Aleksandr Khindanov
Google
I had been to a Kura location in Austin, Texas and really enjoyed it, so I was excited when I found out that there is location in LA, so I made reservation to celebrate my birthday with my family there. The food was good: the sushi was fresh, and we didn’t have to wait for what we wanted on the revolving bar.
However, one issue really spoiled the experience: I wanted to redeem my birthday dessert offer. The app said to “call the server,” so we did. I said we want to redeem birthday offer and showed the QR code, and the server told us to click through the digital menu, but didn’t explain what we were actually doing, just told us where to tap. We were assuming that there is special instruction on how to redeem offers. Then we realized that we were guided through checking out. You cannot eat more if you checked out, but that was fine since we were nearly done eating, but no one explained what was happening, and what if we still wanted to continue eating?
Our server left, then another waiter came, we asked about our dessert, he scanned the QR code, and we waited for the dessert. Then the server brought the check. When we asked about the birthday dessert, he looked at the receipt and said we wouldn’t be getting it because it has to be ordered while you’re still eating and before checking out, and offer can be redeemed only during checkout. This was never explained in the app (it just said to call the server) or by the staff, it felt like they just assumed we knew how it worked.
We explained that no one told us, and the server simply said, “Come next time and do it right.” (Next time?? Like next year for my next birthday???) We asked if it was still possible to get the dessert, considering the confusion. Communication was very difficult, most of the servers didn’t speak English well, but eventually they called the manager. The manager clearly explained the process and kindly agreed to bring us the dessert to-go.
We did get it in the end, but the whole situation was upsetting and left us disappointed.