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You are here: Home / Closed / Itsu Canary Wharf

Itsu Canary Wharf

November 7, 2010 by Sarah Trivuncic 18 Comments

This site content is free. When you purchase via referral links on our posts, including those to Amazon, we earn affiliate commission, at no extra cost to yourself. Thanks for reading and please share posts you find useful!

Dinner with Crayons is my occasional weekend series of child friendly restaurant reviews. Today we visit sushi bar Itsu at Canary Wharf.

A few weeks ago, on the instructions of Catty, I signed up to Groupon, those guys who email you discounted offers every day. There seems to be a foodie or beauty offer daily and I quickly snapped up a voucher for sushi chain Itsu for which I paid £16 for £40 worth of food and drink. I was tempted to blow the voucher on a bottle of champagne from their extensively stocked bar but that would be irresponsible with a hungry 3 year old to feed.

I hadn’t realised until writing this post that Itsu was founded by Julian Metcalfe who also founded Pret a Manger. The Itsu website has a long list giving information about their ingredients from sustainable yellow fin tuna to free range Gloucestershire chicken.

Ted has already been to Yo! Sushi several times and I was interested to see how Itsu compared. A problem with the spread of Yo! Sushi to mainstream shopping malls has often been a dilution of the menu, you’ll struggle to pick up a sashimi from the conveyor belt at Lakeside, presumably because the locals balk at the idea of raw fish.  Itsu’s locations are targeted at City workers and Central London. All 20 or so branches are London based although many are takeaway shops, conveyor belt  restaurants such as this one are limited to Notting Hill, Chelsea, Soho and Canary Wharf.


There were tables away from the belt for customers with children too young to sit at stools but I don’t think it would be much fun to keep getting up to fetch your food. The tables at Yo! are always next to the belt and fortunately here Ted sat still on a stool. There were no crayons here but the food whizzing round is entertainment enough.  On balance I think Yo! has a greater choice on dishes that would appeal to children (such as the pumpkin korroke etc) but Ted is even more adventurous than we thought and went beyond the chicken and rice we’d ordered for him.

Itsu is pricier than Yo! with the average price of dishes being £4-5 (mostly £5) compared to £2-5 it’s cheaper counterpart.  The seared tuna you see above was £5 but beautifully presented and a generous amount. Food is served on china plates rather than plastic dishes and the interior is more like a lounge bar than a colourful canteen.

Something I liked was how dishes on the belt were clearly labeled. I didn’t like extracting hot covered bowls of soup from the belt as the glass top meant you  had very little room to manoeuvre them out and I spilled hot soup on the belt and my hand, ouch!

Chicken teriyaki (also £5) was also generously portioned. This was a hot order made via the waitress rather than coming off the belt. It was definitely freshly cooked and took quite a long time to appear but  I guess I didn’t mind as I could tell it has just been cooked. The staff were swift to take dishes away meaning you couldn’t keep a mental tally  how much you’d spent. Twice I had to grab this dish of teriyaki sauce since we wanted to use it on our rice even when we’d finished the chicken but that darned waitress kept trying her luck sneaking it away.

Whilst waiting for the chicken (which we’d ordered for him), Ted surprised us by being extremely fond of nori seaweed rolls. He’s also a dab hand with chopsticks in his own amusing way.

(Above left) Summer rolls filled with prawn and avocado with a sweet chilli sauce were my favourite. Above right is yellow fin tuna with red chilli.

Brocolli with satay sauce (another target for the eager waitress).

For dessert we had a truly wonderful chocolate mousse and a more average creme brulee.

Including the cost of the voucher we paid around £30 for £60 worth of food. Itsu is definitely more expensive than Yo! Sushi (it may rile them I keep comparing them to Yo! but I feel it’s a model my readers will be familiar with) and personally I didn’t feel it was special enough to warrant the increased price. The food is definitely better quality but a lot of the china dishes look scratched and tatty and it annoyed me that they kept taking the dishes away so you didn’t know how much you’d eaten. I guess their restaurant looks higher class without having dirty dishes stacked up next to customers and perhaps their usual clientele aren’t watching their wallets. It was quiet on the day we visited (Saturday) and they made Ted very welcome but with many cheaper options available, for sushi or otherwise, I regret we would be unlikely to go again unless we had a similar discount. I would happily eat the food again but the experience didn’t feel special enough to justify the full price cost.

This site content is free. When you purchase via referral links on our posts, including those to Amazon, we earn affiliate commission, at no extra cost to yourself. Thanks for reading and please share posts you find useful!
Filed Under: Closed, Love The Stow, Restaurants

About Sarah Trivuncic

Sarah Trivuncic has published recipes, restaurant and travel reviews on Maison Cupcake since 2009. She lives in Walthamstow, East London with her husband and teenager.
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Comments

  1. Whimsical Wife says

    November 7, 2010 at 10:10 am

    Fab post – looks like he had a great time :-))

    Reply
    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      November 8, 2010 at 12:31 pm

      He certainly likes the good life!!

      Reply
  2. nisha says

    November 7, 2010 at 10:52 am

    I love YO Suchi and Wasabi for their Sushi, but never tried ITSU in spite of it being a tube stop away from here..We have Wasabi at the 02 arena and we go there whenever we crave sushi..but your review gave me an insight into it and i shall keep what you said in mind.

    PS: and yes Groupon is absolutely addictive 🙂

    Reply
    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      November 8, 2010 at 12:32 pm

      I’ve not tried Wasabi yet, I must try.

      Reply
  3. Natalie says

    November 7, 2010 at 11:54 am

    I have to say I think Itsu is leagues ahead of Yo Sushi; the rice tastes much fresher to me. A friend who worked at Yo told me enough to stop me ever really wanting to eat there again.

    I also really like Wasabi, although I do find all the unwrapping a bit annoying and fiddly. Hmmmnnn, fancy popping out for Sushi now…

    Reply
    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      November 8, 2010 at 12:32 pm

      Ah but you’d never eat anywhere…

      Reply
  4. Mardi@eatlivetravelwrite says

    November 7, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    Ted looks like quite the accomplished chopstick user! Comprehensive review and a great use of a Groupon!

    Reply
    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      November 8, 2010 at 12:32 pm

      Yes he’s picked it up quite instinctively, we didn’t even teach him!

      Reply
  5. aforkfulofspaghetti says

    November 7, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    Ted’s proving quite the adventurous eater, isn’t he? Well done, you!

    The food looks good enough – but, as you say, a tad spenny for what it is. Still, now that Ted’s hooked, you might not have too much choice in the matter… 😉

    Reply
    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      November 8, 2010 at 12:33 pm

      I went back to that atrium of restaurants last week and he refused to go in Pizza Express (yes really) and I was terrified he was dragging me back to Itsu. Fortunately we convinced him to go in Byron. Sigh, what have I started…

      Reply
  6. Heavenly Housewife says

    November 7, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    I am kind of amazed you can get Ted to eat sushi! Most parents struggle to just get their kids to eat their veggies. What a good boy he is 🙂
    *kisses* HH

    Reply
    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      November 8, 2010 at 12:34 pm

      He’s a very good boy but then I would say that. He gets particularly excited about broccoli for some reason.

      Reply
  7. The Vintage Kitten says

    November 7, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    Ive never tried Sushi before, but I would definately give it a go (maybe!!!) And Ted eats it? Wow, not many kids eat vegetables never mind Sushi.

    Reply
    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      November 8, 2010 at 12:35 pm

      I was very surprised he took to it as well as he did.

      Reply
  8. Jamie says

    November 8, 2010 at 9:46 am

    I love your photos of Ted and he always looks so into the whole food experience. Yay for you for introducing him to so many food cultures. The food here does look really fabulous and as I love sushi and Japanese food I would happily spend a Saturday here. Though I could see myself eating well above what you paid 🙂 It does seem pricey but I wonder if it has anything to do with the quality of the food?

    Reply
    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      November 8, 2010 at 12:36 pm

      The food was better than Yo! but I cannot say for certain that it was TWICE as good at twice the price. I am hoping to get Ted onto curry soon but preferably after he’s fully potty trained.

      Reply
  9. Greedy Diva says

    November 9, 2010 at 9:01 am

    Ha ha! I saw Catty the other night and we were teasing her for being such a Groupon groupie – and I see she got you too! Actually, I’ve had some great massages courtesy of Groupon vouchers, but you have to look out for bad haircuts. Cute snaps. I hate eating off conveyer belts, but I bet Ted thought it was great!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Giveaway #37: £50 Groupon Voucher | maisoncupcake.com says:
    January 27, 2012 at 12:36 am

    […] I’m sure many readers are already familiar with Groupon but I’ll recap, you subscribe to a daily email for fantastic discount offers on products in your local area, often as much as 60-70% off usual prices. If something pops up that you like, you apply for the offer and pay the discounted price. It’s as simple as that.  I made great use of Groupon when I visited Itsu sushi bar. […]

    Reply

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