk, or smile, or read a menu, or put in a drink order, but rather just stare at the food conveyoring by me, and attack at will much like an animal stalking my prey, was a *HUGE* win for Sushi Hiroba.
Huge.
Not so sure about the price per plate ratio — I definitely did not consume ¹⁄₃ of a £40 tab. But the fish was fresh, the options were creative enough, and the ambiance was… who am I kidding, I only looked at the food. It’s mesmorsing.
…And once again, I’m starving.