K B.
Yelp
James,
"Instead, you immediately posted your account to a review site in an attempt to do nothing but be hurtful to us and discouraging to other potential customers during a public health crisis"
I see. Okay.
This is an inaccurate and defensive response to a simple fact. I did not slander you, put down your restaurant's food, or criticize curt and disorganized service***. This was not to "hurt" you. I simply stated a fact of was delivered along with your establishment. If I told you I was highly allergic to avocado and to please make sure it was not in my order, and I had a large piece of avocado in my sushi that I accidentally ate and subsequently went into anaphylactic shock, I could fairly post that, as it is a serious health concern and people who have severe allergies may likewise not want to risk being a patron of your business.
This is no different. It is quality control, and when it involves health, it is extremely serious with real consequences, and people deserve to know the likelihood of the risks. Just because you do not like what happened, does not mean it is done out of anger in attempts to "get back" at you, therefore surmising that the review was done to be "hurtful" is simply inaccurate.
Sadly, you're focusing on the wrong thing. Instead of the health of your customers and reconsidering your methods, you're being defensive.
Unfortunately, there was nothing to be "fixed" for our situation; the damage was done. You could not have paid us, apologized, or frankly done anything to fix the situation had we contacted you. Would you or your restaurant have/will paid/pay for our medical bills if it turns out myself or my loved ones who ate your sushi end up with anisakiasis due to subpar quality control? Certainly not, I should say. Likely, we will be fine. But if not, we are left to physically suffer on our own, pay the hospital bills, and be in misery. Additionally, your establishment was closed for the night, or we would have requested a refund (which you did not even offer), but that is moot.
What is the absolute worst part of this is that you are standing by your "rigorous methods" that allowed a notably sized, live nematode to be in our box of sushi. This suggests that your standards are not exactly exceptional, and yet you have no interest in changing them or even reconsidering your methods. That is extremely concerning and also rather arrogant.You also did not bother to detail what your "rigorous methods" were, either, which is a weak defense. Aside not offering a refund, as you feel attacked by me sharing a fact that you simply do not like or want the public to know about, you also did not say "this is unacceptable and we will be contacting our vendors" or anything of the sort, which likewise suggests that this is a common thing for you and you accept it. It looks very bad for you, I'm sorry to say.
Yes, nematodes are EXTREMELY common in sushi, especially in salmon. This is why safety measures that include flash freezing, especially for fish like salmon even if other kinds are not frozen, are strongly suggested. Freezing fish for raw consumption is actually required in some places like New York and Oregon, as well as other states due to the rampant issue of parasites. If fish is not absurdly fresh, it must be flash-frozen to avoid parasitic infections. Some of the best sushi establishments in the world follow this method, as modern freezing processes do not break down the membrane of the fish and no longer affect texture or taste; it is significantly safer due to the extreme prevalence of nematodes found in raw fish. In fact, frozen sushi that is frozen, stored, and thawed properly often tastes better and fresher, as it can be frozen when the fish is practically alive.
This was the first and last time we will partake at your establishment unless you note how you have changed your quality control methods (or at least share them in detail, in case somehow you do follow all these methods and miraculously a live nematode was still found in our sushi), and for the good of your patrons, I suggest you revisit your storing methods, your equipment, and/or your vendors to uncover the source of this misstep. And hopefully, my family will not have to deal with a parasitic infection in the next week or so, but unfortunately only time will tell.
*** Which we experienced the first time we *attempted* to order last week, was not able to and were told "There's no rice left" after calling 20 minutes earlier, asking if we could still place an order. A male said we could order up until 8:45. We thanked him, looked through the menu, and called back. A woman answered and said no, we couldn't order, as there "was no rice left." We said "Wait... we just called 20 minutes ago." She just responded "Sorry." We said "You might want to tell people because we were just told we could order." Again, she just said "Sorry." We almost didn't bother trying again but there aren't a lot of sushi options around.
