This is a restaurant I’ve been looking forward to reviewing for a long time and it is after my second visit to Inamo St. James that I write about my visits.
My first visit to Inamo was for my Father’s Birthday and I was so shocked by the service that I tweeted them. With all due credit to them, they responded and offered me a chance to experience Inamo again with a £100 cover to sweeten the deal. I have to hand it to their managerial staff members here, they sure know how to resolve an issue and really listened to me and that is something I prize so highly.
And so it was time for take 2, we went back to Inamo for another try. I was first attracted to Inamo because of its modern and unique concept. For those of you that aren’t familiar with how they work - at Inamo your menu is projected down onto the table and each user has a cursor that is operated by touching a little pad on the table and with this you can: browse through the menu and see the dish projected in front of you, change the colour of the table, order food, play games, spy on the kitchen and call the waiter. It is definitely a concept that works and I enjoy being able to order food and drink, as and when I please.
Lycée is my favourite fruit and so anything flavoured lycée, I will immediately try, especially when combined with vodka! So I ordered the Lycée Martini, it was nicely balanced and I definitely would order it again.
Moving onto starters, I opted for the continental classic of satay chicken, I have to say that Inamo’s rendition really does hit the mark and I did appreciate their hint of coconut sprinkled onto the sticky chicken
I am definitely a self-confessed sushi-holic and so I opted, not for a main course, but for two further starters of sushi. I ordered the soft shell crab maki which was delicious, I just wish there was more of it! The dense and creamy avocado complimented the sweet and soft crab meat beautifully.
The tuna maki was also very nice with the tuna meat wrapped around the sushi roll I definitely prefer this more meaty rendition than a small chunk in the centre
So the food was good, it was tasty - but what about the service? After all, this is what really sets apart a good experience from a bad, a positive from a negative and ultimately the decider for me, as to whether to return and to recommend.
I have to say that once again the service fell so flat for me and this was something I consulted my party of 5 people about and they all agreed. The serving staff just simply don’t listen to you. I know that the unique concept cuts out half of their customer contact because they don’t actually take the orders, but it feels to me like Inamo have skimped on their customer service training because of it.
The staff are incredibly forgetful and do not follow through with requests, such as my sister requesting a glass of water and when the staff offered me soy sauce to go with my sushi, I very audibly said, ‘yes please’ and without a word this member of staff turned around and walked away. This confused my party immensely and made for a very frustrating experience once again. This is two of many, many plunders.
The only request that the staff members have been quick to follow up with on both visits was bringing the bill over and I just feel like for a restaurant with everything else in place, why can’t the staff make you feel comfortable, valued and frustration free? Especially at their price point. Their gracious offer of £100 covered half of the bill and I was glad of it because I would not have felt comfortable for paying the normal price for the experience.
So thank you Inamo, for one more chance. The restaurant looks lovely, the food is yummy, but the service just hits way below the mark for me and has made for two visits I will remember for the wrong reasons.
It is with regret I award this restaurant with so much potential a,
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