Shijo in Newcastle upon Tyne

First time eating here today. I ordered the Beef Yakisoba and it was amazing. I ordered it to go, but was still hot when I got home. Full of flavour, beef was tender and practically fell apart, fresh vegetables, noodles were well flavoured too by the sauce. I will 100% be going back to try other menu items.

It was a lovely visit the taste was good ordered seafood temp yakisoba

I originally wrote this review 7 years ago, saying how great shijo is but unfortunately has dropped in standard drastically. The last couple of times I have been the food has been terrible and therefore will not be returning though this was one of my favourite lunch spots. Initally got the chicken katsu with the chicken so hard it was inedible and the most recent time getting the pumkin katsu in which the pumkin was cooked on one side of the batter and white raw on the other, which I can only assume this came from deep frying two frozen ones stuck together? On top of this the shop looks very run down and grubby as well as while waiting in the queue heard the cooks complaining that the beef had accidently been undercooked in multiple of the meals which is pretty off putting. Real shame, hope they lift up the standards soon

Great and cheap place to eat. One of the waitresses even gifted my friend and I a bottle of water (seeing that one of us was coughing) as we didn't have cash to pay. Really kind gesture! Definitely will return!

My beef curry was great,proper brasing beef and had some squid and pork balls excellent, a tea.my good friend Ryan had chicken katsu,hmm reformed chicken strips not good at all .chicken nugget feel to it.i was over the moon he was a bit miffed,I look forward to eating the beef curry again 🍻

If we could have got a table we would've had more, got veg gyozas and they were really tasty. 👍

Ordered tofu teriyaki there. There was barely any sauce at all which also wasn't teriyaki, the beans and carrots were out of the freezer and didn't taste like anything, just watery. The tofu was okay but it was like 90% breading. My friends also had to wait way longer for their food than me, for about 15 minutes. As they apparently were out of tofu after I had ordered, my friend had to pick dyoza instead... she also received rice instead of noodles though, so she ended up with an entirely different dish than she had ordered.

Great food and quick, friendly service makes it an excellent place for a meal when you’re on the go.

Super cosy place, the food was so nice! I got the chicken katsu donburi and sides of chicken wings. The dons were flavoursome and the wings are soft and juicy! 4 chicken wings were £7 but worth it! The dons were £6 each as it was a special offer if paid by cash. Thoroughly recommend, the staff are very friendly and informative too!

Gave me free springrolls what a guy

Incredible customer service. Ordered through Uber and they left with only half the food! The restauranteur personally delivered our remaining food when Uber refused to help. Can't overstate how lovely they were.

Chicken was inedible, vegetables looked like they came from frozen. Only half decent thing was the sling rolls.

Wonderful oriental food, more than fair prices, and attentive staff. I will definitely come back every chance I get to have lunch here. The beef noodles were one of the best dishes I've ever had in my life. I highly recommend it to everyone passing through Newcastle.

Visited Saturday morning. Food was served quick and was way better than expected, server was friendly. Would go back any time I'm in town

Been going to this gem for years now and it's so damn good, it can get really busy though and it's quite a small place but man it's worth the wait.

The Chilli Chicken Ramen was really good even if the broth wasn’t 100% to my taste. However it did seem that most people were were getting curry, so will need to try that next time!

If you want a chicken katsu curry I would maybe go somewhere else because for the same price I think you could get much better. The rice isn't the nice short grain sticky rice and the chicken was so bad I couldn't eat it all. The sauce itself is nice but the chicken isn't properly breaded or anything it's just these battered chicken nugget type things. The batter was really stodgy and weird textured and I thought maybe I'd been given the wrong thing because the chicken didn't really taste right. Considering its in city centre you could probably get better elsewhere

Bust little sit in or takeaway restaurant, used a lot by students and shoppers. Ideal as its located within Haymarket metro station.

Tasty, vegan options, good value, friendly service :) Also we didn’t realise until after we left that we sat inside to eat when technically they were only open for delivery. Sorry!

chicken in teriyaki looked undercooked, spring rolls were soggy, food was over 1h later than original time stated of 17:55 by arriving at 19:00. pricing was okay, delivery driver was good, however food left a lot to be desired and was deemed inedible by the time I finally received it. Not worth visiting again, won't be coming back

Customer Service has really gone down hill and so has the quality of food. Real shame as this was my favourite place, but last time I was there I waited to order, and when the male worker came to ask for my order, the female worker shouted at him and for some reason made a point to ignore me and the long cue that was forming. They seemed very focussed on the deliveroo orders they were packing. Which is fine, but maybe speak to the customers and not ignore them. It just felt really insulting. The female worker has been quite rude to me in the past, but I didn't mind it before as it felt more like boredom rather than maliciousness. For some reason on this day it really hit me hard, especially as it felt she was purposefully ignoring me as I was right at the front waiting - no eye contact, no "sorry, we're really busy, we'll be a few moments" - this stuff feels so basic in terms of customer service. I walked out in the end pretty upset & feeling like a POS. Food-wise, tastes great, but there is a miniscule amount of vegetables these days with a ridiculous amount of rice and not much sauce sometimes. Not particularly consistent either in flavour as I usually only get one of two dishes. Not sure what has happened to the business, but wish it was like before.

Asked if the prawns are fried in the same oil as all the other stuff (chicken, meat, pork, etc.) and the workers in Haymarket said yes. Then went and asked on northumbria uni campus Shijos and they said yes and then said no. Then they said they will have a meeting etc and let us know. Just felt really dodgy with the differing answers lost my trust a little bit and now go to Kato where they ensure that their halal and fish products are stored, prepared and cooked seperately without me having to probe into it. Felt more trustworthy. No good saying X dish is halal when it's cooked in the same oil as pork and other non-halal meats! And then not agreeing on whether or not it's cooked in the same oil... just felt like they'd end up lying and saying they cook it seperate when they don't. Also the breadcrumb is not the same consistency but Kato was panko. Not just about the religious dietary requirements but imagine someone is allergic to prawn and then they eat meat prepared and fried in the same oil as prawn. Could cause a serious allergic reaction. Would love some confirmation/evidence about this issue and more confidence in the workers and if things are right then I'd update this review and maybe even go back there!

Love this place. Friendly staff and delicious food. Great that there are vegan options. Decent sized portion. No loo as it's a small place.

The service was great but the food tasted like premade stuff and was served with a wooden fork

I have been a regular customer at Shijo for more than 3 years now and until today I had no complaints about the food but today it’s been disappointing receiving a bowl of potato’s with rice but my order was chilli chicken with rice,I tried to confirm with the cook if there has been a mix up of order, but cook completely ignored and didn’t bother to answer, however he just blamed it on recipe, it was an unacceptable excuse from the chef’s side. Such a waste of money to get potatoes instead of chicken,Big no for Shijo

Quality went down drastically lately. I have ordered a miso soup and the server had no idea what I want (there is a photo of it on their wall I was pointing to), managing to serve me some sort of beef soup with spaghetti masquerading as ramen. Frozen day old stuff. Sad. Avoid.

They said its open until 11 yet lock the doors at 10:30, false advertising.

Food is good, but the server gaslights you to pretend you ordered something different on multiple occasions based on what stock they have left. Would be understandable if he said we are out of ... But instead pretends I ordered something else !

this place has been around a while for good reason, they prioritise the speed of the katsu curry so if you want to get your food fast, order that. personally i prefer the pork belly udon because where tf else can i get that in newcastle?? there is some really good diversity in the menu and value for money, you are getting some pretty legit japanese food. really thankful for this place

Placed and order through Uber Eats. 1 x Daily Special which ended up being Beef curry and rice - It was ok but didnt taste fresh. 1 x Chicken Karaage stick - I bit into it and the chicken was raw in the middle. Very disappointed as I have been wanting to try this place for ages. I also tried to call the restaurant but the number was uncontactable. I even emailed the restaurant and still not heard anything back. Stay away from this place!

Haven't received the order has not been delivered

Quality of food has gone down drastically. Used to be a really good spot. Now the food tastes bland and they serve so less. There’s a tattooed guy with piercings at the til. Extremely rude & arrogant. Doesn’t have the patience to answr a 2 second question about the menu. Given all this I’d not recommend here & so many other new spots available in the area.

Delicious and will absolutely be ordering again

Ordered a delivery, the chicken Kaarage stick was raw under the batter! And their telephone number doesn’t connect

Amazing as always. Did prefer the old vegetables option rather than the bean sprouts but still amazing!

My prawn katsu udon soup contained no prawns. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

The food is good and well priced . The guy with piercings at the till was beyond rude though for no reason so have to rank down due to this.

Bottles of water and deserts were missing from meal. Everything else was very tasty.

I used to adore this place, but recently they have only been doing a tiny drizzle of curry sauce when ordering the curry option. The first time I thought they had forgotten to put the curry sauce on altogether and just thought it was a mistake. I went a week later and same issue again; about a tablespoon of curry sauce at the very most. Only realised when I got home. Sadly won't be going back for now. Generally it's still a great place, nice atmosphere and good service. The food itself is always delicious.

Ordered at 12:30 and it didn’t arrive until 3:10!! Also got one of the orders wrong. Food is nice as I’ve been here before but is stone cold as it’s taken so long to deliver.

This used to a regular spot for us, but there are better and cheaper places nearby. The quality of food has significantly went down. Ours took considerably longer to come than others, which we didn't mind. However it was lukewarm, which we found bizarre. After both spending close to £10 each, it was disappointing that we weren't able to add a drink retrospectively, as this didn't meet the minimum £6 criteria. There are also lots of 'cash only' offers, which isn't ethically right. The charge of using a card to the restaurant is circa 4p for a £2 transaction, it's disappointing that they are that tight, they refused the purchase. This is a huge case of being short sighted, as I will never return here. I strongly urge others to look at nearby restaurants for better value, service and food quality.

terrible service, ordered at 16:44 received at 19:00. food cold, very disappointing

Delivered exactly on time, driver was able to find me despite my error on address.

Little bit pricy however would recommend, nice food and pleasant staff.

Great fast food with good price for a takeaway. Option for student discount. Tofu is amazing. Short waiting time. Highly recommend.

Been coming here for a couple years, food never disappoints, it’s always made quickly and it’s always 10/10

best japanese curry. does excellent food. definitely order again

Only marks down for the fact it is a bit small and crowded at peak times and they don't give you receipts even when you ask. Prices have gone up but comparitively cheaper.

Ordered katsu chicken yakisoba. I received over-cooked chicken nuggets, over-boiled carrot and green beans with unseasonal noodles. Very disappointed, did not finish.

It's gone down hill. Asked for Katsu curry and teriyaki curry. Katso curry the rice they used was dry -like 3 day old. Asked them to make it spicy which they said they couldn't, which is absolutely fine but man said it very abruptly and was rude about it. Place was very messy but there were only 2 customers. I would say kato is a better alternative, with excellent customer service, similar cuisine and price range.

Have gone there for a long time but a recent experience with a rude staff member is enough to put me off going back.

From what I can tell the photos DEFINITELY don’t do a service to Shijo, this place is fantastic! Excellent choice and impressive service, I’m always coming back!

Ordered the katsu chicken curry as it’s their signature, however i surprised when I found out that the chicken was not actually real chicken it is more like nuggets. The katsu sauce was amazing but the chicken quality ruined the flavor and the experience

Bought a seafood tempura using my card on Friday, no receipt given. Checked my statement on Monday and £17.80 has been charged.

Was always a treat when I was a university student and now when I visit Newcastle I enjoy coming back and getting a meal. Mainly the Vegetable Tempura Curry. Always filling and tasty. Not much room for dining in but still manageable if a seat can be found. Convenient for a quick bite- especially if near the university.

Avoid this place. Terrible experience. They gave us our plates incompletes and were told that the rest would be delivered soon, which of course didn't happen until we claimed (after 20 minutes) and our plates were cold (and they still didn't give us all the ingredients). They said it was our fault for not insist more in the rest of the ingredients, and denied us a refund. Conveniently the store manager wasn't there and refused to speak with us by phone. Their only "solution" was to give us an email, which of course, didn't reply to any of our messages. It is a trap and you will lose your money

Always fantastic value and fantastic food.

We have a bad experience but also we received a bad treatment. the food didnt came as it should, it came without vegetables (both yakisobas), they told us that vegetables will be later, so we wait. After 15 min I ask for vegetables again, and they give just brocoli, wich is not right. When we asked for a refund they only treat us really bad, telling that they can't make a refund just because we didnt like the food, but that was clearly not the problem.

Take this from an asian guy, do not come here The katsu is frozen, the yakisoba isnt even yakisoba and the beef is cold I would rather starve than pay to eat here

Items missing and food was cold

Been going here for quite some time now and they simply don't disappoint. Simple menu loads of flavor and a lovely little walk in or take out.

Nice little Japanese street food place. Cheap and quick but always delicious.

I think it exists to beat out any nostalgia of Newcastle I have

Great chicken katsu curry with friendly service and good prices!

Excellent quick food, tasty and probably the vegetables at least we're healthy.

This place is cheap for a reason. I ordered katsu it was dry processed chicken with a drizzle of what looked like katsu sauce but had no taste. My husband ordered spicy beef he said it wasn't spicy beef they just squirted abit of sriracha sauce in and have 4 small pieces of beef. However the chicken gyoza was delicious so maybe I'd pop in for them as a cheap snack but definitely wouldn't be ordering anything else

I absolutely love shijo. The food, the staff, the atmosphere, everything is just perfect. I would recommend ordering the chicken katsu curry (halal) because it is so good and the portion sizes are really good.

Lovely place with one of the best cuisine If you are in the Newcastle must try it once. Simple and delicious

Come here with my boyfriend quite regularly and it’s always hit or miss, sometimes they are generous with the katsu curry sauce other times not. Last time we went they served us thick paste like curry sauce. Nice food just wish it was the same quality every time!

Great food for the price and lovely staff

Another excellent visit to Shijo. Fast, cheap and delicious!

I’ve been eating at Shijo for over 7 years and not much has changed throughout the years. Quick service, simple ingredients, satisfying rice/noodle bowls at low prices. A great lunch spot option for students and city workers!

This is my first time visiting this place. I heard a lot about this restaurant. Small place with seating capacity for 10. Food took about 15min to be ready. It was not that exciting. It was a bit salty. They don't clean the tables frequently after customers leave. Portion sizes have come down as well.

It was amazing. I probably would have paid more than 6 pounds for the meal i got. Even though it seemed like my order was ignored in favour of others that arrived earlier, it was worth the wait. Coming back soon.

Soup obviously spilt all over inside of bag, sent back with driver. No restaurant number to call, only just eats customer avoidance number. Shijo not contactable and just eat only offering partial refund. Not good and no call from restaurant yet

We were excited to try this place because of the reviews and when we looked at the menu the prices were really low... but of course, there is a reason behind it. We got a Chicken Catsu Curry and the chicken were frozen nuggets style. The vegetables were: one undercooked giant broccoli ( impossible to eat with the fork provided) and some frozen style baby carrots. The rice was overcooked and while eating it, it become a mush. The curry was very base. Overall, the products are frozen quality, so even if the product were cooked correctly, the taste will be very average. Not recommended as a place were to eat authentic and hand-made food.

Propper nice chewy udon, in lovely miso soup. So many places get it wrong, Shijo always gets it right. Thankyou Shijo, I was so Hungry!

the order was wrong, and what I did get that was correct the "Chicken Katsu Yakisoba" was literally from frozen chicken nuggets, like farm foods quality over chow main, with some microwave packet veg. so it's "Chicken Katsu Yakisoba" in same way I'm a ginger Vin Diesel

I have bought from this restaurant three times now, at around november, january, and lastly just today. I can't tell if there is a drop in quality in the food or is this just inconsitencies that happens every now and then. One my first and second time (second picture) going here, the chicken katsu looks like actual katsu, with crispy breadcrumbs and everthing. There are also a lot of vegetables cut to bite size pieces to be easily picked up and eaten by the spork. However at my most recent purchase (first picture), the chicken katsu ( looks either more like tempura batter or premade nuggets) They also change up the vegetables from spring beans, carrots, and potatos, to only broccoli and carrots. While I do not mind the change in the vegetables i do find it odd that the brocolli served was one large florette instead of cut into bite sized chunks. It was still cooked thankfully, but it was a bit annoying to try to cut into the broccoli's stem especially in such a small bowl without risking my spork from breaking or accidentally flinging my food out of the bowl. Overall it is still a very good food if you want a quick meal, I just hope I could know the reason behind these changes.

Absolutely appalling. Got the spicy beef udon to take away. Got it home and the broth was fishy and over salty, even to my taste and I like things on the saltier side. There were 4 slices of shredded beef that were about a third of the length and the same thickness as a lollypop stick. Beef was as tough as beef jerky like it had been under a Sunday carvery hot plate all weekend and there were 2 chunks of gristle with a wafer thin slice of beef attached. Noodles were nice but overall an absolutely monumentally disappointing dish. I would have been better off getting a pack of super noodles from lidl at a sixth of the cost. I didnt even bother taking photos to post, it just went straight in the bin.

I rarely leave reviews, but I was very impressed with my order. Second time ordering, the food was lovely, warm and on time. Also received some extras free of charge. 100% recommend

It’s a shame you can’t rate lower than one star because I definitely would if I could. This happened a few months ago but according to other people it hasn’t changed. I wanted to get a takeaway from here after a long day of uni work and the vibes in the store were terrible. I can typically deal with bad vibes if the customer service is good, but the lady behind the counter was so rude. I had just walked in and within seconds she was tapping her fingernails on the table waiting for me to order. When I asked what drinks they had, she pointed them out to me rather rudely. When the food did arrive there was no bag given to me or cutlery so I had to awkwardly grab that myself because the lady turned away. The food was awful too. I’ve been before, but something’s definitely changed because the meat and veg was like rubber. I ordered a katsu curry and a drink, but it felt like I got a bowl of frozen food. I’m not an expert, but that definitely wasn’t katsu. On top of that, the prices have definitely gone up. I wouldn’t mind as much if the food was good, but pair the bad food with the poor customer service and it’s not worth it at all.

why would you put all the food and drinks into one bag when you there is hot and cold food/drinks

Really good japenese food. The gyozas are excellent and it’s great for a cheap, affordable takeaway.

Amazing chicken katsu with super fast and friendly service. There's a pumpkin option to replace the chicken to make it veggie, which is also very nice. Vegan options and vegetarian options are available. Would recommend the vegetable spring rolls.

Big portions, great food - ordered Katsu curry donburi and spicy beef ramen - would recommend both!

Yakisoba is worse than it worse before they changed noodles or something, Katsu curry class tho

A must have for Japanese food 😍

The shop was crowded as there was a poor use of table space. The tables were absolutely abhorrent as they were rarely cleaned. I was also treated rudely by the service. Worst of all there was a hidden £1.30 charge to make a dish halal!. This restaurant definitely should be more inclusive towards muslims and jews with a kosher diet!

The only good Chicken Katsu I've experienced, portion leaves you full but the taste makes you want more 😂

Unfortunately maybe we live a little far out for delivery (4 miles) because the food was pretty cold and also most of the liquid from the ramen was spilled in the bag it was delivered in.

waited over an hour and didnt even get all the food i ordered

I love this place if you like Japanese food then this is the place for you

Still love this place after all these years, nice little selection of curry and yakisoba dishes! Get yourself along.

Really yummy and generous portions

Ordered chicken katsu curry and noodles, I got chicken and noodles but no curry

When you're told "we're just defrosting the chicken" 10 minutes after you've ordered you know it's not going to be good food. Food was edible but wouldn't come back.

We spent 30 pounds on the food we forgot to get a drink, so went back asked to bill the drink on card, the person on the till said that even for drink card payment has to be minimum 6 pounds. Which doesn’t make any sense

I take all my friends here. Food is so tasty and satisfying! Prawn Katsu Curry is just amazing!

Perfect place for lunch or dinner, the food is incredible and the portions are generous. I went weekly during uni and have to visit every time I'm back up in Newcastle, it's just that good!