This place needs to decide what it wants to be: a high-end Asian fusion restaurant, a happening nightspot with an Asian theme and overpriced fancy cocktails, or a corporate event space. What it most definitely is NOT, is a place for a group of 50 something professionals to comfortably gather for drinks and sushi after work.
I was the first to arrive at 5:30pm to meet our group of four and was immediately flattened by the blaring house music that was already pumping to an almost empty cavernous space. The hostess could not have been less interested in dealing with me, so I wandered about a bit to see if my friends had shown up yet, until I got the "Excuse me, do you have a reservation?" in a tone that made it clear they assumed I was a lost tourist. When I explained that I was meeting a small group, and could we get a table in one of the more quiet areas of the restaurant, she pawned me off onto someone who led me all the way to the completely empty rear of the dining space -- which was fine, as I was happy to be away from the loud bar area -- and plopped me at a corner table, dropped 4 comically enormous menus on the table and wafted away with not so much as a word. The table, which I initially thought was fine, turned out to be the sideboard where all the table linens and flatware for the section were kept, meaning that as the evening got busier, servers were constantly climbing over us to get at the things they needed.
The menu is pretentious, to say the least, but if the food and drinks lived up to it, I'd be more forgiving. One of our group has many food allergies, so need to avoid wheat. When he asked if the rice paper (which oddly included wheat) sashimi roll could be made in a nori sheet instead, he was told that the chef didn't recommend it, as the fish was "so fresh" it would make the nori soggy. I ended up having the rice paper sashimi roll and the fish was not terribly fresh and the rice paper was soggier than a drowned cat. Go figure. The sockeye salmon nigiri was lackluster and the rice was oddly sweet. I didn't sample what others had ordered, and we were too busy chatting and catching up to talk much about the food, but there was no "OMG, this is amazing!" or "You have to try this!" going on around the table, which I think is an indication of how unimpressive things were.
I tried the asian pear martini which was too sweet and could have used more of a citrus hit and the "Eastern Promises" which tasted vaguely of boozy dishwater.
By the time we left at about 7, the place was filling up and they were on their way to creating the hip "scene" they are clearly aspiring to. They seemed glad to be rid of us, as we didn't fit the demographic they are going for. This is probably a strategic error on their part as they have the space and location to carve out a market for the older after-work drinks and small bites demographic between 5pm and 8 pm before the clubbing crowd shows up, but those of us who have been around a bit and are old enough to know better aren't fooled by the over-priced supermarket quality sushi, pretentious decor, and snotty attitude, so we won't be going back.
On the plus side, our waiter was excellent -- very attentive and professional. read more