New Samsi

I used to eat here regularly but had to stop. The food is inconsistent. I usually get the 24 piece sushi/​sashimi for £10 on the lunch special which is a great deal. They alternate the sushi chef, and frankly some of them are terrible and I could do better. At worst I’ve had salmon sashimi that was chewy and rubbery and not cut properly. I felt ill afterwards. When it is good the food is above average and great value. The venue is always clean and the service attentive.
I have now stopped going as it is awkward leaving the restaurant when the decent chef is not on. They need to sort this out.

Food is disappointed since the real sukiyaki is not and never look and taste like that… If you really want to try some real Japanese food, don’t go inside this restaurant; but if you want to enjoy the atomsphere it is a good place to go though

New Samsi never disappoints in ambience, quality of food or service. Their lunch time bentos are an affordable treat but I prefer their banquets in the evening, you get such a great selection and there’s invariably too much to eat (for me at least), they also take Highlife cards giving a 25% recurring discount after your first visit. On this occasion we went for the ‘Taste of Japan’ (just slight smaller than our usual ‘Samurai Feast’). Miso soup, sushi, chicken Katsu, Teriyaki steak, Tempura veg, Oudon noodles and sticky rice. Perfect. Top tip: your Saki should arrive at blood temperature, 37C exactly or it won’t do its job. Don’t be afraid to send it back.

The perfect combination of unique, really lovely food and also really reasonably priced. The ginger edamame is amazing and the katsu and basically all Al a carte dishes are my favourite. Don’t miss the Japanese supermarket hidden downstairs too!

Nice japanese restaurant, you should try the sushi special £10 sushi lunch and anything with eel. Waiting staff can be frumpy sometimes.

I have actually been here a couple of Times. again it’s one of those places I thought I had already reviewed!
This place has a great ambiance, with nice soft music, and its nicely adorned with Japanese garden themed items. The waitresses also look stunning in there kimonos, and are happy to help.
Settling in, their starters consist of sushi, dumplings, meat and fish skewers, soups and the usual Chinese /​Japanese food.
Tuna maki was immediately ordered (which comes as an eight piece) tuna tamaki hand roll (2 pieces-​) and seafood dumplings (5 piece).
This was nicely presented in a bento style box, however the Maki was very small. The best value for money was the tamaki hand rolls, as it contained thick pieces of red coloured tuna. The dumplings were also good.
I had never tried a ramen here before, so a beef one was ordered and a seafood udon ramen.
The seafood one was a bit disappointing. Bobbing about was one mushy shelled prawn, one squid ring and pieces of salmon. I asked for some chilli oil and flakes to be brought over to add some more taste to it.
The beef though was pretty much a cut up steak, which was fantastic value for £9.99.
For dessert I always choose the green tea ice cream, which was a decent portion. I also tried a fairy tea which is served boiling hot in a wine glass. If you let it settle these flowers will come alive making it pretty and fragrant.
Downstairs en route to the bathroom leads you to a gift shop. Which sells ice cream, woolly sushi, sushi making equipment and crockery. A really nice idea. However the ladies toilets are atrocious. Two out of the three toilets were out of order. The third one, I think someone had died in there because they spent ages!
Overall this a nice scenic place, with slightly expensive food for what it is… if you get the ramen choose the medium size as its plenty if you are having starters.

Me and my friends decided to go to New Samsi as everybody was raving about it. I was really looking forward to it because sushi is one of my favourite foods. We were seated on the floor with cushions but with our legs hanging down so it was nice and comfortable. We were a group of 12 so it took us a while to order and the waitress looked a bit confused, but everything was right when they brought the food out. I ordered a premium seafood bento for £14.95 which consisted of several different kinds of seafood and fish and four pieces of sushi on the side. I ate the sushi first and was a bit dissapointed-​the tuna was ‘stringy’ and the other fresh fish were very bland. The main course was pretty big and divided into four compartments, unfortunately all tasting the same-​of soya sauce. I couldn’t eat the squid as it was too chewy. I know most people like it so maybe we were just unlucky, but I doubt that I’ll be going again.

I have been to Samsi several times and have always enjoyed the food and found the service efficient and friendly. This was also the case on my last visit. However I feel that Samsi has a lot more stiff competition these days and think that Yuzu and Umezushi do it so much better and authentically.
We ordered a selection of dishes. The seafood gyozas were a little on the small side and lukewarm to be honest, the veg tempura was good though and the batter was nice and light. My tuna sashimi was ok, the tuna wasn’t the highest quality and a little bit tasteless. My prawn sushi maki rolls were very tasty and hit the spot. I really like the shop they have below the restaurant where you can buy Japanese ingredients to use at home if you want to recreate any of the dishes you have tried. Overall an average experience.

I popped in about 2pm on a weekday having seen a sign advertising sushi for £3. it turns out that was for six pieces so really pretty good value and certainly better value than yo sushi in nearby Piccadilly station. The sushi was better too, although not outstanding. No tuna or salmon which was a shame because that’s my favourite but it’s good to try different things. I would go in again for the sushi deals but I thought the bento boxes were rather expensive — £7.95 for lunch is too expensive in my opinion and they need to stop advertising them for £6.95 outside unless they want me to slap them with a lawsuit.
FYI if you want to pick something up quickly this is not the place — assembling my sushi took 25 minutes even though there were no other customers when I arrived.

Was seated in the basement and it was a terrible atmosphere. The plates, cutlery, and napkins were infantry. The service was mediocre and there were many mistakes with our order. The Nigiri was okay, but the rolls were some of the worst sushi I’ve ever had. The entrees were very bland, better than the sushi, but nothing special. The main seating area looks nice, would’ve been nicer to sit in it. Overall let down and disappointed.

We ordered sushi. Quite a bit of it actually and I was not impressed. It didn’t have that super fresh, clean taste that sushi should have. I think the biggest letdown was how sloppily it was all put together. Bland colours, massive block slices of sashimi which was wrong wrong wrong. Normally sushi should be a feast for the eyes and mouth. This was neither. Avoid!

Service is so slow I wonder what’s wrong with them. Rice is horrible. Cooked for too long with too much water. I’ve visited this place twice, and the rice was really bad both times. Miso soup was too thick and strong as well. I’ve never met any Japanese people who would like bad rice and miso soup. So how they keep their business running I have no idea.

Been to New Samsi a few times. The one on Whitworth Street and the one which used to be in Spinningfields — shame its closed now. I like the set bento box meal deal with the main and sushi.
It was a weekend lunch time when we went — around 2pm on a Monday. I would have thought it wouldn’t be that busy but consider it was a Monday and afternoon, it was busy.
Went to the one on Whitworth Street other week. Food was «OK» at best. We had a set meal and was very good value — based on quantity. We couldn’t eat it all so took some home — which I ended up having for dinner. It was some sushi and some noodles. The sushi alone would have probably cost about £5 if you bought from somewhere like Tescos.
Like I said, the actual taste of the food was just OK. The service was a bit odd. There was a waitress who served us but also a guy — possibly manager.
The waitress was miserable. Certainly was not service with a smile. The guy was a bit better.
My rating is considering past visits to New Samsi — it was a while ago but remember thinking it was pretty good — the Whitworth Street one. If it was just based on this visit, it would get a ²⁄₅.

They offer takeaway, to view their menu and order by phone click here Samsi Menu (
)

Having had 2 good experiences here, we were quite disappointed after our latest visit yesterday. I ordered the same dishes as I enjoyed on our first visit but my veg tempura (previously crispy with a good variety of veg) was soggy. My vegetable teriaki was cold, lacking in sauce and the some of the vegetables were uncooked, the rice was rock solid and congealed. I wouldn’t bother ordering the veg noodle dishes as they are bland with hardly any vegetables, should be much cheaper as there is not much substance.
The quality was not much better than a chinese buffet so sadly it has put me off coming back. Luckily we had a discount voucher but I can’t imagine paying full price for some of these dishes, better off buying some quality ingredients and DIY! (Homemade sushi is miles better anyway)

Good tasty food. Tempura is beautiful and the Katsu curry is to die for.

I love Samsi. At the moment, it’s my #1 lunch spot in town. The restaurant is spacious, not too crowded, nicely decorated– very calming. Perfect for a midday culinary escape. The staff are super friendly as well and there are some great bargains on the set lunch menu.
Now onto the food: the bento boxes RULE. They are delicious little trays of balanced, yummy flavours. And Samsi serves brown rice green tea, which has a delicately amazing taste but is very hard to find in most places.
So for the ambiance, bento boxes and brown rice green tea Samsi is my lunch oasis. The only reason I took off a star is that their sashimi is not very good, which was a big disappointment.

In a nutshell, skip the sushi and stick to cooked fare.
The sushi just isn’t that great. As another reviewer noted (from cali), if you have ever had sushi from a top notch restaurant, you will be sorely dissapointed here.
Don’t let that put you off though, you can have a really enjoyable meal by ordering up a bunch of the smaller cooked plates and sharing between friends over a bottle of wine or two. The menu is quite extensive and guaranteed to have something for everyone. Not on the cheap side of things though.
Service is pleasant, but not fantastic. Sometimes it can feel a little erratic, especially on busier weekend evenings.

It’s an interesting combination, putting a deli and restaurant together, but it sort of works for New Samsi. Upstairs is the restaurant, where you can get sushi and whatnot for reasonable prices. It’s nothing amazing, but it works as a lunchtime meal if nothing else.
Downstairs, though, is where it gets interesting, because they have a little Japanese shop selling groceries and stuff which is a fantastic place to drop into if you enjoy buying food from the other side of the veil. There’s a little noodle bar down here as well which is cheaper than the place upstairs, but obviously the focus is more heavily on noodles.
Ultimately, it’s not the best place in the world, but it has its place and does some things better than others.

Decent place. The upstairs has been reviewed sufficiently but the downstairs also needs a mention.
Its not only a shop but also a little noodle bar. Its only got a few seats and they are right next to the Japanese shop, which is a little strange. Additionally, the woman behind the counter seems to serve you your food too, out of nowhere. Again, strange.
Anyway one of the criticisms correctly made about the upstairs was the prices. If you don’t fancy splashing out then the downstairs might be the better option. It serves mainly noodles (being a noodle bar) and they start at £4.25 and aren’t bad at all. They also sell teas and coffees or you can have a Japanese beer depending on what the shop has in at the time.
Its pretty nice, but a little tacky, weird and often empty. In all I’d say its worth going upstairs, but perhaps if its just for a quick lunch or snack, the downstairs is the better option. In all, I prefer its sister restaurant in Withington called Little Samsi, which sells the sushi at a cheaper price. The shop is also worth a visit.