We made a reservation for a party of 4 at 7 o'clock. When we arrived they were packed, which we understood it was a possibility we would not be seated right away. However, when we gave our name and explained we had a reservation we were informed it did not matter and were put at the bottom of the list. We were also informed they would get to us when it was our turn. Well thankfully the manager or owner, not quite sure who he was, overheard the interaction and tried to remedy the situation. He compensated us by giving us a gift card and sat us as soon as a table was available. That in our book was great customer service and definitely made our opinion of the place increase.
Sadly, it went downhill again from there. Our group ordered the monkey knuckle, kani sushi rolls, gyoza, 12oz steak with a salad and cerviche, a beer, and one cocktail. It took 40 mins to get our food, which when we first sat down it was busy, so understandable. However, after about 20 mins of sitting there over half of the restaurant had cleared out. Our waitress barely came by to see if we needed any refills on waters or other drinks while waiting for our food. The beer that was brought out had to be returned as the glass had a nasty crusty piece of food stuck to the lip of it! When mentioned to the waitress, she laughed and said it was up to the bar staff to watch for these things. When we asked to exchange it for another, she informed us we had to take it to the bar. Ummmm, no! You are our waitress, that is your responsibility, not your customers! So after insisting and much eye rolling from her, she finally accommodated us and exchanged the beer.
The only other time we saw her was when she brought out our order, our check, and a container for leftovers. Never once checked on us to see if we needed anything else or if our food was as expected. We did have a young man stop by our table who checked if we needed anything, but he ended up creeping us all out. He literally stood at the edge of our table, did not say anything for over a minute, just stared at us all. When I finally asked him if there was something HE needed, he spoke up and asked if we needed anything. None of us were talking at the time as we were either eating or watching the football game, so it was not due to him trying to not interrupt our conversation. It was just extremely weird and uncomfortable for all of us.
As for the food quality and what we thought. We highly recommend the monkey knuckle as it was AMAZING! The kani was good. The gyoza was extremely overcooked, dry, and cold when our waitress finally brought it out. Could only eat 2 of the 6 in the order as it was THAT bad! The steak was decent, however our waitress didn't even bring it until 15 minutes AFTER we all had finished eating everything else we had ordered. She also informed us, 10 minutes after the steak was brought out, that they could not find the cerviche. This was over an hour after we had ordered!
I gave a 3 star strictly for the purpose of the manager trying to remedy the situation in the beginning, the ambiance was great despite it being very crowded, and most of the food was good. If it wasn't for the issues with dish cleanliness, gyoza being overcooked, and the absolute horrible wait staff it would have been higher.
If they were to obtain waitstaff with better training and actually cared about their customers I feel not only would it give the customers a more enjoyable experience, but a much smoother service. A smoother service means not only better reviews, but a better profit as food does not get returned, and customers come and go much faster. read more