Best waitstaff I've experienced in any restaurant in a long time (not just because I haven't eaten in a restaurant much in interesting times, done mostly takeaway). Busy Saturday night in the restaurant, the family checking in just ahead of me was told 35min wait for a table for 3, but as I was dining solo I said I was fine sitting at the sushi bar if there was space and they seated me immediately. The good and bad part of that is I saw everything coming out of not just the sushi bar but also getting arranged onto trays from the kitchen, and I wanted to eat it all. The servers were all lovely about telling me what they were taking out to other tables, because I am that person who asks.
Ended up opening with an E-finity sushi roll, similar to a spider roll (soft shell crab) but with cream cheese and tuna, jalapeños, and rice sticks, and also a seasonal menu item, panko zucchini, both of which were amazing and probably enough for a meal, but I was really hungry when I ordered and couldn't pick between two entrees so I had more coming. The server said all the grouper items were consistently top sellers, and I can see why. I had the tempura grouper with lemon mushroom sauce, and I don't know why more fish and chips places don't use grouper, it was superb and even held up when I put leftovers in the air fryer the next day, which given that it was a tempura batter in gravy is no small accomplishment. And I saw a black bean chow fan (flat wide rice noodles) on the menu and was drawn to it because many moons ago, a friend in Seattle had ordered a similarly titled dish and it was amazing and I've been looking for it ever since. This was different, very tasty, the search continues though... but have I got a story to tell you about communication with the kitchen and good wait staff.
See, my brother, when he orders a noodle dish, gets it with just chicken and American broccoli. No carrots, bamboo shoots, pea pods, etc, pretty much a chicken and broccoli entree on a bed of noodles instead of with a bowl of rice. He eats other stuff too, but that's his comfort food. And I've gotten into that habit too, being specific with my veggies when ordering a noodle dish, because I don't happen to like baby corn or water chestnuts or bamboo shoots, all of which are reasonably typical noodle dish default veggies to have with the carrots, broccoli, snow peas. But this one listed peppers, carrots, onions, broccoli, then had different price points for different proteins. Calamari was a protein option. That's a win in my book every day, even if it is a little pricier than some of the other options. So calamari black bean chow fan, and I tell the server these veggies are fine but if it was possible to skip the peppers. No problem. The dish comes out without peppers, sure, but it does have all the default veggies I mentioned above. I start picking around them, figure it's no problem, but the more I poke (and nibble), the more confused I get. Finally I ask the server back over and ask for a menu, because I want to see the description again. Sure enough, the veggies I was expecting weren't there at all, the veggies I didn't love were, and what's more, no chow fan. Which is kinda in the name of the dish. I hate to be that guy who sends a dish back, but I did, and they made it according to the menu description. Good thing it also is a dish that reheats well, because I totally over ordered. read more