Inamo, Soho, London

Loved it went last night with one of my girls food was jum service was quick and friendly. the restuarnt its slef with it mad interactive tables where you can paly games while you eat makes for a right laugh.
A wee bit on the expenisive side but worth it

Funkiest place in London! Ordering is a pure pleasure on those touch screens. The food is delicious too, very nice and clean.
Only trick is that it’s too easy to order more and more dishes and the bill can get expensive!

The whole hi tech thing has a certain novelty value but I don’t see it being something you’d return to this restaurant for unless you have young children who might enjoy it. The food was distinctly average and quite disappointing for what we paid. It seems as if the food was barely an afterthought. They have to realise that people go to restaurants to eat good food and that computer games alone aren’t enough to bring paying customers back through the door.

I truly don’t get the hype.

Overpriced food of saying this politely variable quality. All for what? The fact that you order on your table like you’re playing a rubbish free game that came with Windows 95?

And the cocktails are better suited to a dive bar in Singapore airport: pointless, weak, overly sweet.

You could throw a rock and hit a better Asian restaurant in Soho.

Avoid.

Ordering through the tables is a great gimmick, and I’m surprised other restaurants haven’t copied the concept.

For me it’s great that the quality of the of the food isn’t overshadowed by the novelty of the ordering system. The prices per dish are about average for Soho, but the portion sizes are quite small so you find yourself ordering double.

The choice of drinks is pretty good and you can even try the intriguing mandarin and chili martini.

I’ve been to Inamo a few times now and the menu seems to change, albeit subtly, a few times a year.

My only gripe is that they’ve taken coffee off the dessert menu!

Had a lovely time – food was delish and table was fun. Unlike some other restaurants with a gimmick – we would def go back to try more things on the menu. Loved the ice cream. Everyone in the restaurant was smiling too and we ended up chatting to the people next door – they’ve created a really good vide with the music and table decorations. Not the cheapest but me and himself walked out happy bunnies.

Definitely a very interesting experience – the interactive menus probably were the main attraction. The food was good and in comparison to the quality, probably fair priced, too, although I was expecting something more quirky. However, the seating plan was somewhat off-putting – all diners were cramped together in small rooms (or at least we were) which made me uncomfortable. While I would recommend it experience-wise with the menu set-ups, I wouldn’t go back there myself as the food was just not amazing enough to return.

Food (I had the standard bento) was ok, but not especially delicious. Prices were fair given its central London location and the general OK quality of the food. The whole 'gimmick' is their interactive ordering system. Now that I have tried it out and seen the ordering system (which was pretty cool), I wouldn't go back again.

General verdict is that it is cool to try out and see what the fuss is about, but after you have seen it, you won't be tempted to go back again.

Great concept, delicious food and overall fun time!

Echoing lots of what has already been written..

Very cool setup and atmosphere. The interactive tables making it unique.

The food is good, but not mind-blowing in any way, but worth a visit for the atmosphere alone. :)

This was my third visit to Inamo & probably the best of the three. As most people have said it is a geek's paradise to be able to order food from the interactive tables, have a peek into the kitchen through the table's webcam, change the background of the table & play memory games if you're really bored.

I think what made this the best visit was the attentiveness of the staff. We had a bit of confusion about the time our table was booked & also arrived early but we were made welcome in the cocktail bar downstairs. We were seated five minutes after our booking time, with many apologies from the receptionist over the confusion (it seriously wasn't a big deal for us)

I stupidly ordered my main course about two minutes after my starter, so it meant it was sitting around on the table for a while before my friend's main arrived. One of the waiters kindly noticed this & offered to heat up the food.

When our final bill arrived, the two cocktails we had downstairs were the wrong cocktails, they were immediately taken off the bill. We asked about putting the right cocktails back on & the waiter said "No probs have them on the house as you shouldn't have had the wrong ones put on". Who were we to say no to free cocktails ;-)

The staff were all extremely friendly & one of the waiters seemed genuinely excited about the opening of their new branch (Regent's Street) in December, giving a great description of what it would look like.

The food was very tasty, beautifully presented and yes, as others have said, maybe the main course portions were a tad small for the price, but if you stock up on the delicious Baby ribs and vegetable tamaki beforehand you won't feel hungry.

It was my friend's first visit & she was really impressed & can't wait to return with her boyfriend. I'll definitely be back again and looking forward to trying the new branch when it opens!

Pretentious staff with an attitude (surely the industry's worst offense) and ludicrous tiny portions at obnoxious prices. Enter this place at your own peril.

Was taken here on a date and I have to admit I was impressed my the unique idea and choice ... it was a fun night and enjoyed the food (recommend the ribs) and drinks and playing on the interactive table. Did not like the fact that the head waitress came and rather rudely advised me it was time we left the table, especially as I was not the one who made the reservation so it was embarrassing for my date. Rest of staff were lovely. Shame about the added service charge as I prefer to leave cash tip.

I think I'm only adding to the general warmth towards Inamo; yes it's a novelty, and yes the novelty just about wears off somewhere between eating your meal and ordering the bill - but the food is good enough to raise the admittedly geeky table interaction above pure tokenism. I found prices to be average (maybe not if you like exploring the more tucked away & traditional East Asian eateries in Soho), but it doesn't break the bank - especially if you take advantage of the lunchtime deals (via Toptable and and its ilk). A really fun experience, and I imagine a great, quick place to take clients and friends alike.

Update 20 aug 2010

Sadly I've been back 3 times since my first awesome visit and it seems like their popularity has gone to their head and general experience has nose-dived.

My most recent visit was last night. After booking well in advance for a special occasion for 2 people we got wedged between two other startled couples on a 6-seater table. Although half the other tables were empty we were told they were being held by other people for later so we couldn't move. To make matters worse our table lighting seemed to have kicked the bucket, so it was hard to make out much - and made worse by the bright lights flanking us from the table on either elbow.

On top of this despite explaining it was my brother's 30th brithday we had the frostiest of welcomes and farewells and just weren't made to feel welcome at all. Quite disappointing after explaining it was in my top spots.

The food is still quite tasty (though not so much the salmon ceviche) but is a ludicrous amount of money to pay for the portion size. I was happy to before considering the whole package, but as the rest of the package seems to be deteriorating I think there are better experiences to be had nearby and think that visit was my last.

-end-

Bored of the usual lunch routine? Tired of dirty crumpled menus and trying to wave a bored waiter over to get your order placed? Well Inamo may just be up your little techie alleyway.

The simple computer tables are easy to use and fun to navigate, allowing you to select your own table cloth, place drinks and food orders (with full colour pictures that show up over your dinner plate) and play little games while you wait - all without seeing a single person.

Weirdly the few members of staff we did see - those that brought out our orders when they were ready, and the lady who took the money at the end were a little computer-like and cold themselves. Because each person ordered their own items individually the staff knew exactly who ordered the pomegranite juice and the cinnamon chicken - so there's even less interaction than you'd think, bordering a bit icy.

One thing that did surprise me; often places that have a gimmicky thing tend to under deliver on other elements - sacrificing taste and presentation for the experience, but here this was not the case. The food arrives in various arrays of stylish dishes and some dishes were bloody scrumptuous.
Money wise it's a little dear; small plates (2-3 per person) will set you back £5-6 per plate while mains are £12-18. They have a range of wonderful looking teas that seem reasonable at £1.50 a pop.

If this is the future of dining I'm okay but they won't get a star back until their staff crack a smile and say something when they come over to the table.

Very cool place. The most interesting stuff - interactive tables of coarse.
The food is good as well. Will take my friends or parents if they come to London - it's like a tourist attraction!

Inamo had a bar as well so the setting was suitably darkened with just the occasional wall lights. The tables and chairs were of a simple functional modern style and more importantly was completely plain. Presumably this was so the projectors from above had a clean slate to display upon.

From the touchpad on the bottom right corner, one can peruse and order all food and drinks available; the waiter will then bring to the table whichever order is ready from the kitchen in no particular order. In addition to that, we could also change the background image and the colours for some of the patterns displayed on the table.

There are also little bonus things such as a webcam of the kitchen, games such as battleship as well as little touristy things such as displaying a map of the area along with various attractions nearby.

Altogether the bill came up to nearly £200 for three people. We might have ordered quite a lot of dishes and we were pretty full but not exactly stuffed. In retrospect though we should probably have ordered some rice to go with the mains which would help balance out the meal as well.

Not much to complain about really. The food all had strong vibrant flavours and there wasn’t a lot wrong with most of it. I certainly enjoyed almost all the stuff placed in front of me and I would be more than happy to visit Inamo again.

Best bit: the super cool menu.
Worst bit: the pricetag.

For full review & photos:
http://www.pigpigscorner.com/2010/06/fun-inamo.html

I went to Inamo a couple of weeks ago and am already looking for an excuse to go again. Oh my goodness it.was.so.good! We had some scallops, pork but my favorite was some sea bass sashimi that had a tea dipping sauce and it was clean and divine.

I also had a very lovely flowering tea that came in a rather ornate tea pot and it complimented my meal perfectly.

The food here isn't cheap but the ways in which you can play games on the table as well as change the background if you so wish is pretty cool. I also like that you can order things when you want so that you don't feel under pressure to have all your food decisions done by the time the waiter gets back or tries to upsell something or other.

My only slight agitation is that they are quite strict on how long you have at a table. They aren't flexible and they will chase you out of the restaurant as your minute is up.

Still, its a great idea, the quality of food is fantastic and they make cocktails to die for. Go for the experience and is a definite great place to go if you want to impress on a first date. But I would say its definitely a place to go when feeling flush.

Most of the other reviews have covered the specifics, so I'll just add to the ratings and say that this is the best restaurant for entertaining out of town guests. I don't know if I'd make it a regular place as it's a bit pricey and quite novel, but I've never seen my family have so much fun over dinner. GREAT for teenagers who generally don't do the whole dining out thing. Give it a go - it's fun!

Inamo, Soho is absolutely fantastic. It's a geeks paradise and i'd highly recommend it.

Best bits:

- Incredible computer display for ordering food, changing the theme of your table, "chef cam", ordering a cab and much more.

- Great food. Asian fusion - try the spicy spare ribs!

- Friendly staff (you don't see much of them, but when you do, they're very nice)

- Great location - Right bang in the middle of Soho.

This isn't just a nerds paradise, it's a great spot for young/old + locals/visitors.