It's always a shame when a restaurant has decent food and terrible service - unfortunately, this is a fate that befalls Chotto Matte. The service was so terrible that I couldn't enjoy my meal. Upon arrival, we were told that we would not be seated until our entire group had arrived and it was suggested that we order a drink from the bar while we wait. Fair enough. We waited at the bar. And waited. The bartender didn't even look our way for the next 20 minutes, at which point our entire party had arrived and we were seated.
When we finally ordered drinks and they were brought to our table, the waiter spilled a gigantic cocktail all over a member of our party. Not a great start to the meal, but recoverable. A clean-up crew arrived with a mop and a "slippery when wet" sign. Annoyingly, the large plastic sign was knocked over by servers repeatedly throughout dinner service, creating a loud smacking noise as well as a creating a tripping hazard for servers and diners alike. The manager offered to pay for the guests dry-cleaning - more on that later.
We ordered food and then things got interesting. We were told that the food would come out of the kitchen in no particular order. A little unconventional, but OK. However, waiters kept approaching our table, presenting us with dishes that they could not identify and that we did not order. This to me is a surefire sign that a) the kitchen has absolutely no control over the orders is it firing and b) the servers have zero functional ability to identify which tables ordered what dishes or the names of the dishes themselves! It was total chaos as the restaurant becomes quite loud and we kept having to confirm what was being served and then figure out if anyone at our table had ordered the dish being presented. Most times the staff got it wrong and we had to send back many dishes. The kitchen and waitstaff were so disorganized that a member of our party who ordered the tasting menu didn't receive two of the dishes included in the menu! The service was so bad, at one point we thought that perhaps we were on one of those prank TV shows.
When the cheque finally arrived, we noticed we were charged for dishes we hadn't received from the tasting menu. When we asked for the bill to be corrected, the manager at first put up an argument. Hilariously, since the dishes were served in no particular order, the guest who ordered the tasting menu was due to receive two more seafood dishes after his dessert had already been served. When the manager finally came back with a revised bill, the unserved items were removed from the "optional service charge" (tip) instead of actually amending the itemized bill. By this point, the entire table had agreed that the service did not merit any form of tip or extra compensation - the whole thing was a bit weird.
As for my cocktail-soaked friend, at the end of our meal, the restaurant manager suggested she remove the articles of clothing that required dry-cleaning (i.e. her entire outfit) and stated that she could return to pick up the items from the restaurant. Stunned, my friend replied that she did not particularly want to walk home naked under her trench coat and that she also had little desire to return to the restaurant for any reason, given the events described above.
Suffice to say, none of us will be returning to Chotto Matte any time soon. The unprofessional service is surprising given that this restaurant is part of the same dynasty as the well-renowned Nobu restaurants. If something doesn't change at Chotto Matte, I don't see them lasting very long, no matter how good the food. read more