When you pull in to Mukja now, there's a big banner on the side reading "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT". It turns out, this is a really bad thing.
My family and I have enjoyed Mukja and have attended many times over the last couple of years. Last night when we went in and saw it was under new management, we didn't know what to expect. Historically, this restaurant has been excellent. Great service, great food, reasonable prices, and an overall enjoyable experience. But our recent visit was something else entirely.
We were a group of five, sitting at a table with two grills. Upon ordering and our meat arriving, they would only turn on one of the grills. "You need to order at least three plates of meat for both grills to be on", we were told. We had only ordered two plates of meat amongst our other food, so they refused to turn on both grills. This forced us to cook everything on one grill then shuttle the food around the table. It also forced the person closed to the grill to be responsible for cooking and distributing it all instead of actually being able to enjoy their meal.
On top of all this, once our meat was cooking, the server came back and for some reason *turned off* our only working grill. Once we realized it was off, we asked her to turn it back on, which she did. Then later when she came back to deliver something else, she turned off the grill AGAIN. I had to get up and go turn it back on myself. Absolutely silly they kept turning of the only food source they agreed to turn on in the first place.
The food itself has gone downhill. We've been here enough times to immediately recognize the difference in overall taste and quality. It tastes like they're using lower-quality ingredients overall than what they were previously using. We used to love the food and it was delicious without question. Now it's very 5/10 "meh", average, middle of the road. The portions were smaller overall than what we'd gotten in the past.
When the bill came, it was approximately $30 higher than what we typically paid in the past for the exact same food we'd previously ordered. At the end when I went to go pay, my wife got up to ask for boxes, which they brought. When my wife realized they hadn't brought enough boxes, she went to ask for another one. The woman my wife asked went back to the table and actually wanted to clarify we did in fact need another box, as if we were trying to rip them off for a free box or something. It was bizarre she needed to verify our actual need.
Another thing worth noting, as the customers sitting around us finished up and left, nobody came by to clean up their tables. The pic you see here is our table plus three others. The three others had been gone at least 20 minutes with nobody coming by to bus those tables. It just seems like they don't care.
On top of all this, there was an issue with their terminal causing customers to not be able to pay. I get these things happen, but having to stand in line for 20 minutes to pay for a very sub-par experience just didn't sit well overall. They had the customer in front of me either Venmo or PayPal them since they couldn't find another way for him to pay.
To sum up: Refusing to turn on the second grill at our table, turning off our first grill repeatedly, worse food than before that costs more for smaller portions, and needing to verify when we ask for another box, 20 minute delay in paying, and unbussed tables. Believe me when I say this place has gone downhill in a MAJOR way.
It's too bad, they used to be great, now they've permanently lost my me and my entire family as customers. My advice: Avoid Mukja entirely. It's not worth the money for the very poor experience you now get. read more