Albert A.
Yelp
My wife and I have dined at Iimori restaurant a handful of times in total. The restaurant is located just upstairs from the bustling Iimori patisserie.
Being from New York, which I consider to be quite rich in Sushi cuisine, I was at first skeptical about eating sushi in a patisserie. However, the dining area upstairs is an entirely different establishment. The decor and the ambiance gives off a homey and welcoming vibe. Seeing only a group of older Japanese ladies dining gave us the impression that we had stumbled upon an a little known gem in the heart of Frankfurt.
We each ordered the Sushi Bento, which come for about 11Euros a piece. We waited. And waited. And waited. It confounded us to how the kitchen would find itself backed up, what with very few other diners in the restaurant. After 1 hour, and many "What is going on here?" and "Did that table get its food before us?" exchanges between my wife and I, our food finally arrived. The saving grace for Iimori is that the food was decent and very reasonably priced.
We visited the next day as well, because my wife really loves sushi and this place was cheap enough. I only hoped that the wait from the day before was only a fluke. It wasn't. Another 1 hour wait for our food ensued. As we waited, we noticed that everyone else was enjoying the all-you-can-eat brunch buffet. On this occasion, the servers were very busy replenishing the sushi and tempura platters (which looked very appetizing). We realized, this was the probably the proper way to dine at Iimori.
The next few times we visited, we reserved our spot for the all-you-can-eat brunch. It costs about 19-20Euros per person, but one can sample a fairly nice selection of sushi, (including an interesting seared salmon with skin on), and of course some small samples of cakes and macaroons from downstairs. Green tea cakes are nice, but the macaroons are usually stale. Unfortunately, drinks are not included and are actually quite expensive. About 3.80 Euro for a cup of green tea.
On the last (and definitely final) visit, we arrived on time and the buffet had not even been prepared yet. My wife remarked that the manager was not around this time, which could explain the lazy start by the staff.
One business practice that we noticed was that each piece of sushi comes with about 100grams of rice. After 5 sushi, one has already consumed a pound of rice. Seems like an easy way for them to save on fish, just fill the customer up with rice instead. Obviously we did not come there just to eat rice, so we started removing the excess.
Apparently, that was a mistake. After we finished and asked for the check, the waitress returned from the kitchen with our discarded plates and told us that it was restaurant policy that we cannot leave the rice. One of the cooks popped out of the kitchen just to stare daggers at us as she informed us of this unwritten policy. Clearly they were miffed not that we did not finish the rice, but that we ate too much sushi.
It is all you can eat and I do not want to consume inordinately large quantities of rice. Moreover, a customer is entitled to eat as much fish as they please. If I am leaving rice in my plate am I being wasteful? Or is it that they are wasteful by using too much rice?
Advice to the management: Do not bother or intimidate a paying customer.
