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Opening times:

  • Mon: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm
  • Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm

Diner ratings

  • food: 8.1
  • value: 7.2
  • service: 7.9
  • based on 141 ratings
  • toilets: 7.9
  • ambience: 7.5
  • recommend: 7.9
  • overall rating: 7.8 

Party & group booking

Just off from the main restaurant, opposite the sushi bar, is a two-in-one teppanyaki room seating 18 diners, but to offer smaller groups a more intimate an experience it can be partitioned. There are a wide range of menus to choose from, yet you can have one designed specially if you give them a budget. Of course, you might want to immerse yourself in the sophistication of the main restaurant, in which case you can hire as many teppans as you need in a single area. Different again is the modern ground-level bar which exudes a fresh loungey feel and seats ten. Best of all, it serves all sorts of traditional hot and cold sake. Open seven days a week.

room information seating standing
Main restaurant 1 - 120 -
PVR 1 1 - 8 -
PVR 2 1 - 8 -
PVR 1 & 2 combined 1 - 18 -
Teppan-yaki Area 2 - 30 -

About Matsuri St James

In Japanese Matsuri means festival, and it's probably fair to state that this (and it's High Holborn sister) restaurant is a celebration of Japanese cuisine. To the Japanese, eating is more than appeasing your appetite; how a dish looks is as important as how it tastes. So, in its large softly-lit subterranean restaurant Matsuri serves the traditional flavours of sushi (amongst the best in the capital) with the modern tastes of teppanyaki, all presented with precision. Favourite set menus are Matsuri and Taiko, both three courses. Managed and staffed entirely by affable Orientals, this is as authentic a Japanese dining experience as you're likely to enjoy in London. There's even a huge black-haired puppet head dominating the stairway leading from the bar to the restaurant. He's called Nebuta and he's a traditional matsuri symbol. Or the general manager's granddad (his joke). You decide.

Sample dishes

  • Grilled salted corn-fed chicken thigh with spring onion and garlic oil, £8.00
  • Seafood deluxe (crab, eel, tuna, scallop, prawn, squid and white fish), £40.00
  • Fireball ice-cream, £6.00

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Snapshot

cuisine: Japanese
price: Over £45 | €51 | US$70
opening times:
Mon: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm
dress code: Smart casual

Checklist

  • allergy friendly dishes
  • business/discreet
  • celeb spotting
  • cocktails
  • comprehensive wine list
  • kid friendly
  • low carb dishes
  • private dining room
  • vegetarian friendly
  • wheat/gluten free
  • wheelchair access & disabled toilets

Diner reviews for Matsuri St James

Only users who have booked and dined through toptable can write reviews. Why are some reviewers foodies and others nibblers? Click here

24 Aug 2010

Reviewer AK  -  gastronaut

We had a fabulous lunch as usual with everyone going for Sirloin & Lobster (group of 5). You have to try this - it is just marvellous! We were quite a bit late for our booking, so someone even bothered to call us to see if we were still coming. What a lovely touch!

  • overall: 8.6
  • food: 9
  • value: 9
  • service: 8
  • toilets: (na)
  • ambience: 8
  • recommend: 9

11 Aug 2010

Reviewer: (Anonymous)

There are two Matsuris in London. I prefer this basement in Bury Street. Food always reliable. And, if you want entertainment, they do all that chopping and cooking at a big hotplate in front of you. The set meals are good value, but I stuck to old reliable Miso Soup and prawn tempura - both nicely done.

  • overall: 7.7
  • food: 8
  • value: 8
  • service: 8
  • toilets: 8
  • ambience: 7
  • recommend: 7

10 Aug 2010

Reviewer SS  -  foodie

This place is quite the experience. If you have never had Tepanyaki I would recommend it. The service is prompt and polite. The chef is well informed and chatty. The food, simply cooked but tastes fantastic. The Salmon Terriyaki tepanyaki and Miso soup and salad were fantastic! The flambayed mango ice-cream is a real treat too! Great place for a first date...!

  • overall: 8.7
  • food: 9
  • value: 8
  • service: 9
  • toilets: 8
  • ambience: 9
  • recommend: 9

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