Chisou

Is Chisou worth booking for Japanese food in London?

Yes — Chisou on Woodstock Street in Mayfair is a reliable, well-regarded Japanese restaurant that earns its place among London's better mid-range Japanese options. Ranked #677 in Opinionated About Dining's Casual Europe list in 2024 and #869 in 2025, it holds a consistent track record without the fanfare or price tag of the neighbourhood's splashier dining rooms. With a 4.5 Google rating across more than 1,250 reviews, this is a venue that performs steadily rather than occasionally brilliantly. If you want high-precision kaiseki or omakase, look to Umu instead. If you want quality, accessible Japanese food in Mayfair without booking weeks ahead, Chisou is worth your time.

What kind of experience to expect

Chisou operates as a casual Japanese restaurant in Mayfair, a neighbourhood more associated with white-tablecloth dining rooms like Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library. The atmosphere here is a different register entirely: lower-key, neighbourhood-friendly energy rather than occasion-dining formality. Expect a room that hums at lunch and fills up properly at dinner, without the wall of noise you get at more fashionable Japanese spots. It is the kind of place where conversation is possible and the food is the point, not the setting.

Chef Waldemar Kocjan leads the kitchen. The cuisine type is Japanese, and given Chisou's OAD recognition specifically in the casual category, the focus is on quality execution rather than theatrical presentation. For food and wine explorers, what matters here is whether the kitchen delivers consistent, well-sourced Japanese cooking — and the evidence from its ratings and review volume suggests it does, reliably.

Wine and drinks at Chisou

The wine angle at a London Japanese restaurant in this tier is worth considering directly. Japanese food in the casual mid-range sits naturally with sake, Japanese whisky, and a wine list built around high-acid whites and lighter reds that can handle umami-driven cooking. A Mayfair address tends to demand a more considered drinks program than you would find in, say, a Soho ramen spot, and Chisou's positioning within the OAD Casual Europe ranking suggests the overall offer, drinks included, holds up. If the wine list matters to you, arrive with a willingness to follow the staff's lead on pairings; that approach works better here than insisting on a familiar Burgundy or Bordeaux. For a more formal sake and wine pairing experience within London's Japanese dining scene, Akira and Ginza St James's are worth comparing.

When to go

Lunch is the smarter booking for first-timers. Chisou runs lunch service Monday through Friday from 12 to 3pm and Saturday from 12:30pm, giving you unhurried access to the full menu at what is typically a lower price point than dinner, standard practice for London Japanese restaurants in this tier. Sunday lunch opens at 1pm and runs through to 9:15pm, making it a viable option for a longer, relaxed afternoon meal. Dinner service runs until 10:30pm on weekdays and Saturday, which means you can book late without rushing. The practical advice: a weekday lunch is the lowest-friction entry point. Saturday dinner is the most likely time to find the room at full energy.

Booking and getting there

Booking difficulty at Chisou is rated Easy. You should not need to plan weeks in advance for most slots, though Saturday dinner and prime Friday evening times may require a few days' notice. The address is 22-23 Woodstock Street, London W1C 2AR, a short walk from Bond Street station. For comparison venues in London's Japanese category, Humble Chicken and Hannah both require more forward planning. Chisou's relative accessibility is a practical advantage.

How Chisou fits into a London food trip

If you are building a serious London dining itinerary, Chisou works well as an anchoring mid-range Japanese dinner or lunch rather than a destination meal. Pair it with a higher-end Japanese experience, Umu for Kyoto-style kaiseki, or look internationally to Myojaku in Tokyo or Azabu Kadowaki in Tokyo if you are comparing London's Japanese offer to the source. For UK destination dining at the opposite end of the formality scale, Waterside Inn in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, or Moor Hall in Aughton represent the other end of the spectrum. Browse our full London restaurants guide for context across price tiers and cuisines, or check our full London bars guide and our full London hotels guide to plan the full trip. Wine-focused visitors may also find our London wineries guide and London experiences guide useful alongside this. For countryside alternatives, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and hide and fox in Saltwood offer different but compelling cases for leaving the city.