The staff here are not all Japanese but don’t let that put you off as the food is the closest to traditional Japanese food that we’ve found in West London. Seemed fresh. Friendly service. Do wish we had some Japanese mayo for the karaage chicken though.
Ben W.
Rating des Ortes: 3 London, United Kingdom
Not pronounced ‘tosser’. I checked. ‘Toe-sa’ is a Japanese restaurant with a charcoal grill in the front part which you can sit by and watch the chef whack your food on. That’s the bit I like about it. You feel the fierce heat of the grill and watch your food steadily getting its tasty burnished edges while your mouth waters. Unfortunately, bar seats were all taken so we sat ‘inside’ which is a far duller affair. The back is badly laid out and totally non-descript. Shame because the food is nice. Sushi(eel, turbot and salmon) was delicious as was the Californian roll, all served in a big clay bowl which looked great. Miso soup had depth, and the pickles tasted sharp and cleansing as did the spinach. Good saintly hangover fodder if you can resist the tempura which we managed to do. We only ordered one thing from the grill. Onion. £1.90 for a slice! Bit steep for something you could reasonably expect to be a garnish for another dish. But tasty nonetheless. The service is a bit glum. Not rude or inept at all. They just don’t seem to be enjoying themselves much. It doesn’t help alleviate that back room feeling of ‘meh’ though. Still, Tosa is a good stab at a local, authentic Japanese restaurant and the grill bit is a lot of fun. But Yoshisushi just five minutes down the road beats it for value and overall surroundings and if you can’t get a stool next to the burning embers, I’d recommend the jog on down there instead.
Gary M.
Rating des Ortes: 4 East Village, Manhattan, NY
Very busy for a Sunday night in a quiet part of hammersmith. Food was great and tasted really fresh. Service was a little slow but nothing to complain about too much. I would come back but bring cash next time. They offer 12% off your bill with non card payments.
Brobro B.
Rating des Ortes: 5 London, United Kingdom
Tosa is an amazing place to eat. From the front it looks horrible but the amazing quality fish tastes amazing with the many Japanese meals that the serve. They are not strict on you being late for your reservation or for a late lunch. This is heaven for Japanese food
Leo U.
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
Tosa Summary: + Authentic Japanese in King St., Hammersmith/Stamford Brook + Yakitori grill is their speciality + But also have a wide range of dishes + Lunch is great value for money Overall: Tosa is an authentic Japanese restaurant on King Street located between Hammersmith and Chiswick. Their speciality is yakitori grills. You can see that by the fact that it has a separate grill counter at the front of restaurant separate from its main kitchen. So it is given that you have to try some of that. But the restaurant also has an impressive variety of other non-grill dishes including udon noodles, tempura, sushi, and other tapas dishes. As some people have mentioned, this place is really a Japanese tapas bar. Each dish is fairly small so the best strategy is to go there with a group of people and order A LOT of stuff so that you can taste many different dishes just like how it’s done in Japan(and in fact, in many Asian countries). Most of the staff are non-Japanese, but not to worry. Their food is as real as it can get. Like many Asian restaurants, their lunch menu is great value for money. It happens to be located near Saigon Saigon(great Vietnamese restaurant). It’s a shame that this place is not in central London. I find it hard to persuade people to come here outside of my West Londoner circle.
Ashley c.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Austin, TX
Excellent Japanese restaurant. Owner is very nice; yakatori grill is super impressive. All the dishes are thoughtful, but not overdone. This has become our regular neighborhood place while we are stationed in London & living in Hammersmith. The dishes on the grill are my favorite — especially recommend salmon cheeks, saba shio, chicken skin — salty & delicious. Ask for recommendations — they are sure to be stellar. Highly recommend!!!
Takashi S.
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
Love lunches(so far tried, Yakitori, sashimi, sushi, saba, salmon, tonkatsu). Healthy, yummy and varieties. I go there almost every week while I am in town.
Atticus F.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Brentford, United Kingdom
Friendly owner and good flavor balance witht their soba. They specialize in Japanese barbecue. Good stuff.
Mathias H.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Stockholm, Sweden
This Japanese restaurant(most of the people working there do not appear to be native Japanese but the food feels fairly authentic) in Hammersmith/Chiswick is a great place to stop in for a quick bite to eat and a beer or for a full range of many small dishes. The selection of small tapas style dishes are typical for Japanese izakaya’s and the food is mostly very good. All the grilled dishes come highly recommended and the gyoza was also very good. Price-wise it is pretty good value as well.
Hazyma
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
Absolutely lovely little Japanese restaurant, nestled on King Street somewhere between Hammersmith and Chiswick, the service is attentive, the restaurant is actually quite sizeable although it doesn’t appear so from the outside. Good, reliable Japanese fayre, really great for lunch with friends or a low-key evening meal. Recommended!
Eman
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
Sushi in London is average compared to where we used to live in Los Angeles. Being a huge sushi fan and having had the chance to travel to Japan many times, I must admit that I am a big fan of Tosa. Unlike very traditional Japanese restaurants in Tokyo specialize in only one type of food(sushi, yakitori or tempura), Tosa has it all. We went there for a family lunch on a Sunday and I was delightled with the quality of the sushi, the quality of the yakitori as well as everything else we tried. It is not the cheapest place out there and sushi price per piece is a little steep but they do offer excellent quality fish and you pay for freshness. Highly recommended. Service is attentive, the place is small and calm. I would recommend getting a reservation. Enjoy it.
Foodie N.
Rating des Ortes: 2 London, United Kingdom
After seeing some good reviews on this place, I have to say I was a little disappointed by the sushi. Maybe this place isn’t good for sushi, but unfortunately I didn’t sample the other little dishes on the menu like the yakitori or hot appetizers. The place is cute enough — a simple looking restaurant with cozy little wooden tables lined up in 2 small rooms. One room featured a yakitori and hot apps station. First things first, if the place can’t get the rice down, then everything goes downhill. With overly cooked rice that has too much moisture comes soggy nori, and that makes for unsavory sushi. This was the case with the sushi here — soggy and too sticky. The fish also was not the freshest — you could definitely smell a little«fishiness» coming from the tuna and yellowtail which definitely is not a good thing. But like a trooper, I wolfed them down, along with a piece of unagi(freshwater eel) that was also sadly limp and lacking that delicious toasted flavor. The soft shell crab roll, however, is not bad. The batter was light and the crab seemed fresh enough, but all in all, this place is only okay for a neighborhood sushi joint to get your sushi-quick-fix, but don’t bother traveling more than half a mile to sample the sushi here if you’re looking for quality, top notch stuff.
Warrio
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
I visited Tosa shortly after returning from a two week trip around Japan and so can confirm its authenticity, from the décor to the menu options, to the fact that the miso soup is not vegetarian, to the grotesque array of creatures on display at the front of the restaurant. Thankfully the vegetarian options here were more extensive than the ones I’d enjoyed in Kyoto, so I’d go so far as to say I preferred dining at Tosa than most of my Japanese meals and I’d certainly go backI’ll make reservation next time though so I don’t have to sit in front of the meat counter.
Saraba
Rating des Ortes: 5 London, United Kingdom
I’ve dined there once with my boyfriend. Since the first time I saw it I’ve been courious about it. Looks so small, and the window is full of articles and awards speaking about how good the food is. So, at the first good occasion, we popped in, seated at the counter with a lot of expectation. I can’t say is cheap if I compare it with the average sushi places I’ve eaten before, but this was absolutely the best sushi I’ve ever had! I was pretty surprised finding meat as well. The chiken skewer is amazing, and after came the sushi… sooooo good. The rice, the texture and the flavour. Simply amazing! So we decided to order the sashimi too. Most of the time I keep myself away from the sashimi because it can be disappointing, small thin pieces not really tasty. But this time… Everything was at such a high quality level! And in the end, the tempura! I can’t find a spot, the food was simply perfect, surprising, we left the restaurant with a big smile. Such a good sensation. And after all this good gastro feelings doesn’t really matter if we paied £ 30.00 each. It was worh every penny. HIGHLYRECOMMENDED!
T E.
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
Let’s get the obvious out of the way… they called their restaurant Tosa — that’s either a REALLY big scary dog or the Japanese spelling of «tosser», one of my favourite London words. Neither are good things, but Tosa the King Street restaurant is. I’d like to think of it as my local Tapas bar, but not being Spanish I think I can’t get away with that. But it is much more than the usual sushi and sashimi, Tosa really feels like Tapas, with a HUGE selection of small plates that all sound divine and many that sound interesting too(ox tongue, livers, natto, octopus). Of course, the grill is the thrill here. BBQed swekers of mushrooms, meats and fish are laced with flavours that you’ll want to keep lingering in your mouth for the rest of the night. My advice… get some makis and sashimi first, then move on to cooked appetizers and grilled skewers before ending with some udon. Invite everyone you know, and order everything you can imagine. The menu is substantial but 20 plus items between 4 or 5 people won’t cost you more than £25 a head and you’ll get stunning presentation and foodie-satiating diversity. …And the best tempura in town!
Contes
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
Tosa is on the corner of my road and the fact that’s it’s so convenient speaks volumes. I tend to dine here alone with a good book and always enjoy the food and the atomosphere which is very authentic Japanese. Fellow patrons are locals plus a large contingent of Japanese business men in suits who quietly munch their way through table fulls of food washed down with rather a lot of Sake. I tend to go for the same thing everytime which is the mixed Sashimi, Unagi Sushi(heavenly, really good rice and thick slices of buttery eel) plus grilled skewers of chicken liver, pork with a leaf who’s name escapes me and shitake mushrooms all of which is prepared to a very high standard. I have tried the agadashi here but it’s way better in Yoshi Sushi just down the road and also the pork belly which was undercooked and little tough. The service can be a little off hand and lacking in warmth but finding a cosy corner with a best seller and couple of Asahi’s is very relaxing especially if home is just over the road. I’t s not cheap, around £35 for the above but worth it. Booking always a good idea as it’s get very busy.
Jiamin
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
My friend discovered this place by chance last night, and tonight she brought me here. When the staff and customers all seem to be mostly Japanese, you know you’re in for a good thing. We had: sashimi moriawase(mixed sashimi), hamachi and salmon sashimi, deep fried aubergine, tuna with spring onion and ponzu sauce, 2 types of salmon & avocado rolls, fresh tofu, skewers of yakitori, pork loin, asparagus and pork, deep fried tofu, ox tongue, shitake mushroom. That’s quite a lot huh? Well, we were 3 hungry girls. Sashimi was fresh and deeelicious, the skewers from the grill were also yum yum yum. Service is very polite, although as the place packed up, they weren’t very quick to refill the tea(we had to wave them down and ask). That’s just me nitpicking though. This is a great place for a very satisfying Japanese meal at reasonable prices away from town. Total bill was about £27.10 per person. Make a booking if you want to come on Friday night. Can’t say about the other nights, but I’m sure I’ll find out next time.
SMAski
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
Exceptional and unique in London(I understand)
Carolina G.
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
Unpretentiously, Tosa sits next to ‘The Back Store’, and it may not look like much from outside but it is amazing inside. It is simply decorated in a café-style, inside the Japanese character above the grill makes a clear statement of where you are. Always busy, frequented by west londoners including many Japanese and even people coming from across London just to savour one of their specialties the soft shell crab. We love it here, they are friendly and it has a homely feel, however, you may experience a bit of a wait but with some sake served on the cypress tree boxes time almost disappears. I think Tosa is a clear reminder that there is more to Japanese food than sushi and sashimi, their tempura, teriyaki and skewers are all worth a wait and reasonably priced.