Came in for a visit today and was disappointed in the change of service and quality of the food…read more When I first came here a while back, it was superb service and food quality, compared to now there is nothing that hooks me to make the visit again when there are other locations closer to me. We decided to make the further travel this time because we were happy with our previous experience, and for us, if the experience is good we do not mind the extra travel time.
We got there around 3-4 pm today and there were only a few tables the entire stay, split between 2 servers and bussers/runners. Our server, Kevin tended to us in the beginning, but after taking our order, he only came back to check on us half way through our meal. We also ordered our drinks with him in the beginning, the drinks didn't come out until 20+ minutes later. Kevin also requested for us to name the number associated with the item on the menu rather than the name of the item, which is fine, less room for mistake, boy were we wrong. Either some of our food we requested was missing or we were given the wrong item, such as getting udon and pork sausages (which of course we did not request). When the runner brought out the food to the table, I did inform the server that we did not order it, so can he take it back (they just placed the plate on the table in front of him), the only reason we wanted them to take it back was of course we didnt order it and we didn't want to waste the food that we weren't going to eat. Another thing that ruined the experience is that, when asked about some items on the menu, Kevin responded with "i don't know, i don't eat/tried it," which is concerning since he wasn't aware of the menu, we wanted to ask just to confirm it is what we wanted, example being with the thai lemon tea drink; the question here was "what is the thai in the tea?" as we were confused if it was thai tea, or a herb like basil that made the thai component of it. The easiest answer could've been "im not sure, let me ask," but rather we got "im not sure its not something I drink." Another incident of this was with the tripe, we ordered the house tripe, which on the menu is shown as white tripe. When it came to our table, it was the black tripe. During the second time of ordering more food, I asked him "do you know which of the 3 tripes are the white one?" Again he answered with," its not something I eat." That being said, it is also regularity to check up on the customers soup level when doing hot pot, but it was not done unless we requested after a while of our server passing by our table. I do understand that around the time we came in, is usually the time when staff members take their lunch breaks, but if they are to take their breaks, they would need to inform the other server to cover the table.
Service aside, it was disappointing that we came here for the dinner menu, but half of the dinner menu was unavailable to us, yet we were still charged for the dinner price of $32/pp. These were the following items that were out of stock when requested: crab, bean sprouts, and fried pork skin. The cutting we had before when we first visited was thin and perfect, this time when we ordered them, it was thick and tough. Examples being the beef tongue and the beef throat/aorta. Both of these were so thick even when cooked to the recommended time, it was hard that it was unchewable. The hot self serve bar was bare and barely restocked. The food there looked as if it sat there for a while since they opened. There were barely anything left and not replenished.
Lastly, the check and tipping; both servers passed by us a few time when we were done our meal, but neither wanted to check in to see if we were finished or wanted to order more. Rather we had to walk to the front to settle our bill ourselves. As for the tipping, the rate was fixed at 18-22%, which we don't mind tipping but as someone who worked in the restaurant industry, I am well aware that servers are paid a base pay that is low and the rest are dependent on tipping with tipping out the bussers and runners. But if you know that your tip is in jeopardy why would you not provide the minimal service and not ruin it for the rest of your coworkers that you have to depend on the "set" guidelines rather than allowing the customer to tip how ever they seem to be suffice? Just to clarify, we always tip regardless of the service, but to have it as only choosing between 18. 20. and 22% it is only showing that the service is not up to par to resort to only having 3 preselected options.
