Tipped

Sorry Itsu

November 26, 2008

Dear manager of Itsu Picadilly

I'm Charles and I write reviews on a site called Tipped but I'm sure you never knew that. I'm sure you didn't know that I take my dad to Itsu every time he comes to London and whenever I get paid I splurge and get sashimi from Itsu and sometimes when I haven't been paid but just have a hangover.

I'm sure you didn't know how excited I was when I walked into your Picadilly branch and noticed the racks of books about food and nutrition that you had kindly left there for solitary lunchers to read whilst slurping on the noodle soup. I'm pretty sure that you didn't realise that I was taking a photo of these magazines and books to compliment my glowing review of your company and about how caring you guys must be.

But you didn't seem to care! You didn't even ask my why I was taking a photo. You just rolled straight up on me and told me to not take photos in here because it's private property! You then mumbled something about 'brand' when I asked you why you didn't let people take photos.

Its a real shame because I really was going to write a nice review and probably start going to my local Itsu more but you know what over-the-top rude manager I'm not - this is my review. And now whenever I'm hungover or my Dad is in town we're going somewhere else, somewhere where the staff aren't rude and I can take pictures and write and tell everyone about how much I love eating there.

You probably think I'm overreacting, you probably don't care, you probably don't know that I exist.

Fare thee well Itsu

It was nice knowing you

Keywords: rude, carrrot juice

International Intrigue!

January 14, 2008

Don't be (too) freaked out by the pic, I happened to get a shot of this Itsu in 2006 very shortly after it was a crime scene in the Alexander Litvinenko spy/poisoning scandal. They have been re-opened for business for months and months since then, and I can only presume that the place has since been sufficiently scrubbed down to prevent office workers and other lunchers from picking up traces of Polonium-210 from their bento boxes and dumpling soups.

Itsu has a few other locations around London, and they specialize in ready-to-eat Japanese food, from sashimi to bento boxes to salads and soups. Think Pret, but for sushi. The food is pretty tasty, although (like at Pret), I am sometimes unsatisfied with the portions, plus there is always that feeling of concern as to how long the slices of raw fish have been sitting out in the display. Still, I have to admit the quality has never disappointed me, and I have especially become a fan of the dumpling soup. They also have some yummy juices, my favorite choice is to mix the ginger-lemonade and iced tea for a sort of oriental Arnold Palmer.

Keywords: international espionage, japanese, take away