This was the worst dining experience in my life.
Nowhere near an omakase experience.
TLDR;
-Cockroach on our table, and cockroach inside of our bill
-Demanded we drink water straight from the water bottle because she didn't want to clean the cups
-Came to us more than 3 times telling us not to leave the water cups on the table
-Insinuated that Japanese people eat sushi even when pregnant as my pregnant wife asked for cooked food for her (had called in advance and requested this)
-Added 20% service charge to the bill without having told us that's their policy in advance
-Came to our table more than 10 times starting unwelcomed conversation when we were all clearly not interested in speaking
Details:
We went to this omakase that charges $100 per person last month with my wife, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and brother-in-law's girlfriend as this place seemed to have good reviews.
I had read that it is run by a husband and wife couple.
When we arrived, we saw that they were at the sushi bar and the person who attended us was an elderly lady who I believe may be one of the couple's mother.
The couple was fine throughout the dinner and the food they made for us was quite good, but the elderly lady made the experience a nightmare.
The restaurant doesn't have an alcohol license, so they don't sell alcohol and allow BYOB. We knew this and had brought our own drinks. So when the lady told us that we needed to serve ourselves, it was fine.
But along with telling us to serve our own alcohol, she told us to serve our own water. This is unusual for a $100 omakase.
But what was unbelievable was that when we brought the plastic water bottles from the fridge along with 5 glasses to pour the water, she came to me and told me to drink directly from the plastic water bottle.
When I asked why she looked straight at me and said "because I don't want to clean the glasses".
Then, she told us to not leave any glasses on top of the wooden table. Only to leave in on a narrow sliver of table cloth strip at the center of the table. She said that leaving the glass on top of the table would leave a mark on the wood. I have seen high-end wooden tables with no coating in which this is true, but the table they had were the very commercial common kind that is fully coated and has no need for this. She came to our table more than 3 times to point this out throughout the dinner.
Since my wife is pregnant, we had called in advance and asked if they could serve her a cooked meal for her course. They said this was possible, and the couple at the counter did their best to accommodate this for her.
However, the elderly lady came to us and told us that in Japan pregnant women all eat sushi and that Americans make a fuss and don't eat sushi because they don't know how to make sushi right.
We felt as though she was insinuating that my wife was being unnecessarily picky.
By this point, everyone at our table was annoyed at her actions and we wanted to minimize interactions with her, but she came to our table more than 10 times asking us questions as we tried to have private family time and not respecting our privacy. We made it abundantly clear that her conversation was not welcome but she didn't stop.
The dining experience was so bad due to this that I did not want to give her a large tip, but when I asked for the bill, she added a 20% service charge although we had not been told this before the bill came.
To make matters worse, a cockroach appeared on our table as we were almost done with the meal and there was a second cockroach inside the bill when we opened it. Both were alive and crawling.
She didn't apologize for this in any way.
This was the worst use of $600 in my life. What was supposed to be a beautiful family dinner during our Hawaii trip turned out to be a waste of money and time, with a bad memory for everyone.
It felt like she didn't mind mistreating us because she knew we were tourists just like the majority of her customers.
The service wasn't even fit for a $20 meal, let alone a $100 omakase.
What's truly sad is that the couple at the counter really seemed hard-working and cared about their craft, but the elderly lady's actions made a mockery out of the couple's effort.
I share this review in the earnest hope that you think again before spending your time and money on an experience like ours. read more