1st review of Kashu – new restaurant in St. Albans
Please note: This review was written shortly after Kashu opened. Things have moved on A LOT since then so the review below is now outdated.
In January 2010, we gave Kashu a glowing review – it has truly evolved into one of the best restaurants in town. We wholeheartedly, based on our recent experience, recommend giving it a try.
Review: http://www.stalbansblog.co.uk/2010/01/review-kashu-restaurant-in-st-albans.html
I had very high expectations of Kashu. Ever since it opened in October, at least five or six – and early on as many as 75 – people a day have clicked through from google searches for St. Albans' newest grown up restaurant. Even in the quiet weeks of August it appeared busy every evening as I walked by. The menu is modern and much of the meat is locally sourced. There's also plenty of pizza and pasta on offer for the less adventurous.
Kashu completely renovated the Victorian Liberal Club building next to Hertfordshire Law School. Think bare White Walls and sanded floor boards with lots of big windows letting in the light.
A sign out front says there is wheelchair access around the side and Kashu may very well, since the original review was posted, have organised some parking too – if either of these things is important to you, it probably makes sense to give them a quick call.
So mostly all good, right?
Well, yes. But we had higher hopes. My veggie pasta was fresh and nicely presented but was almost tasteless. The pizza we shared looked great but was a bit chewy and, again, lacking much oomph. There is no children's menu so you'll end up paying around £8 for a slightly smaller than adult portion. The carbonara was, thankfully, quite good. All that – 2 pastas, 1 pizza, one order of chips, a glass of red and a peroni set us back about £35.
Service was good and understanding about children being a bit noisy.
So all in all it was good – not great, not bad – just good. You can get better pizza and pasta at Cosa Nostra, and a similar stylish dining experience at zizzi or prezzo, albeit the later aren't local and service can be variable. Perhaps if we'd tried a meat dish kashu could be compared to Darcy's but I doubt it – it's just not, at least based on our experience, the same deal.
Worth a try, surely, but unlikely to become our favourite place to dine out in St. Albans – which is a shame because that's what we'd really hoped to find.
You'll find Kashu 9 Hatfield Road, St. Albans, AL1 3RR
Popularity: 13% [?]
My first experience of Kashu was great: it was a Friday night, absolutely packed, several walk-ins being turned away, people drinking at the bar, very atmospheric and ‘buzzy’ with the food really freshly cooked, generous portions and served by very friendly staff – agree it was a little pricey for the simplicity of some of the dishes but all in all a very enjoyable dining experience and am definitely returning. There isn’t another St. Albans restaurant this exciting in my view and am sure they will improve in time, especially with feedback such as you are providing from your blog!
I had been really looking forward to trying out Kashu for some time. It has an old dining room feel which is great for atmosphere although lighting wise I thought it a little too bright in the evening. I like the fact the menu has options for all types of budgets. The food was okay, not great, certainly not terrible. The crab linguine was functional and the portion was reasonably generous. I think the presentation could have be better though. My wife’s Calzone was fine. The highlight food wise was the side salad of Crispy Parma, roasted red peppers and leaves with Pesto….it was quite tasty.
The service was reasonably good, certainly friendly, though not as attentive as it could be. Overall, Kashu fails to live up to its own billing as an eagerly awaiting restaurant. It is fine and certainly worth trying again to explore the menu some more, but doesn’t set the world on fire.
Went to Kashu this week for early bird dinner menu. We had pizza – was nice- and beer.Quite reasonably priced but the service was hit and miss though.
On arrival we were greeted by a very attentive tall lad who tried his best to make us feel wellcome and well looked after. Then a blonde little waitress brought us the food and finally the bill. Not a smile ever came out of her mouth at any time. She just dumped staff on the table and went back to the bar looking annoyed and started gossiping to the other staff and looking back at our table in a not friendly manner. We tried to make eye contact with her when she brought the bill and the same- not a word,a smile or even replied when we said thanks. We left the restaurant and said goodbye to her and again no reply and poker face.
It was a shame that the good efforts made by the rest of the staff were ruined by such a rude manner. We were with our little baby daughter and couldn’t believe her behaviour since the other staff had been very friendly and tried to exchange jokes all the time.
Not sure if we’ll go back. The management should be really careful when choosing the front staff in my opinion.