Itsu

I love Itsu. This location is awesome. The customer service is great. The salmon sushi I had is fresh and tasty. Come to New York, please, Itsu. If there is one open in midtown east, I will go there for lunch everyday!

While not as cheap as other options in the area, I really like the food they do at itsu. Are they a glossy chain with weird dieting mantras emblazoned on everything? Yes, yes they are. Do they do a killer salad and really tasty vegetable dumpling soup? Also yes. I really like that the food tastes yummy, it has real nutritional value, and it doesn’t make me feel bloated and terrible when I eat it. Plus, Sriracha sauce on the tables (okay, the mild version, but still)!
I eat at itsu when I want something warm, filling, and good for me and I don’t have time to have a proper sit-​down meal. It’s perfect for days when I’m short on time and don’t want something heavy and fatty. So, if you’re looking for a reliable stand-​by to eat at when you need a quick bite that isn’t going to make you feel like you ate a truck of mayo and grease, hit up itsu. Just try to ignore the weird (sometimes slightly racist) dieting propaganda all over the place.
Oh, plus! Frozen yoghurt with really nice stuff on it. The real deal, not the crappy too-​sweet kind. Lovely.

I went on holiday for two weeks and three new chain restaurants sprang up in Soho. WT actual F. I love Soho for its independent eateries and shunning of the high street so this causes me emotional anguish. I vehemently judge my colleague for buying sarnies from Pret, that Broadwick St eyesore (the McDonalds-​owned eaterie, not my colleague). I only visited Starbucks this summer because their skinny Frappucinos with a sugar-​free hazelnut shot were the closest thing I could get to an icecream on my hardcore diet (and each time I entered the air-​conditioned glossy sanctum, I felt a stab of capitalist guilt).
But what about Itsu? Just because they sell raw fish doesn’t make it ok. Leon kind of gets away with being a Soho-​based chain, those cheeky little whippersnappers, with their brown rice and eco-​friendly packaging, but Itsu has the shiny-​shiny sheen of a lifeless franchise, and it freaks me out.
The thing is that they actually do half-​way decent stuff — salads and sushi and whatnot, always fresh and nicely-​seasoned — but since you’d be hard-​pressed to get a stomach-​filling meal for less than a fiver, it’s simply too expensive for a generic takeaway lunch. You can get edamame beans for mere pennies at the Rice Wine Shop (
) and more affordable, interesting salads virtually anywhere. Their miso soup is actively unpleasant. Nonetheless, my feelings clearly put me in a minority, because Itsu is taking over London, these premises are massive, and they’re all teeming with customers.
They nudge me into offering a grudging three stars thanks to their late opening hours and vast sit-​down area (the immovable high stools reek of fast-​food, albeit only metaphorically). At the witching hour of 7pm they somehow transform from an overpriced takeaway lunch joint into an easy place to eat a quick, cheap, forgettable dinner. It’s the same food, but I guess Itsu’s secret is the same as the key to good comedy. .. salt-​reduced soy sauce? Hahaha. Chopsticks, obvs.