Kushi-ya in Nottingham

A minimalist Japanese restaurant tucked away in a hidden alleyway in Nottingham, Kushi-ya offers creative small plates and skewers. The cheesecake was exceptional - an explosion of flavours with a perfectly firm and crisp crust. However, the tuna was underwhelming, lacking flavour and suggesting that the quality of the fish may not match the premium pricing. While the overall experience was enjoyable, I agree with some reviews that suggest the restaurant is somewhat overhyped, especially considering the abundance of similar establishments offering comparable quality at more competitive prices.

Suberbly tasty dishes The margaritas are top teir and the prawn toast is a fantastic tasty twist

Came here for lunch and found it to be mediocre and overpriced. I’m surprised it’s in the Michelin guide as it was very basic Japanese curry and skewers- not bad but nothing particularly special or creative. The chicken was over-salted, even without the dipping sauce. The beef skewers were the best part of the meal. Perhaps this would be impressive for those who are unfamiliar with Japanese cuisine? To me, it was a basic meal at a high price point. A service charge is also automatically added to every meal even though the service was ordinary. I think tips should be discretionary, not automatic.

The food was incredible, but the waiters clearly hated themselves and everyone they were serving. Every single one was rude and disgusting to us. Even though the food is good, go somewhere else. Honestly you’re less likely to see people with giant sticks up their ass at an orgy

First time in the new location and it gets better and better and better. Wonderful food, excellent inside. A real gem in Nottingham

Outstanding. I’d eat here every day if I could get a table!!

If you rly wanan go to this restaurant， remember with a reservation and wait for an extra 30

The food was incredible the staff were lovely and the catered to a special request which I am extremely grateful for .

Everytime I come I am disappointed they have took something off the menu only for it to be replaced with something as good if not better. As much as I miss the sweetcorn and kale fritters I had one of my favourite evenings tonight. I sure next time will be better again. I used to love this place as a well kept secret. Sadly know everyone knows just how good it is.

Absolute 10/10 one of the best meals I’ve had. Food was unreal the prawn toast & pork skewers were the highlight. And the yuzu margs! Highly recommend

Disappointing. Booked table for 9.30pm. Shouldn't take bookings so late if staff not happy with this. Staff were talking quickly, rushing us, washing all the tables around us while we were still eating. Very dark, so hard to read menu. Some lovely tastes initially but everything started to taste the same after a while. Overpriced. Clinical environment, no atmosphere.

Epic spot with incredible food. Can’t rate it high enough!!!

High quality food, great service.😊

We had a beautiful meal with our Son and daughter in law. Had never been before then but definitely want to return.

Excellent service and food, though the atmosphere and setting doesn’t quite match the same standard

Third visit and every time we book for next time before we've even left. Amazing food. A game changer for dining in Nottingham.

A great experience again. Prawn Toast and sando highlights but cocktails aren't half bad either!

Top quality food, one of the best Nottingham for sure.

The best restaurant I've been to in Nottingham with outstanding food and value. I couldn't recommend this restaurant highly enough!

We had the set lunch menu with drinks £50 for 2. Place was well set out, service wa quick and staff polite.

If you know Japanese cuisine , don't waste your time. For me, this place is an insult to Japanese cuisine. No taste, no authenticity and expensive. Super disappointed.

The bar area has a wide range of japanese whisky to choose from. I had no issues with the service. I feel the decor could be improved, way too minimalistic in my opinion.

Great food and service with a busy relaxed buzz.

If you want to dream about food this is where those dreams start

Fantastic experience. Great service, food and drinks

Friendly staff Food was incredible Five stars

This is the first time we’ve been to their new place and we are pleased to say the food was still very good and the atmosphere was similar to the old venue. We had a few new dishes from the specials which were excellent. Hopefully it will now be easier to get a table as we had to book our Fri night slot about 3 months ago! Photos are from various visits

delicious as always probably the best non michelin starred restaurant in notts

Always will be a banger, the new building is a great pick too

Being featured on a national restaurant ranking and so highly praised, I was excited to try Kushi-ya but was left disappointed. Service was attentive but had a tendency to try to take items we were not finished with - having to police staff while trying to enjoy my food is unpleasant. Some items of food, with a special shout out to the chicken tsukune and lamb chops, were delicious. Other items, like the chicken skin, were tasteless. I would have been satisfied if the price matched the portion size and quality, but £8 for the smallest single lamb chop and £5 for two thimbles of prawn toast? Paying north of £40 a head for food and leaving hungry left a sour note.

I am a loyal customer to Kushi-Ya and can safely say the new location is a great success. Current vegan menus are pictured. I had the tofu skewers (which are a must at every visit), the shallot skewers (on the right) and cabbage salad (this was surprisingly delicious!). Also had a Yuzu Margarita (another go to order) and the new Yuzu lager (very tasty). The restaurant staff remain really friendly and attentive. Excited to come back!

Managed to get a walk-in for which I was most grateful. Service very good although at 90 minutes they will bring you the bill. Also, all the plates will come pretty quickly so expect tepid food. Some interesting dishes and others less so. The Iberian pork special skewer was basically a piece of pork with a bit of Wasabi on the side. The duck hearts were great and nice to see on the menu. The pork shoulder very good but be prepared to bust the cholesterol level with the amount of fat. Crispy tofu well cooked but there’s only so much you can do with crispy tofu Limited wine list, reasonably priced but quality could be a bit better. maybe it’s because of the hype and the long waiting list, but I don’t know if I would wait to get a table. Very much enjoyed my evening and maybe expectations too high. Nonetheless, would recommend to anyone visiting Nottingham.

Always a treat to come here. Their food pleases the eye and the taste buds and isn’t heavy on the wallet.

The most incredible meal and service at Kushi Ya! Heard so much hype about the food here and it really didn't disappoint, the flavours are amazing! A special shout out to Dan, his knowledge and recommendations made the meal and experience even better! Highly recommend this place:)

Underwhelming and pretentious. Food overpriced and bland.

I should really give it zero star. We were turned down as we were 3 and they were only ready to take 2 so we had to choose if we wanted to drop one of our party… as we pointed they were many free table we were told these were for drinks only. First time I tried but it was so rude I will not give it another chance.

My whole family used to be their loyal customers since they opened in OG site. But I think they've just lost us today after our lunch visit. First, let's talk about customer service: staff are rude and unprofessional in handling customers arrival. we arrived and told them there is one more person arrive in just few minutes and we are happy to make order for this person in advance (that means even if that person not arrive, we would still be happy to pay for that portion). was told "No, you have to wait" by a female staff in very demanding and bossy tone of voice. She then instructed to sit at the table near the bar. We were like "ok it's fine", just few moments later another male staff came and instructed us to a table which I told him: "we are still waiting", he did not want to hear, just said "I am guiding you from here". We followed his instruction, sat at a table, about to order then another male staff came and asked why us sitting there and rushed us out to near the entrance to continue waiting; to this point I felt so humiliated, I tried to explain but he told off and kept arguing that I told him we are 2 pp. The level of being humiliated reached the peak, I could feel my face turned red and hot while other customers looking at us. We finally got a table with very high chairs and I explained to them that my mom who is old having problems with her legs and knees and she would not feel comfortable sitting on high chairs, No sympathy from the staff, no other options provided, he left us there dealing with the issue. We still ended up staying there for the lunch as it was a special day for my mom but the terrible customer service left us in trauma experience. Secondly: foods are way too salty, no improvement or change compared to the menu years ago. Lack of the authentic Japanese taste as well. We really should have stripped off the service charge from the bill as they don't deserve it at all. What a shame

Had our first trip to the new restaurant last night. As usual amazing food with some fantastic new additions. The new restaurant is excellent and laid out very well. Every staff member was super helpful. Can’t wait to go again Thank you 🤩

Really great food in a lovely atmosphere and with great service. What more do you need to know?! (Try the prawn toast 👌)

Just go. Support restaurants like this, don't give your money to toss places like Las Iguanas or Hooters.

One of those meals you're still thinking about days later ! Fun way to eat with lots of stuff to try, enjoyed all of them. I highly recommend this place. Exceptional

This is simply one of the best meals I've ever had. This place is Michelin quality. The food, the service, the atmosphere, it was just perfect. I sometimes say id like to give a place a 6th star. I would give Kushi-ya a 7th star. I can't wait for their new bigger place to open. Everything, and I mean everything was stunning. An Umami Overdose!! The Prawn Roll starter, stunning. The spice on the Edamame Beans, stunning. The Prawn Katsu, off the scale. The Chicken Skewers, incredible. The Pork shoulder with lettuce and tempura, incredible. The dessert of the Brown Sugar Parfait, unbelievable. Great value for money, a lovely team serving us. This was so special and will long live in the memory. The best restaurant I have been to this year.

This place never dissapoints. The Prawn Sando gets me every time and the matcha cheesecake is fantastic. We got a little carried away ordering, but enjoyed everything!

Way overrated and too big for its boots. Kushi-ya has to do better, especially there’s such competition in Nottingham, even just among Japanese places. We were seated in the middle of the cramped room so asked to move to one on the edge. Were told no - because others were booked there. We were booked first so don’t understand why we couldn’t have the table we wanted. Not a good way to make guests feel at ease. The table was also wobbly - we had to put a folded up serviette under one corner, like in a Pizza Express. We had a couple of nice dishes, but nothing that warranted the price. Several dishes were essentially street food (which is fine) but at Michelin-star-wannabe prices. We had the prawn sando, which was a fairly nice, very small prawn cocktail sandwich. The gochujang mentioned on the menu was barely noticeable. Safe, lunchtime food made for Instagram, not for tasting good. For £12. Similarly the Tira-miso didn’t have coffee in it (again fine, but not explained on the menu) and didn’t really taste that Japanese either - putting miso in something and serving it in a bamboo dish doesn’t make it Japanese. I thought it was nice enough. My wife (tiramisu aficionado) thought it was terrible. But it was huge so ultimately it was a sickly bowl of creamy stuff. Our cocktails were over sweet and boring. When you have such amazing raw ingredients to choose from they really were bad. The service was friendly enough and prompt. The decor was uninspired, stark, verging on caricature and cheap looking (the toilets were pretty much unchanged since Alley Cafe days). But my main concern was the complete lack of any Japanese people, either among the diners or in the kitchen. Barring one Japanese waiter - who, it should be said, did have a good knowledge of the menu when we asked for more details about the pretentiously minimal descriptions. I’m all for cross pollination and fusion food. But when you’re so clearly marketing yourself as “authentic” modern Japanese cuisine, to see the owners/head chef are either not present or just not of Japanese heritage just smacks of cynical appropriation. Maybe this would sit better if the price tag wasn’t so cynical, or the menu was more honest about its mixture of ingredients. And the threat of being charged if you don’t show up, and the “we will need your table back by…” shenanigans and compulsory service charge. Well it goes on… Knock 10% off prices, serve tasty dishes not trendy ones, serve dinner at dinner time (small plates can still be dinner), ask diners how they’re finding the food, try to accommodate diners’ reasonable requests (especially when they’ve just arrived), put some stuff up on the walls, and stop trying to appear exclusive. Then you might earn your place in a great spot in a great food city.

Always amazing. Great flavours, delicious combinations. Specials are always worth checking out. can't wait for the new restaurant!

Good restaurant with a small menu of items done very well

It tastes so bad... It’s super salty and hard to swallow. While eating it, I thought of a post I read on Xiaohongshu: “The longer I stay in the UK, the higher my tolerance for food becomes.” If I hadn’t just come back from China, would I feel better? eat? But it tastes really bad. It’s not as delicious as the white people’s cafeteria in our company. The delicious prawn toast is just what you can imagine...it’s not as good as Pizza Hut’s phoenix shrimps, the chicken balls are super salty, and it’s not as good as the domestic Oden 🍢beef. Yes...it tastes like paste and is hard to chew.

Delicious food, great atmosphere and very friendly staff. Everything we ordered was superb, but sweetcorn and kale kakiage was absolutely fantastic, highly recommend it. And as for desserts, the parfait with sesame crisp is simply divine... I'll definitely be back.

Everything was so good. The food is exquisite. The wagyu beef skewers were melt in the mouth. Perfect

Faultless meal! Impossible to choose a favourite dish as they were all delicious. Cocktails as well were great, little twists on classics. Service was speedy and friendly.

Amazing tapas style small dishes with so much flavour! Definitely check out the specials! Not cheap but well worth the money 😊

Highly recommend the lunch offer.

Absolutely fantastic. Can’t really fault anything.

Brilliant place, fantastic food.

The matcha cheesecake had a distinctly FISHY taste, which was quite off-putting and ended up spoiling our experience. It was the only taste we remembered after the meal. As it was my first time trying matcha cheesecake, I wasn't sure if this was normal. Later, I learned that matcha can sometimes taste fishy if it's of lower quality, stored improperly, or if there has been cross-contamination with seafood. I contacted the restaurant via Instagram to inquire, but they only stated that their cheesecake doesn’t taste fishy and did not acknowledge my concern or apologise. Further messages were ignored. I hope the restaurant can improve its quality control and customer service to ensure a better experience for all diners. Besides that, all the other dishes were perfect. We booked weeks in advance and we couldn't wait to try their food. The Japanese hamachi was a taste of heaven.

A really excellent Japanese inspired small plates experience. The food is not only outstanding but creative too. There is a unique take on tapas/small plates with flavours still being authentic and true to Japanese cuisine. A decent selection of sake and drinks too, and overall just a great dinner/drinks place.

Massive disappointment. Heard lots of good thing about it and saw Gordon visited. Tsukune is ok only thing a bit rare to see is the shape but it is dry and the sauce is underwhelming Tiger prawn is again a bit dry, so it isn't anything fresh or the cooking isn't particularly precise, sauce is blend Prawn toast is above avarage, better than most Chinese takeaway, but flavour is just a bit of mayo on top Beef skewers is nth to talk about. Dry beef blend sauce Curry on top of the rice is 1.5 on top which is good price, but that doesn't taste like japanese curry. Cheese cake is amazing very soft and good matcha flavour! Overall very basic, but there it is just nth like this in nottingham. Look of the food is way better than the substance, and the most important of all, there's no grill taste to any of the skewers they are just cooked meat in a skewers form.

The food was amazing. Truly exceptional. The only slight gripe was how rushed it felt. Given how popular it is, you cannot exceed your allotted time.

Had a wonderful dining experience here. We didn't pre-book as it was a last minute decision. There are bar seats reserved for walk-ins which is good given it is usually fully booked. We were kindly moved to a table ahead of the food being served as it became available. Wonderful selection of nicely curated drinks and terrific food.

Always amazing! Some people have complained about feeling time pressured but if you book from 8:30pm you can stay as long as you like. The food is consistently great every time you visit, the best place to eat in Nottingham.

Kushi-Ya in Nottingham is a great spot for a delicious and inviting Japanese dining experience. Here's a quick rundown of why you should check it out: Skewers and small plates: Their menu focuses on kushiyaki, which are skewers of grilled meat and vegetables cooked over charcoal. They also have a variety of small plates that are perfect for sharing. Great for sharing: The atmosphere is casual and friendly, making it a great place to catch up with friends over a relaxed meal. Sharing plates are encouraged, so it's a great way to try a bit of everything. Stellar service: Reviewers consistently praise the friendly and attentive service at Kushi-Ya. The staff is knowledgeable about the menu and can help you make recommendations. Chic ambience: The restaurant has a sleek and stylish interior with a relaxed vibe. It's a great place for a special occasion or a casual night out.

Lovely walk-in lunch, came around 1:15pm got a table straight away. I choose of the lunch menu, with prawn toast, chicken and beef skewers, sticky rice and curry sauce. Great food and flavour, fresh and good service able to explain ingredients and tasting.

Lives up to the hype. Went when they took the venue over from Alley cafe and was blown away, been back several times and it is always amazing. I only wish they had a bigger capacity so its less difficult to get a table.

Excellent city Japanese food. Not many tables so you might have to wait at busy times or go to a local bar if you reserve and come back. 🏆

Taken here by our daughters and we let them choose from the select menu and specials board. Very tasty food, good small plates. Very popular eating place. Superb slow cooked pork shoulder dish was the highlight.

Highly recommend lovely food, atmosphere, friendly staff.

From everything Ive ordered, the Prawn katsu sando, Chicken Tsukune skewers, Black sugar parfait, and the Tira-miso were just amazing. I’d definitely come back just to order them again, especially the Tira-miso. I did also try the Tiger prawns skewers and the Duck hearts skewers which were good but not something I’d order again. The Matcha cheesecake and the Amazake pudding just weren’t good personally, they didn’t stand out compared to the rest. I also need to mention the amazing service, the staff were so attentive and made sure you had everything you need.

The food is so delicious and executed beautifully. Loads of flavour, new dishes I've never had like prawn toast in a crunchy roll and matcha cheesecake. Both a must try! Their lunch menu is such good value! We had an additional dish which was the pork shoulder - the meat was full of juicy flavour and was fun to make into little lettuce tacos with yummy sauces to layer on top with these delicious crunchy bits to top it off. If you haven't been then stay away, that way we can always get in 🤣 but seriously you need to try it.

Perfect meal again. Can’t fault it

I loved the food. Highly recommended

Fantastic little place, lovely atmosphere with lovely food and very friendly staff!

We booked a Friday night table, which meant a 2 month wait, but it was well worth it! The food was sensational - our waiter recommended some great options and I enjoyed all the specials too! Great service - really quick and friendly; our waiter even recommended some places to visit in Tokyo during an upcoming holiday! Brilliant atmosphere; restaurant was completely full for most of our visit (took a rare snap empty between sessions)!

Inhumane, birthday cakes are not allowed. Upon arrival, they ask you to store the cake in their refrigerator until you leave. We asked if we could take some time to take photos, but we were refused. We had to pay a cancellation fee of thirty pounds per person if we wanted to leave, even though they didn't even provide us with water. My birthday mood was completely ruined.

Deserves its reputation. Oishi-desu!

Lovely place, friendly staff and incredible food! I get why we had to get there early now and it’s worth it. Highly recommend the tofu skewers (even if you’re not veggie) and either the prawn toast or the edamame.

Outstanding Japanese food and a good selection of sake and Japanese whiskey! A hidden gem, must visit!

Literally the best restaurant ever! Fantastic service, amazing food. Favourite dishes - prawn toast, katsu prawn sando, edamme, korean rice cakes, black sugar parfait and tiramiso. Favourite restaurant by far!

Incredible food. Perfectly cooked, beautifully served. Every course, from entree to desert was a sight to behold, with a great beer selection to match. Time limit on table is quite strict, as the place is so busy, so dont hang around chatting too much!

Don’t really want to give it 5 stars as this is just going to make the queue to get in longer. But being fair the quality is exceptional. Just not on Saturday mornings from 12-1pm when it’s one star. If that. No idea why. Just don’t go then. Ever. Rises quickly back to amazing by 1.05pm though.

A wonderful restaurant serving ‘small plates’ of delicious food. Each dish was beautifully created with individual flavours. The aubergine stood out as one of the nicest dishes I have ever eaten. Thank you, I cannot wait to return.

Lovely. Good food, nice staff. Reasonable price

Definitely my favourite restaurant in Nottingham. Every dish is so packed full of flavour. An absolute must try! Can’t wait to go back.

Booked months in advance and was so looking forward to it. Food was Ok but service let it down. We were aware of the 90minute sitting - we were asked if we wanted dessert and after ordering that and Sake it was delivered along with the bill saying “you have 5 minutes left to vacate the table”. You could tell the waitress felt uncomfortable saying this but manager promptly followed with the card machine. I hadn’t even finished my dessert!! I have never felt rushed out a restaurant and it ruined the whole experience. Won’t be returning and will be sharing my views with others. You are prioritising quantity over a quality customer experience.

Staff so friendly and helpful pla e looks great inside very well laid out considering the size and welcoming. Let's just cut to the chase... If you only do 1 worthwhile thing in your life come here and try their prawn toast. Everything was cooked perfectly with such interesting flavours, even the sticky rice is divine £80 for 2 with drinks for this experience? Yes please

Thank you Kushi-ya for an interesting yet fantastic dinner. Your prawn toast is one of a kind; £80 for 2 with drinks for such a wonderful combination of flavours? Combined with friendly helpful but not overbearing staff, what's not to like? WORTH EVERY PENNY!!! We shall be back!!!

You need to book well ahead of time (months). However it is well worth the wait! The menu offers some great options and the combination of tastes and flavours are incredible. Some of the meat dishes such as the beef is a must. However, they do offer a great vegan menu if asked and it doesn't limit options too much. Service was very friendly and a 90 mins slot should more than fit 3 courses. A must for foodies in Nottingham.

To be honest this is white ppl food asian will not accept these dishes

Came here for my birthday meal this evening with a friend and was also my first time. The atmosphere was really lovely, the staff were also lovely and the food was amazing, my friend and I had a really lovely time until it came to paying our bill. We decided to not pay the service charge, no reason, we just didn't want to (and we're allowed to not want to) then the waitress at first questioned what we were paying as she thought we weren't paying the right amount and then worked out while in the middle of her thoughts that we removed the service charge. She then left and came back and we were then asked for 'feedback' as to why we didn't want to pay the service charge...there's is no way that this can be asked without it being rude, this question shouldn't have been asked at all. We do not have to explain why we don't want to give our money, like what the hell, who does that? Other than what we owe for the meal, a customers money, a customers finances and choices around that are non of your business. And we left with the staff members huddled around the till obviously being told and talking about that we didn't pay a tip. A tip is optional. We weren't a big table either, just my friend and I. I've never felt so awkward leaving a restaurant, I've never gone to a birthday meal to then feeling icky and shamed for something that was our CHOICE, and that was carried into the rest of my evening. As good as this place is I'm probably not going to go back and I will be letting my friends know that this was my experience. No one appreciates being questioned about why they dont give you money. If you want to pay a tip then cool, there are times where I do, on this occasion I just decided not too, no biggy, but you don't get to question your customers on why they didn't want to hand you extra cash. If you want feedback then do what Bar Iberico do and provide a feedback card that comes with the bill. If that hadn't have happened this would have been a five star rating, but the lack of etiquette overshadowed the rest of our evening celebrating my birthday. Not cool.

Came here for my birthday meal this evening with a friend and was also my first time. The atmosphere was really lovely, the staff were also lovely and the food was amazing, my friend and I had a really lovely time until it came to paying our bill. We decided to not pay the service charge, no reason, we just didn't want to (and we're allowed to not want to) then the waitress at first questioned what we were paying as she thought we weren't paying the right amount and then worked out while in the middle of her thoughts that we removed the service charge. She then left and came back and we were then asked for 'feedback' as to why we didn't want to pay the service charge...there's is no way that this can be asked without it being rude, this question shouldn't have been asked at all. We do not have to explain why we don't want to give our money, like what the hell, who does that? Other than what we owe for the meal, a customers money, a customers finances and choices around that are non of your business. And we left with the staff members huddled around the till obviously being told and talking about that we didn't pay a tip. A tip is optional. We weren't a big table either, just my friend and I. I've never felt so awkward leaving a restaurant, I've never gone to a birthday meal to then feeling icky and shamed for something that was our CHOICE, and that wascarried into the rest of my evening. As good as this place is I'm probably not going to go back and I will be letting my friends know that this was my experience. No one appreciates being questioned about why they dont give you money. If you want to pay a tip then cool, there are times where I do, on this occasion I just decided not too, no biggy, but you don't get to question your customers on why they didn't want to hand you extra cash. If you want feedback then do what Bar Iberico do and provide a feedback card that comes with the bill. If that hadn't have happened this would have been a five star rating, but the lack of etiquette overshadowed the rest of our evening celebrating my birthday. Not cool and I'm glad I didn't tip.

The food here is definitely worth a trip, and the venue and atmosphere are great - however, I personally believe the 1 hour 30 minutes table time allocated to each booking needs reviewing. This is because our table was not ready on time and we were not actually ready to leave after our own 1hr30mins was up, despite eating the dishes as soon as they came. This meant that our bill arrived before we'd finished eating and we felt rushed.

Absolutely superb! Cannot fault this place. It’s creative, it’s delicious, it’s unique and everything from start to finish was divine! Service was immaculate, with smiles, natter and genuine care, and the vibes in the place are buzzing - lucky we got a table really and it’s clear to see why! The £15 lunch deal is a steal btw (even though we couldn’t resist a few other dishes and desserts, and recommend you don’t either haha) The skewers were all so different and all so yummy, meaty and umami, but the tuna takes the top spot for me, being delicate and light yet so perfectly seasoned in its sauce. I was really surprised by just how good everything was, including the quality of the rice and snacks, I mean look at the prawn toast. The little rolls made me girlfriend so happy :) Thanks for a wonderful meal and we cannot recommend the tira-miso enough. The sweet and salty notes are something I’ll be dreaming about for a long time to come…

This place was the bizz for good quality food. Friendly staff. Nothing too much trouble. We had lunch time deal 15.00 each. Definitely worth it...not to mention the dessert 🍨 everything superb

So my husband took me out on valentines night he booked this as a surprise all I knew was it was in Nottingham I was expecting sat bains so I was really upset when we arrived and wanted to leave as it’s not the best entrance please get some lanterns for the entrance and some bamboo or something.. anyway I am sooooooo glad we stayed the food was really really lovely every mouthful was divine and I never eat deserts but they were just amazing cocktails beautifully mixed and I thought the staff were lovely Thankyou so much we will definitely come back for sure so yummy

It’s an exceptional place to eat. Food is incredible.

My partner and I came here to celebrate our joint birthday/valentines as a treat. We'd visited before and had a wonderful experience so were super excited to return after booking 4 months in advance. The food itself is absolutely stunning, we opted for a couple of dishes from each section of the menu and everything was beautifully cooked and presented. The prawn sando is particularly good, as is the amazake pudding. Outside of the food, however, we were left feeling a little disappointed. We were seated right next to the bar, and our initial server interaction was nothing more than a taking of orders. We weren't welcomed in, notified about the specials board (which I definitely would have ordered off of), drinks were passed over the bar itself and dropped onto our table, we weren't offered water or another drink order, and the pots with napkins and chopsticks used for the tables were jostled around and replenished by my head. I'd also loved to have had the dishes explained as they're presented, given the intricacy of the compositions. This might all sound quite nitpicky, but given the price point of Kushi-ya, the quality of the food and the 10% service charge, we were expecting more to make the place and experience feel as special as the food is.

The food and service was excellent. We had mixture of snacks, small plates and skewers. Every dish was absolutely delicious, beautifully prepared and each leaving you want just a little bit more.

So the downfall of mine and Mrs N occupation is that we can't always get time off together. So to celebrate my birthday we looked where to go locally for a midweek meal. I'd heard about Kushi Ya and we managed to get a booking. It's a small compact restaurant, with an open kitchen and a busy vibe. We were greeted and seated and then looked at the menus. There is a great selection of little plates and I really liked the way that they come as and when they are ready, rather than in courses. Special mention to the edamame beans a salty sweet char grilled bowl of loveliness. The Tuna Tatake and the braised pork shoulder 🤤🤤. I chose a glass of sake and let our server choose which one, I ended up with Yuzu flavoured and it was stunning. So much so that my wife who tried a small sip, has made me order a bottle, as she wanted a glass but was driving. Overall a great informal place to sample some stunning food in a relaxed casual atmosphere, we will be visiting again.

Really good. But ridiculously expensive! Very few can afford such posh food. Portions have shrunk so much everywhere that it's all tapas now...

Wow, one of my new found favourite places. Ordered a bit of everything and can’t complain about 1 dish. All were fantastic. Some really great flavours going on. My top 3 dishes though were the prawn toast, prawn sando and matcha cheesecake. 100% recommended.

The food was good, but there were no side dishes, portions were too small and there were no traits of genuine japan at all. A bit pricey.