Sushi in London?

An American friend of mine is going to be vising London this weekend and we'd really like to go out for some good sushi on Saturday night.  I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good-quality sushi restaurant in central London (zones 1 and 2 on the tube)?

Yo-Sushi is pretty good and there are tons of locations throughout London.  Kinda pricey, but that's what you expect from sushi.  They have the conveyor belt that carries the dishes around and you can pick up and eat what you want.  You get charged by the color of the bowl.  It's not super fancy or anything, but it's fun.

I've not personally eat there, but I've heard Roka http://www.rokarestaurant.com/ is very good, though expensive. It's very central, close to Goodge Street/Tottenham Court Rd.

There are lots of small sushi places in Soho. I've eaten at Hi Sushi http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/restaurants/hi-sushi-info-2256.html which was decent enough. They have funny downstairs seating where you sit on the floor, but have a hole in the ground for your legs to dangle.

I've eaten at Yo-sushi a few times.. Wouldn't really recommend it. It's convenient if you want to grab a quick bite, but I find that the dishes can taste less than fresh (which makes sense if they've been spinning around on a conveyor belt for a half hour).

If your friend likes dim sum, you should definitely do Dim T www.dimt.co.uk/ at London Bridge. They have the most amazing view of Tower Bridge if you can get a table on the second floor, and worth eating there just for that.

Just curious - is Moshi Moshi any good? I've never been there, but I keep reading about it.

I am not a fan of Yo Sushi... It's just not the same as what I'm used to in the US.

If you are used to high quality sushi, I'm afraid (by my own experience) you will be sorely disappointed in London... By both quality AND price! But if you find someplace nice, please let me know! I beg you!

I really like Moshi Moshi the food is great, very different from Yo, so if you like that sort of thing, you probably wont like Moshi...BUT the service in the Brighton branch is ATROCIOUS I've walked out once and been shouted at by the manager for "losing" my sushi ticket (in fact the waitress cleared it away by accident)..so I'm never going again.

There's a really good place near Ealing Broadway Sushi-Hiro
http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/reviews/858.html

tbh, I haven't really eaten sushi since I returned from Japan, it's always just dissapointing.

I really like Moshi Moshi the food is great, very different from Yo, so if you like that sort of thing, you probably wont like Moshi...

Hmmm, is it?? I've always been curious, since seeing it in Canary Wharf. We have traveled all the way to Surrey to get decent sushi, so going to Canary wharf (3 stops on the tube) would be a lot simpler. How is it different from Yo?

Yo is...okay.  It's a chain and you really have to make sure you get the dishes AS they land on the belt, otherwise it doesn't taste that fresh.  But I find myself there pretty often regardless. (It's on the way home!). 

Not sushi - but I was taken to dinner at Hakkasan recently, which is Asian-fusion cuisine, and it's pricey, but really tasty.

Sorry I didn't get back here sooner to thank everyone for their suggestions! I did read them, but just didn't have a chance to respond until now.

I passed on the suggestions and my friend did a bit more research since she actually has an idea of what good sushi is.  I've never been to a proper sushi restaurant before.

We ended up going to Matsuri at St. James.

http://www.matsuri-restaurant.com/stjames/promotions/summer_dish.php

It was very good to me.  Pricey (though my friends are lucky that's not an issue for them) though.  Good service I thought and entertaining. 

It was also the first time I had plum wine.  It was soooooooo lovely!

Hmmm, is it?? I've always been curious, since seeing it in Canary Wharf. We have traveled all the way to Surrey to get decent sushi, so going to Canary wharf (3 stops on the tube) would be a lot simpler. How is it different from Yo?

Right thinking properly about this, I used to love Moshi, but I'm not so sure about it now, the service is so awful it can be really off putting, but on the other hand I've had some REALLY memorable meals there.

Yo seems to me all gimmick and no substance, a lot of interesting hand rolls and california rolls but no wonderfully sublime just raw fish, moshi used to do the sustainable fresh fish bit much better

If you want to try moshi, sign up for their members club, it gives you a free meal on your birthday, so if you go with your partner you'll get a half price meal. You also get 1/2 price mondays and £1.50 plates on Sundays (I think the rewards are different at each restaurant)
As a warning, I've only been to Brighton Moshi and it is pretty decent and I've had some great meals there BUT I've heard it's gone really down hill in the last year or so.

Overall, nowadays I'd go on half price night but not on another

Not sushi - but I was taken to dinner at Hakkasan recently, which is Asian-fusion cuisine, and it's pricey, but really tasty.

Love Hakkasan!!

If you like Hakkasan, Alan Yau also has a Japanese restaurant on St. James's St, Sake No Hana. I haven't tried it yet, but keep meaning to, as there are always offers on Top Table.

http://www.toptable.com/en-gb/venue/?id=7759

For reasonable/cheap sushi at lunch, I often go to the Japan Centre on Piccadilly (right near Piccadilly Circus). They have a huge selection of take-away and they have a couple of tables where you can sit if you want to eat in. Free miso soup if you spend 5 pounds or more. It's also a Japanese grocery store, which is fun to look around.

I used to eat at Yo Sushi! quite a bit, but only ever with a voucher deal of some sort, othewise it's quite expensive for what it is. It's fun for the novelty, but the food is nothing special.