Toba in City of London, Westminster

I dined at Toba for dinner and left disappointed with my experience at the restaurant. We ordered the Gulai Kambing (Lamb Shank Curry) and Beef Rendang as our mains - I found both mains lacked flavour and were somewhat tasteless. However, the worst part of dining at Toba was that I found a fish bone in my Lamb Shank Curry, and not just any fish bone, but a rather long and sharp fish bone! I politely asked the manager/host to take a look and questioned why there was a fish bone in the broth of the curry, only for him to take the fish bone and insist it was only a dry piece of noodle. I found his response to be a lie, and unacceptable - to be honest it was very poor of him to insist it was a dry piece of noodle, and dismiss me! I am well aware of the difference between a fish bone and a noodle. I did not wish to create a scene, as I was being mindful of my friend I was dining with, the guests within the restaurant and also the restaurant itself. However, now I think of my experience at Toba, I honestly should have. I was not offered an apology or any reassurance. I will not be dining at Toba again, nor will I recommend it to my family and friends

To sum up this place: the food is average and the service is slow. Located in Saint Jameses in a pedestrian Street. The food is Indonesian. The interior is rather small, Cramped the environment .m with tables too close together. Generally, the standard tables are too small to seat two on and when ordering a number of dishes so becomes easily overcrowded Especially since they mention that it’s a sharing plate concept restaurant. Open plan kitchen which can be seen from the bar as well as the seating area It took a while to be seated as the member of staff, welcoming guests kept walking around outside with her iPad. Tobatina the take on a margarita was good. Served In a sipping glass but some half way thought the starters. Satay chicken - 4 pieces chicken which was cooked nicely over a flame. However, the meat was not marinated and therefore tasteless and the only predominant taste was that of the peanut sauce. The meat itself was cooked well. The battered chicken with small pieces of Chili and tomato on top of it was again blend and below average. The batter was too thick. The chicken itself was rather tasteless and adding tiny chilli cubes and tomato on the top did not have add much to the flavour. The best bid of the mains with the yellow rice I had the displeasure of paying a service charges 15% for what can be only described as slow service when you get your cocktail when your first course is done with food, unfortunately ranged from below average to average!

Absolutely love Toba! It is fantastic Indonesian food in a really great location. The dishes are interesting and some are spicy. Great for vegetarians, vegans and gluten free! Prices are very reasonable too.

Fantastic experience Two couples for dinner, the staff *Ben) led us through an amazing menu - the food is top draw and the margaritas make you ealk sideways - this is a top restaurant

We enjoyed our food but it may not be perfected yet. The chicken sate sauce was bland, but I liked the bit of side cucumber. The fritters were interesting with the sauce. The nasi goreng was okay, and the beef rendang was at times fatty and other bites were dry. Just returned from Bali and missed the sambal as it is always included there in case you need or want it.

We went for a family meal and had a selection of starters and main course dishes we could share all were excellent. The service was efficient and friendly. We did however think the wine was expensive. We would certainly revisit.

The food was delicious, if a little over-spiced for some of our party, and the staff were very friendly and attentive. Why though it is considered appropriate, in a restaurant striving to present an 'authentic Indonesian experience', to subject its diners to the constant boom tsss techno (far from) background music, is beyond me. When asked to turn it down, there was 30 seconds respite, before we were forced to shout again, rather than converse.

Excellent food and service. A true gem. If you don't like your food a bit spicy, let the waiter know, or you might find some of the dishes a bit hot.

The service and food was great, however staff rushed us to finish the food as well as taking over an hour to deliver the food. Lain kali ke china town! Lebi murah dan lebi nikmat ! Btw saya oranng batak

This place is fantastic, I only wish there were more dotted around England. Toba has a fantastic atmosphere and authentic Indonesian food. The staff spoke both English and Indonesian, which was soo lovely to be around and flavour of everything was perfection. Highly recommend

A couple of minutes from Piccadilly Circus tube station is this gem of an Indonesian restaurant. A real taste of Indonesian cuisine which was superb. Friends came from outside London to join us in celebrating our 40th anniversary, seven of us in all. The restaurant suggested the set meal which made dining fuss-free and enjoyable. We had the signature chicken Satay, 3 different types of vegetable fritters, Beef Rendang, Ayam Betutu, Terong Balado, 3 different sambals or chilli sauce of the authentic kind. and 2 types of dessert. The owner was at hand to lend a helping hand and to ensure the service ran smoothly, which it did. An enjoyable time was had by all. Thanks to Mr. Pino Edward and his team.

I was looking for a venue to celebrate my 50th birthday (party of 10) with people flying over to join the occasion. Tried booking a table at Toba since it apparently had positive feedback from people working at the embassy (KBRI). On my first phone call I found out the phone number listed online didn't work - Invalid number. I never got to speak to anyone. I did eventually manage to find the correct number and so on my second attempt I was told that for "larger groups" of people a set menu was compulsory. Since we all lived in Indonesia, I didn't want to risk committing to a safe, "British friendly" menu and Toba kindly offered to email the menu details. I considered at that point whether I should reserve for two smaller groups of five instead to work around this potential limitation. Fortunately, I received details promptly and I was pleased to find out that opting for a set menu didn't limit us to the set menu only; we'd still be allowed to order from the a la carte menu as well. While I understand this helps logistics, of course a set menu also commits one to a minimum price per person, which might not have been reached when ordering everything "a la carte". Each of the three set menus was sent as a single PDF, so I had to juggle three PDFs just to find out which menu included what. This was rather impractical, so I ultimately resorted to creating a spreadsheet showing the options side-by-side to have an overview of all the information at a glance. A deposit was required, which would be taken off our final bill on the day. This is acceptable practice to avoid no-shows, so I phoned again that day (third call!) to finish placing the reservation. I was told I'd receive an email with a link with details for the deposit so I could finish making my reservation. While I was assured by the person on the phone that they had my email details since they'd emailed me the menu before. However as the line was very noisy, I followed up the phone call with an email with a summary of our phone conversation. I then proceeded to check terms and conditions. A few things caught my eye. One was that the "discretionary" service charge of 15% would be added to the bill, or - for a group of ten- enough to cover an extra eater and a half. I'm REALLY not a big fan of such "compulsory unless I complain" tips - I feel they are just a way to make the food look cheaper than it really is, and I sincerely dislike being surprised with a higher bill than expected if I just so happened to miss the small print. Just show me the real price I'm going to be paying for the food. More importantly, it said no children allowed at dinner service. Nearly half of our party would be (well behaved) teenagers, so this is completely unacceptable, taking the "hospitality" out of "hospitality industry". It also feels completely backwards that the more I'm going to be spending at a restaurant, the more demanding the restaurant gets towards me, rather than being more forthcoming. After having to dig for your phone number, putting together a spreadsheet to understand menu options, finding out about hidden charges, being forced to make concessions to meal times and double-checking you have my email details, I'd have expected you to at least have kept your word on emailing me the promised deposit link, which never arrived despite me making sure you have my contact details. All this has left me feeling Toba do not respect their customers. If this is representative of the service I could expect on the day itself, then I think I'm better off taking my business elsewhere.

We were taken out for dinner by business associates and were very impressed by the food and service A tasting menu was offered and when I professed to be a vegetarian they catered for me with no fuss The food was plentiful and tasty and spicy Sharing plates banquet style

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo. What a dinner! All the dishes were balanced, precise and moreish. So impressed by the service, the smile and kindness from the front of house team. Cannot wait to go back.

Very pleasant experience, it’s great to find an Indonesian restaurant in London. Made welcome as soon as we arrived, the music is subtle and in the background. We shared the Satay to start which was delicious, had the cod along with the Aubergine as our main sharing dishes we had the mixed vegetables with coconut another great dish, we had a dish of yellow rice too With our beers we had Kerpuk so good I didn’t want to share. We finished off with dessert both really good Thank you Grace Dent

Anyone should be excited about a new Indonesian restaurant in London. However, there is a lot to be desired about the design of this typical tapas style restaurant that is so common in London nowadays. The business model is to push as many plates to...

Indonesian cuisine is a rare find in London. And it’s even rarer to find Indonesian food of this quality let alone at eminently reasonable prices nestling in the select quarter that is St. James’s market. From a select menu my friend and I felt compelled...