Roka has justly built its reputation for modern and innovative Japanese-style dining based on its original Charlotte Street outpost. The empire now extends to four restaurants in London and a further one in Hong Kong. Their most recent London offering is located on North Audley Street in Mayfair, on the site of the now-deceased Banca. Perhaps opening on the site of a notable recent failure is an inauspicious strategy and indeed our recent lunch visit was broadly disappointing both on an absolute basis and also relative to other previous dining occasions at different Roka locations. The experience began poorly. First, our group of four was shown to a table right at the back of the restaurant, and with my line-of-sight facing directly towards the toilets, despite the place being almost empty when we arrived (at 12.45pm too). We also were forced to complain twice about the loudness of the music, which seemed utterly inappropriate for a weekday lunchtime where the clientele comprised primarily business-people as opposed to party-goers. On the plus side, it remains – as ever – hard to fault the food, presented and executed seamlessly. For those with non-toilet views, it is also possible to see the chefs at work. That said, both the salmon and avocado sushi and the black cod were far from stand-out. Maybe the chefs were having an off-day, but recent examples of similar dishes sampled at both Nobu and Sushisamba certainly impressed more. In addition, while we all understood the concept of food being brought to the table when ready (as opposed to in a traditional starter-main format), there was an inordinately long wait for the king prawn ordered by one of our party. Admittedly when it came some 15 minutes after everything else, it both looked and tasted impressive, but we could easily have been forgiven for believing that the waiter had forgotten to inform the chefs about the order. The service in general was far from enthusiastic and could do with working on: surely any high-end restaurant (and especially one that was not that busy) would not have one staff member clearing main dishes off the table while another was simultaneously placing coffees on the table? Conclusion: Roka Mayfair has a lot to do if it is to emulate the standards of its sister restaurants and other comparable peers. If it doesn’t, it may face the same fate as Banca…