Yama Momo in Southwark

Food is nice enough, cocktails are lovely, my low rating is for the very weird taste in music (and service). We’ve been a few times now and it’s always the same - pop music?? It has so much potential to be a great little spot if only that was more suited to the vibe. I had also emailed a couple of times to check if they played different music on different nights to book again for a birthday, but no response. Unfortunately ambience and service is equally as important to us as the food so we chose not to go back because of that…. However, if you like mainstream pop music while you eat Japanese food in a dimly lit chilled setting, with uninterested staff, this is your place 🙃

Amazing time here. Lamb and spicy chicken katsu buns are to die for! Thanks to Danijel, AJ and the team for hosting us!

Great vibe awesome food and top coin service

Lovely restaurant - my second visit here and once again I was impressed. Staff are really friendly and attentive! Food was delicious- only bad thing was the veg and lack of options. We ordered steam veg and it was more like a veg stir fry which was not nice. I had my favourite - volcano rolls absolutely delicious! The manager is lovely and always makes me feel welcome! I will be returning real soon! Thank you guys!

We didn't bother getting any starter dishes. Instead we got a few things to share from the rest of the menu. Our favourites were the truffle beef and the black cod from the main course options. The pork belly and chicken katsu baos were the least impressive and not worth bothering with. You get a rather thin slice of pork belly in the bao. The ratio of meat to bun is off. Normally you'd get a proper slab slice of pork belly in a bao, so it feels quite miserly. The chicken katsu bao bun was nothing out of the ordinary. We also got some sushi rolls- el diablo lobster roll (ok, but not everyone was sure they got lobster in each piece), volcano roll (liked this the most of all of them, very nice sauce), soft shell crab (okay) and Yamamomo special (lots of pieces of fish like salmon, tuna and yellowtail, good but not omg this is so special). They have a number of cocktails, but we didn't order any drinks. Overall the food and service was not bad. A couple of dishes stood out. Nothing overly negative to say about the rest. Our server (Josue O it says on the receipt) was lovely. We liked the atmosphere and music. They were decorated for Halloween when we went. It wasn't busy on a Tuesday evening in October. We did have to book a very early dinner slot as we were using First Table, but we left around the start of the usual dinner service and only a few tables were taken. Not out of the ordinary given the time of week. The total was £168 for 8 dishes between 4 people. With the first table discount (50%) it came to £84 plus a suggested service charge of 12.5% was added. So, it's obviously outstanding value when you use first table (the whole menu is open for you to choose from, which is marvellous). They offer their own discounts if you're not on first table, like an early bird offer and happy hour. To be honest their current average rating (4.4) is on the money. I've given a 5 because of the value after discount rather than the quality. Without that I would probably have given them 4 stars. Follow here and on IG for more travel and food and drink tips, ideas and reviews @one.more.step.along.the.world

Such a disappointing evening - I'd really recommend avoiding this restaurant now. We've been going here for years but this place has really gone downhill. The food was pretty good but considering the high prices you're paying the service was unbelievably bad. Staff seemed untrained in basic service skills, we waited over 30 minutes for our drinks and had pretty much finished our starters before they arrived plus the "manager" Michele was surly and rude when we politely explained we wouldn't be paying the service charge because of our bad experience. When I suggested that a gesture like taking the wine we'd waited so long for off the bill would be appreciated she said "we don't do that here"! Enough said.

Yama Mono never fails to deliver! The staff were so lovely and friendly. the food delicious, the menu varied, and the food arrived at good intervals. We will definitely be back!

Excellent attentive service along with wonderful fresh food. Would highly recommend.

Yet another smashing meal at Yama Momo. The flavours and quality of presentation are really excellent, and the cocktails (and bartender) just off the scale good!

We came in for an early dinner last night and were very impressed. The cocktails were great and well presented. The food was the best we’ve had in a while! The service was really snappy and all the staff friendly. Thank you for a lovely meal yama momo.

It was amazing, tried Sake and I love it Will recommend

Food was excellent however the service was a bit disappointing...our main meal was served in stages!

Amazing experience, food was delicious and staff service is fantastic. Could not recommend more!

Superb food and great service. My favourite restaurant in South London!

Got food poisoning from here😭 something was very off about the sushi - there wasn’t much taste. Then there was a sour lemon flavour. Then the volcano sushi was just a strange flavour. It’s put me off sushi for atleast 6 months when I love sushi so much. It was just terrible

Sushi is very tasteless. The red dragon roll just tasted of lemon it was a very off sour taste. I felt so gross afterwards

The sushi came and didn’t have much flavour. The soy sauce plates had dust in them and overall the service was ok. I won’t be visiting again.

I think it’s changed management it’s not the same at all

Very enjoyable evening - a special meal to mark a birthday. Cocktails, food, sake and pudding all just that bit different and interesting, and very tasty. Good service. Will return!

Underwhelming in terms of ambiance, service and value

Ethan and senna were great, I felt very comfortable ordering and they even recommended what to try. 10/10

Best sushi I have ever had by far. Lobster special is worth every penny. Staff really attentive and down to earth. Some incredible flavours in the cocktails.

Great food and fantastic time had by all. The staff were particularly attentive and friendly. Definitely would recommend.

Really not great. Went for dinner. Place was empty. Kire £300 for 3 and just so disappointing. All hot food was poor. Sui mui hard and not that hot terriyaki had a weird taste. Sushi fine. Sashimi way too cold. We've eaten here loads never had such a poor experience before. Service lovely as usual but not sure we'll be back soon,vkinou tsunami and sushi garden are so much better.

Beautiful dinner, would most definitely recommend.

Amazing individual care and assistance for allergies with a kitchen happy help even on a busy Saturday night service.

Such a great local restaurant with plenty of vegetarian options. The tofu stake with mushrooms and truffle was my favourite. Great service, great atmosphere. Will be back!

Momo had a great time- thank you for hosting us

Our server called Esther was lovely and the food was delicious

As usual the food is just incredible and satisfying, the service (especially Esther) so down to earth and kind!! Always have a great time, huge thank you

An excellent meal fantastic flavours!!! We really enjoyed the menu and tried the black cod tacos, bao buns, lamb cutlets, misplaced soup, sushi, beef and desserts. We were really pleased with our meal and it was really well presented. The cocktails were also spot on!!! I will definitely go back again!!!

Excited about finding an izakaya in the neighbourhood, but we were disappointed about the food. We ordered sushi and udon, we had to throw away most of it. The Udon was ok, but the fish didn’t taste very fresh. We also felt that the “white tuna” was mislabelled as it should actually be escolar. Also, NOT an izakaya.

Good food and service, and would recommend/revisit. What would make this place excellent is if all the food didn’t arrive in one go. We had all dishes brought together which was just too much - it would have been great to have some kind of staggering eg appetisers first like edamame and gyoza, then the sashimi, then the sushi rolls, then cooked items (or something along those lines).

We love this place! Whenever we come back, we always feel perfectly at comfort. Today we had the most lovely waiter, Ethan. He was most accommodating, with being kind to our boy. We appreciated his service, and hope that the Yamamomo team appreciates him!

Absolutely lovely. I would like to thank Jorrell for the drinks recommendations ( on point!!) and Trey for all the amazing service throughout our dinner. Well done boys! We will be seeing you again for sure!

Great food and service - thanks Reem really appreciated!

Great food and great service from our waiter trey

Lovely food and service (from Trey)

We had a great meal at Yama Momo this evening. My dad, my sister and I were all really impressed and we are a tough crowd! The food was frear and and really fresh and flavoursome with ketaifi prawns and nasu goma a favourite with the asahi and kirin beers on tap a plus. Jorrell our waiter was the perfect blend of friendless, efficiency and attentiveness. We wouldn’t hesitate to go back

Always pretty reliable food wise although on this occasion the service was a little slapdash...

Reliable sushi offering, good food, good service and good location.

Great restaurant! Food, vibe and service were 10/10

The menu was limited, and the food portions were small considering the prices. The waitstaff seemed to rush us to finish our meal. The atmosphere was peculiar, with early 2000s R&B music playing loudly, making it difficult to have a conversation. While it was an overall positive experience, I would not return.

Good food and drinks, staff were polite and friendly

I thought the food was really nice and cocktails strong enough too which was great. I'll definitely recommend it.

Food was amazing and the service even better. All the members of staff seemed all were very polite and welcoming when we arrived. We had Jarrell attending to us for the evening; he was super attentive and helpful with giving us important about the food and coming back to check on us to see if we needed anything else. I most definitely will be back!

The food was amazing the cocktails were amazing just want to mention one waiter who served us all night he’s name was trey 5 star service from start to finish great team member

Food was good but waiting staff's services need to improve!!!!!

Me and my boyfriend dined here for our 3 year anniversary. I am a vegetarian and there were plenty options for me which was reassuring. The food was amazing and the options had so much variety. We had 2-4-1 cocktail drinks they were vibrant, pretty and amazing. We finished with a whisky and dessert platter which ended the experience lovely. We enjoyed this experience for our 3 year anniversary.

First class food and service. Friendly, spacious and all round a great find

Amazing truffle beef, great cocktails! Thanks

Had the best time! Stumbled upon the restaurant purely by chance and so happy I did. The food was superb, the atmosphere nice and cosy and the staff super friendly and attentive (Danijel in particular). Am I going to go back? Absolutely.

I love this place, I will always be a customer. The only sad thing is that they changed their recipe for the sea-bass. It used to come with mash and truffle sauce and now it different.

The food was amazing and Daniel, our waiter, outstanding

One of the best Japanese restaurants I’ve ever been to.

Have been here several times over the years. Food is still good but no longer great. Service declined from great to poor - quite a few new staff and quite offhand. Hope it improves soon but would not recommend at the moment as is not value for money.

Food was amazing! They have recently changed the menu and the new items we tried were standout dishes. Great service as always. The lychee martini is a must! My favourite restaurant ♥️

Great food and great presentation. Really friendly staff. I thought, recommend this place.

Good service. Very on top of it. Did was good

Really lovely food, the venue was a bit louder than I expected, but the ambiance was great. Buzzy atmosphere and great cocktails along with superb sushi and sashimi.

Absolutely fantastic meal. So tasty. Best meal I’ve had all year. Will definitely return.

I love coming here, the food and cocktails are always impeccable - although sushi rolls are getting more and more futuristic and I can’t believe you’ve taken crunchy salmon roll out of the menu - a few of my friends used to travel down to south London for it! Otherwise, it’s a great place, keep up the good work!

For the love of god, if you like food, don't eat here. I never leave bad reviews, but this place pushed me over the edge. We went on a Monday for the £25 4 course special set menu. The server asked if we wanted it all at once. I said no, we are sharing the courses but want it course by course. It came all at once: the samphire and wakame salad which was just wakame and the only really good dish; the cauliflower poppers which were perfect, except the sickly sweet maybe barbecue sauce maybe ketsup; the dry chicken with lovely mushroom leeks covered by a wasabi peppercorn cream sauce so revolting we literally scraped it off despit our love of wasabi; and the pork belly which would have been delish if not burned. What didn't come was the rice or first course mushroom salad which were delivered after asking only three times. And the mushroom salad was some conction of baby greens and dried mushrooms with a tahini dressing that we could only describe as gross. The entire meal was accompanied by easy listening versions of 70s to 90s hits best belong in a bank elevator and indifferent wait staff. Desperate to leave, and not fond of sweets, I declined the dessert course only to have the (more senior?) waiter (who noticed my desperation?) pressure me into eating. Nope. I think this might be the first one star I've given... I try to only review what I love but was so amazed by how very terrible the food and service was here I wanted to let others know: not worth your time or money.

Good for drinks. Otherwise a little loud, a little slow, a little less than Monkatsu a little way away. Open Mondays, which is good for the area.

Reem, Monica and Zara were lovely amazing customer service and very friendly. Daniel however was rude and very hostile i saw him being horrible to staff which made me feel uncomfortable

Beautiful food and we were treated really well this evening

jaPUNese food= the best! lovely staff too!!! Lovely to sit by the bar!!

No words to explain. Just disappointing. It appears as if the restaurant is ran by children now. There is not an ounce of organisation between the staff and food was mediocre. I used to come here all the time but you will definitely not be seeing me again.

Second visit to Yama and not disappointed. Excellent food and ambience, lovely service - great cocktails! Thoroughly recommended

It was really quiet at the time with about 5 members of staff and our table was not cleared of empty plates, bottles and glasses , We eventually moved them over to the next table where it all remained untill we left. Several members of staff walked past and ignored it . Food was exceptional and the cocktails, just shame about the lack of basic service

The lights were so low that you could not read the menu. The food was not good compared to our previous visits. Sashimi was in very thin slices, and agadashi tofu was tasteless without much sauce. It seems that the restaurant has a new manager. He was not happy that we did not pay the service charge. Disappointingly, this was one of our favourite Japanese restaurants.

Average quality sushi and fair price, service was a little slow but staff was kind and welcoming

The food was amazing, as it has been every time I've visited but they really need to get their act together with the service. Booked for 6.30 to take advantage of 2-4-1 cocktails (spicy mango margarita highly recommended) and our party of 3 got 2 cocktails at the same time; unexpected but, as it turns out, most welcome due to the time it took for them just to take our order (despite our table being right opposite the bar). The young waiter took our sushi order then returned to ask again what we'd ordered (despite having a pen & pad in hand); waitress suggested another glass of wine, I agreed and then she promptly forgot all about it - again I had to ask for my drink. The food was amazing but, as it was the first time there for my friend and of course we'd talked it up, it was a little frustrating. It's not cheap but previously has seemed a great value experience but this makes me realise how bound up service is in the overall experience.

Have been going to Yama Moms since it opened and it is normally very consistent, but not this time. Tried to order a bottle of champagne, but there was none, of any description. We were told it was because they were changing wine lists shortly, but that doesn't really excuse the lack of what is one of their premium offerings. I would have gone over the road to the Off Licence and bought a bottle, but that did not happen. Service was very clunky, with mains trying to be served whilst the sashimi was still being eaten. The sashimi was as good as ever but I don't want to eat rice and truffle beef with it. It felt like they were rushing us and asked for there to be a pause. When we did ask for our mains, they were dry and not as they should have been. My guess was they were simply kept warm, which is unacceptable. They then tried to serve another glass of red wine and another bottle of water, neither of which had been asked for. and were sent back. We were then offered another sashimi platter, which we had already had. These errors were blamed on a 'system error' but I think the reality was that the kitchen was not being properly run and felt like they wanted to get home, which incidentally the manager had departed for, having asked to see them at 9.45pm. For what would be your busiest night of the week, with many new staff and a kitchen that was not working as well as it should, I find that a strange decision. The person I did speak to was very apologetic and understanding and did give me a 15% discount on our meal, which wasn't the point, I really just wanted a problem free service. Somethings these things happen, an 'off night' and we will give it another try in due course but I very much hope this is not a sign of standards being relaxed and the customer being asked to foot the bill for a sub-standard service and meal. Fingers crossed.

Would be good if you had Chardonnay wine. Service was great but a little slow at times.

Always fantastic service at Yama Momo, delicious meal and great atmosphere.

One of the best places I have had the pleasure of visiting. The food is amazing, the cocktails made to perfection and the service was impeccable. I’ve been here a few times and would recommend this place again and again.

Very lucky to have this brilliant restaurant so near to where we live. It really is as good a Japanese restaurant you would find in Central. Would definitely recommend.

For the second time we have been placed by the kitchen when the restaurant is largely empty, following a booking. It isn’t clear why and the nicer tables were still empty when we left. Drinks took a very long time to be served, arriving after our food. Size of the main course was miscommunicated and was very poor value. Many nice menu items have gone. Terrible music, very loud. We won’t be back. It is sad as this used to be our number one restaurant for special occasions.

Dannia was very kind and patient. Food service was very prompt and delicious

We have dined here quite often and will be coming back. We have brought friends and relatives here too who also very much enjoyed the experience.

Excellent dinner experience and the manager was outstanding attentive, friendly, and ensured everything ran smoothly. Will definitely be returning.

Delicious food, brilliant service!

Always amazing food drinks & atmosphere 💘

Fabulous gem of a restaurant, best sushi ever, I love going there. The menu is extensive, the food is always great, staff are very friendly and knowledgeable, the cocktails could do with just a bit more alcohol but the overall pricing is very reasonable. It is easily accessible by bus, free parking nearby and less than 10 minutes walk from the nearest train station. It's narrow and over 2 levels but can accommodate a wheelchair. I've always booked, but I'm confident they would be really welcoming to walk ins.

This is what 10pounds looks like for YamaMomo to order to home. Disgusting

Klaus was an absolute star. We walked in without a reservation on a Wednesday night and were sat in his full section in between a big party and a difficult table. He was working with a new ordering system. He was kind, attentive and genuinely cared about making sure he was getting things right even with a challenging section. The food and drinks were great as well! Got happy hours cocktails and LOVED the milk punch. Had dumplings, tempera and sushi - all delicious. We will definitely be back.

As usual Yama Momo is a great place to dine. The food and drinks were wonderful, as were the staff.

Great food and atmosphere, the staff is very nice, AJ was nice as well.

Staff walking around like headless chickens You have to do their job for them Ask them to take your order Ask them to bring your drinks with the meal Meal served literally piecemeal Drinks don’t arrive together Overall very disappointed Never going back

Tasty food but wouldn’t go back because of the poor service. We requested the food to be served all at once but of course did not happen - this was forgivable. However one of the main meals took over 1 hour to be served and with 4 different waiters saying ‘it’s coming any minute now’ ‘the chef said it’s already done’ ‘it’s coming in 3-4minutes’ .. it was ridiculous. They should’ve communicated with each other before approaching the table. The food is lovely but the service was such a let down.

Food was amazing, from starters to desserts. Service was great, but a little bit slow due to going at peak time. I will be coming back.

I know this restaurant and its sister restaurant in Clapham, Tsunami well. I know the owner Ken and the standard of the food and the service have always been impeccable. I have not been to either for a while as have been out of London. However this visit was not good primarily because the staff seem both unaware of what the food is and how it is served. Some old favourites tasted the same although some had been changed to appear more "english" also all the food came at once and not in stages as expected and requested. Except the sushi and when we chased it were told by the "manager" it was late because they had a lot of take away orders. This restaurant is not by any means cheap and to be told that is insulting. I do hope Ken sorts this out as it is a real shame.

There was a hair in the wasabi accompanying my starter . The dish was replaced - no apology

This is a fun place, with a broadly Japanese menu. Our cocktails were colourful and inventive. Starters of tuna tataki and aubergine were flavourful, the mixed tempura pleasant if lacking zing. Main courses of black cod, sea bass, and salmoln in various guises were all of high quality. Desserts were fun like the cocktails. Picpoul de Pinet was fairly priced. The ambience is attractive and diners of a range of ages were enjoying themselves; worth knowing if you are over 60 like us that we found no problem hearing each other in the busy, galley-shaped room. Service was friendly and fluent.

Lovely food and service would definitely recommend

We've been coming here for years and it never disappoints. Really glad we are able to come back, sit, relax and enjoy. Food is always on point and consistent. Staff is super friendly, warm and welcoming. Everyone works really hard and it's nice to watch the Chef's at work if you sit up front. Lovely sushi rolls, cocktails, saki and desserts. We will be back! 31/12/2021 - spent our New Years eve here and the food, staff were amazing as usual. Happy New Year to the team! 2022 & 2023 - never disappoints but we miss Gabriella :( 02/2024 - never disappoints! Lots of new staff and the new host/manager (we never caught his name) but very warm and welcoming!

Very nice cuisine, all dishes carefully assembled with quality ingredients and very tasty. Highly recommended!

Amazing food ,good location and I will come back definitely!

The food was great, the only let down was the beef dish as it was incredibly salty but was resolved swiftly by the waitress and offered to change the dish. Service was great.