Yoku Cheltenham in Cheltenham

I went here for my birthday, while celebrating in the Cotswolds. Lovely dinner - the black miso cod and wagyu don were both incredible dishes - couldn’t get enough. The service (namely, Bernie and Amelyn) were fantastic. We also shared the octopus kingdom, which felt so special and was also delicious! Decorations so beautiful and great overall vibe.

Thank you to Jake, Amelyn and Kat for your wonderful hospitality! We love coming here and this is probably our 5th time highly recommend!

Unbelievably tasty food, and great service 10/10

Had a really great time from start to finish. The food was delicious and the staff were so helpful in recommending what food is the best. Big thanks to Amelyn our server!

We dined at this extraordinary Japanese restaurant last night and we were not disappointed. The food was served in beautiful shells and a dramatic plume of dry ice. We were wowed by the subtle perfume and taste of the super fresh food. There was lots of choice to suit the palates of our party. Above all the service given by Bernie and Adam was exceptional - attentive and helpful with suggestions, but not intrusive. A beautiful and memorable gesture was to have my grandson's exceptional exam results recognised with complimentary chocolate truffles and the word Congratulations written by the Chef. Truly an unexpected and beyond kind gesture. We can't wait to dress up again for Yoku at 131 the Prom!

1st time Sushi diner. Decided to plum for the 8 course £120 tasting menu. Greeted with a complimentary drink and edamame beans, which were quite tasty. The dinner started with Tuna Tartare salad, which, in my opinion was one of the best courses. What followed were 4 dishes pretty similar to each other in taste and texture. Then a change to something with more flare, an open spider crab roll. Finishing the savoury dishes with a miso black cod dish, which was warm and tasty. The finale was rubber banana fritter, not becoming of an exorbitant menu. Will I go again. probably not.

来英国20多天，在这个美食的荒漠里，今天我们一家人来科茨沃尔德水上伯顿玩，入住皇后酒店，正在想晚餐吃什么呢、就在酒店旁看见这家人气很旺的餐厅。外面是酒吧，很多人听着音乐喝酒惬意聊天。我们带着小孩儿，选择室内吃日料。非常好的体验，JAKE 杰克先生很帅很友好，他给我们推荐了适合孩子吃的炒粉条，他们叫noodle的。推荐了金枪鱼卷和刺身拼盘。色香味俱全。另外给先生推荐了当季特调鸡尾酒🍹。我们点了一大瓶气泡水。食材新鲜，味道很赞。环境优美。重点是服务好。谢谢Jake先生和其他几位帅哥。我们用了一个愉快的晚餐。这是20多天在英国饭店里吃的最美好的一餐。两大一小花费100磅。

Excellent service! Amazing experience! Beautiful Venue!! Definitely returning! Glen at the bar was fantastic and Jake in the restaurant provided us with the best tips on choice from the menu!! We went for the octopus platter and I would highly recommend!

Drinks are liquid heaven, 5 star service and tasting menu where each course is to die for.

Wow. Will I eat and drink there again? 'Yes blooming, please'

We understand that the size portions in tasting menus are typically smaller than that of normal meals but for £110 per person we left still hungry and had to purchase more food on our way home. This is the first time I have ever had to do this and the first time I have ever left a tasting menu upset and disappointed. The service and the food were both disappointing but for the sake of this review let’s focus on the food. While most dishes were tasty we found the menu to be repetitive and portion sizes were off considering the majority of the food was only raw fish and frankly, we felt a little ripped off. The first course, tuna tartare was clearly cut offs from the sashimi course. This sashimi course was lovely and I really did enjoy the variations of the fish but the raw fish probably could have stopped here. The two wagu dishes were again lovely but they were essentially exactly the same thing, other than the one was served with rice. This could have easily been one dish. The ceviche, was good but again, it was exactly the same as the sashimi with some sauce. This was a common occurrence in this tasting menu, repetitive, small dishes. It just seemed like a cop out. One of the most disappointing dishes and quite frankly, we found this extremely cheeky, was the tempura ‘prawns’. We had one tempura prawn cut up into four pieces. One piece was the head of the prawn and one was the tail making half the dish inedible. The miso cod was also disappointing. We found that the char on the fish was way too overpowering and contradicted the other flavours meaning you couldn’t actually taste the fish which we could tell had been beautifully prepared. Such a shame. With hopes still high for the last course we couldn’t help but laugh when this came out. Two measly pieces of fried banana with store bought ice cream, and yes, we could tell it was store bought as homemade ice cream does not melt as watery as this. We couldn’t believe we had paid this much money to be served this. We have complained to a staff members on the day and to the Manager as well but were offered nothing but an apology and a a ‘we hope to see you again’. I can assure you they will not, unless they dramatically change something.

I organised a date night here with my boyfriend for his birthday. We were beyond impressed with the decor of this restaurant and the cosy, yet sophisticated atmosphere. The food was incredible, I was really pleased with the amount of high quality vegan options there were on the menu; my boyfriend enjoyed the selection of seafood sushi. The cocktails were amazing, and there was an extensive choice of Japanese drinks- we really enjoyed the plum Sake. On arrival, we were also given free welcome drinks and edamame, which was a really lovely touch. The only thing I can slightly fault with the evening was the service. They were rather slow to take our orders and serve us the drinks, one thing to note is that the food is served at different times- much of the seafood came first and there was quite a wait before my vegetarian food arrived, so we were eating at different points. The staff were incredible, overall, though. In my opinion, the prices were very reasonable, too. I would love to visit this restaurant again! Thank you for a wonderful evening.

Ok, i am left unsure on how many stars to give. Atmosphere, service: 5/5 Food: sashimi 5/5 (not cheap, but so worth it!) Signature sushi rolls - i would not bother next time. Surprisingly tasteless rolls. (Ebi ten / Tenkasu Negi) Also rolls were that thinly cut that they were falling apart once you dip it in soy sauce. Says 8 pieces on the menu - really more like 6. Id love to come back for the Tasting menu for sure. Nigiri Unagi is bomb if you like Eel.

Such a great place. Awesome vibe and the food was perfect for date night.

Fantastic atmosphere and service was beautiful. We really enjoyed our time on our anniversary. Staff were very attentive and had good knowledge of the food. The place was not crowded and the music perfect. Thank you YOKU 💛🥂

Lovely atmosphere, great service and lovely food!

nice atmosphere and food decent, service a bit slow but very friendly staff who helped accomodate us

Very cool bar and decor but cocktails served in chipped glassware, not much flavour and garnish for everything was apparently a lime wheel dropped in the drink. Kind of place you’d expect table service as well. Cool place to pop into to have a look but glad we weren’t staying for dinner

Weekend = Great Weekday = don’t bother We went 6 months ago on a Saturday - no complaints. We came on a Wednesday recently… there was one girl working the floorplate, (there was one other table) sweating balls, reckon she was doing the dishes too. 45 mins in we had our sashimi but no chopsticks or drinks fortunately we had the remnants of our 131 main restaurant drinks that had taken half hour to come,. Food was very tasty but somewhat soured by our discussions as to whether we needed to cut our losses and get a takeaway or not… Kibou is much better.

Amazing food , we sat at the bar so could see all the food being prepared, our waiter was knowledgable about the sushi menu , there is also other dishes so don’t be put off by sushi , my wife has been converted, our dishes were presented as you would expect from fine dining , we will be eating here if we return to the city .

The mood in this Restaurant is so wonderful. The service is attentive and the staff are so polite. All of the food is incredible, the sushi rolls in particular are delicious. Could not be better! x

Had a great celebratory meal at Yoku. We had very attentive service by a very knowledgeable person who explained everything we needed to know, guided us on the options for the food choices. The food very tasty and arrived promptly. Couldn’t really fault anything. We had a later table booking but after a drink in 131 we asked if we could start earlier- they made accommodation for us to do this (which meant we could take much more time on our meal). Celebration dessert at the end was a lovely bonus!

Phenomenal Omakase tasting menu. Loved literally every dish and a fanatic sake selection to pair with each course. An absolute must visit in the Cotswolds. Great service to enhance an amazing meal.

Food was lovely but service was so bad was almost funny. Badly trained staff who knew nothing about the menu. For the prices they are charging expect much much better. Avoid and go to Zuma or Roka in Lonfon instead.

The dinning experience was very disappointing. Decor is lovely but tables are very close with minimal privacy. We felt as if we were sat on a table with those behind us given the close proximity, thus unable to have a private conversation with those whom I was with. Food was ok, but I was expecting more giving the price. Lacked favour, but presented well. Very much style over substance, and for that I wouldn’t visit again. I believe Cheltenham has a number of far better independently run restaurants with better food, atmosphere and service that I would choose to visit over Yoku. Don’t waste your money!

We visited recently and the ambience, food and staff was amazing! It is the perfect spot for a treat and to enjoy some delicious sushi! Would highly recommend!

Excellent food, service and atmosphere!

Food has gone downhill, far from being authentic and overpriced for the quality of the sushi. Decor is amazing but the food doesn’t match.

We come for the races regularly, we had an amazing meal here. We eat at alot of amazing restaurants around the world and this place is amazing for sushi and the staff are great. The 4 star reviews are probably from customers who had a bad meal but if 131 bar asked for reviews they would get alot of 5-stars.

Another poor attempt at a chic restaurant! Food is extortionately overpriced for what you receive. I had high hopes of an authentic experience given the reviews, however this was far from reality. We paid over £100 per head for an average eating experience in my opinion is poor. Decor beautiful, with low lighting which isn’t always practical for eating, however appreciate that is part of the ‘appeal’. However we were squashed into a window seat with another table behind within very VERY close proximity, so we may as-well have been sat on the same table. Felt uncomfortable holding conversations with the party due to the overpowering bellowing of the table behind whom were obviously keen on taking photos (with a flash) all evening and not on eating or drinking. Our waitress was very attentive, however those whom met us on arrival were overheard making derogatory comments about other in the restaurant. Which is utterly unprofessional. I would avoid unless you are someone who dines out just to be able to brag to others.

Expensive, £270 a couple including drinks and tip for the tasting menu (booked in advance). Lighting levels a bit low (struggled to read the cocktail menu), but this does give a night club atmosphere vibe, ministry of sound type music in the cocktail bar, and bar staff friendly. High quality ingredients and huge amount of effort goes into food presentation, I enjoyed every dish, exactly what you would expect from a top notch Japanese restaurant. Considering what we had I felt we got value for money.

Having booked a table for 7.30pm for my son and I, I was advised on arrival that they hadn’t in fact got a table available, and nothing else available until 9pm. No resolution, no consideration of the fact we’d travelled by taxi, in fact despite showing them our booking reference details they even suggested we didn’t have a booking at all. Sadly there isn’t a 0 review score as it feels that a 1 score is a little generous for a restaurant that can’t even manage their bookings!

Staff is really well trained and friendly. They praised even the way which we were dressing and congratulate my wife and I in our weeding anniversary. It is a product service kitchen , where they have expensive ingredients that you will appreciate more the flavour of the fresh ingredients than the technique utilised to cook . On the other hand , we ordered a table of sashimi selection chosen by the chef which was impressive the way which they served (On top of a dry ice plate, full of dry ice smoky). The best non-alcoholic drinks menu that I have seen in a long time . Also, great selection Alcoholics drinks, which were well made and explained at the bar too . Overall, a good restaurant for a special night out for a couple. The food is good but nothing too different for who enjoys a modern Japanese food 🍱.

Amazing food. The waiting staff were incredible and relaxed. It was expensive, but a nice treat for us. More like tapas and small dishes. The chef was extremely nice and visited us to discuss the food. The decor and ambience was great.

Our experience at Yoku must rank it as the ultimate vanity project. I had read the positive reviews and decided to book it as a birthday present for my wife and myself. On arrival we were shown to our table in the main room, and were instantly aware that there was a negative atmosphere in the room, due to a table of three men, obviously having already had too much to drink, talking loudly and using foul language. After a few minutes, one of the couples nearest them asked to be moved, and soon afterwards we made the same decision, and were moved to a second room where the behaviour of this group was somewhat less distracting, but still causing an atmosphere that seriously impacted on everyone's enjoyment of their meal. Later during the meal I went to the bathroom, and whilst walking past the disruptive table realised that I recognised one of the three men as none other than Julian Dunkerton - owner of the hotel and restaurant! This instantly explained why none of the staff had made any attempt to talk to them about moderating their language, and made us feel very sorry for what they are having to cope with. We then acknowledged to the staff that we had realised who it was causing the problem, and they all gave us ironic shrugs, admitting there was nothing they could do. we felt very sorry for them, but also commend them for doing their best to avoid our meal being totally ruined. I would suggest to anyone thinking of booking that they check to see if the proprietor is going to be there, and think twice if he is, and I humbly suggest to Mr Dunkerton that next time he designs a restaurant that he plans to use in this way that he includes a private room in the design. A ruined evening and totally unacceptable when paying over £300 for the privilege...

They want modern chic dress code but the staff behave like the staff of a truck shop, clearly are not trained properly for the quality of service that they try to give. Quality of the food is imbarassing low for what you pay, i found lots of shells and a hair in my food 🤮. Not what did you expect at all. I will not come back.

隨性的發現了這家餐廳，原本沒訂位，打算碰碰運氣，沒想到剛好有吧檯區的位置，位置全都被訂滿了，店員很熱心的安排出了位置。 整個晚餐的感覺非常好，不同於傳統的日本料理，其創意更高一籌，不僅擺拍美麗，美食體驗也非常絕妙，主廚運用酥脆海苔、炸粉、山椒鹽讓日式料理多了更多層次，生魚片也非常的新鮮，搭配的調料恰如其分。 非常期待下次再來

This restaurant insists on a judgmental, outdated dress code which is completely irrelevant. This restaurant has ideas above it's station and is incredibly pretentious. I have never felt so unwelcome and ostracised because of an inexplicable rule. Awful place.

Very disappointing, the food is ‘okay’ it’s trying to be nobu but lacks the culinary skill which is ironic given the restaurants name. The drinks look beautiful but mostly are overly sweet. It’s a lot of style over substance vs real mixology. There is a good sake selection. With all this said, I would have given this place 3 maybe 4 stars on a good day but the service is why I give it 2. Agreeing with other reviewers, they are very badly trained, intrusive and can come across as quite arrogant. They are going for the service you would associate with fine dining but miss the point - no charm and no knowledge of the good and culture behind the restaurant

Incredible food, staff were friendly and helpful. We will definitely be back. Highly recommended!!!

The food is good, but my standout memory is of the sumptuous decor. It is opulent. The extravagance in everything from the glassware to wall-mounted bonsai tress shifts focus off of the food and conversation from time to time, but this is by design and seems to be characteristic of The Lucky Onion group of eateries. They have successfully captured the Tokyo-vogue vibe they set out to achieve. I felt like I was in a scene from the Japanese cyberpunk franchise, Ghost in the Shell. The staff were welcoming and accommodating, the cocktails were superb, and the food was delicious. If you have a taste for dark, lavish, and alluring dining experiences, then Yoku is for you. My one gripe is what I perceived to be attempts from the waiter to upsell. It's expensive to eat here and I felt this was in poor taste. I also feel they overestimate the number of dishes they recommend based on your party size Dinner was c. £220 for 2 people.

Utterly wonderful experience. Great venue with truly exceptional food, service and people. Highly recommended.

Nice atmosphere, half of our order was great (especially the tempura roll) but the salmon sashimi just didn't taste fresh. I was very excited about the wagyu abura ramen, taken singularly the toppings were good, but the noodles were way too thin for the amount of sauce and that ultimately ruined the dish imho. I would have much preferred a much thicker noodle. Price for quality not really there

Fantastic service, great for allergies also.

Unfortunately, the experience was not as great for us. There is a fine line between friendly and intrusive/too much in the service industry, and the host unfortunately was unaware of this line. It was awkward in the sense that uncomfortable jokes were made about our server and staff by the host, and in general it was just an intrusive experience where it felt uncomfortable, instead of being relaxing and food focused. The drinks were amazing, but unfortunately the appetizer and sushi ordered both had shells in them that were extremely noticeable, and for this caliber of a place that should not be happening.

Amazing food and service would highly recommend. Black miso cod and scallops were very good

Outstanding dinner on Friday evening - the food was sublime and faultless. The waiters/waitresses were equally faultless and made the whole experience unforgettable. Highly recommend the wagyu skewers and cod - drooling as I type!!! Especially impressed that we had such good service and food whilst they were busy for festival week - a testament to how well run this place is. Can’t wait to come back soon! ☺️

Wow, this is some dining experience. The food was outstanding and the presentation, service, taste & atmosphere was spot on. So good I forgot to take photos of the food!! I was really impressed at the staff who were incredibly knowledgeable especially our waitress Rebecca. She was super helpful in helping me choose some dishes, wine parings and overall just made the experiance delightful. Another member of staff who stood out was Philippe. (I hope I spelt your name correctly). LOVED his whole personality and his recommendation on the cocktail was perfect. Overall I had three dishes and it was enough for me. You didn’t feel pressured to get any more or less and you can always add dishes as you go along. Thank you!