Maria M.
Yelp
We were in town on a busy holiday weekend, December 28th. Picked this place for a nice hot bowl of soup to finish off our evening in town and warm our tummies as the weather started getting colder as the sun went down. It was chaotic when we arrived. It was around 5.45pm. We don't know where to line up, how to get our names on their wait list, whether we should just order to go or dine in. Staff working there are giving customers different information. Some would say line up on this side for dine in and take out, then there's another line on the opposite side which looked like a pick up line but I later find out it was the take out line. But I was so confused as I see those people on that side placing their orders, getting a number and instructed where to sit.
We finally make it to the front of the line and a gentleman cuts in front of me and asks about getting their name on the list. The lady who helped him takes his name and adds it on the list. I then asked why she did that and didn't ask him to get in line like we all did. We also wanted our name on the waitlist to dine in. And we were told to get in line to get our name on the list. And this gentleman obviously just went in front of the line to "ask a question" and he gets his name on the list right there and there. Not fair, not right. Total chaos as staff are saying and doing different things. She apologized and took my name but that didn't fix anything or made us feel any better. We already stood in line for 30mins. Someone cuts in line and his name gets listed ahead of mine. I questioned what she did but all she could say was "sorry, there's nothing I can do about it now" and proceeds to write my name on "the list". We are a party of 6 so as expected, it would be harder to get seated as they have limited seating and most tables that come up available are the tables for smaller parties.
We've already waited half an hour and the whole town is busy. We decided to stay and wait and stick with it. We figured everywhere in town would be busy and a long wait to get seated. An hour and a half of waiting, I go check our place on the queue. There's still a few people ahead of us, including the gentleman who cut in line. As we got closer to being seated, I hear the gentleman taking orders tell a customer they are out of Tonkotsu Ramen and some other items on the menu. Now I am really disappointed... and HANGRY at this point. Long wait and out of items from the menu. But I kept my composure & figured I would wait and see what they could perhaps do to make things right... or I could just write a review to warn people and let the owners know they have an issue that needs to be fixed and improved. I know they read reviews as I saw them print and post a comment on their window from a yelper.
We finally get called to be seated (almost 2 hours later), I mention the whole ordeal and express our disappointment as we placed our order. All we got was an apology that didn't sound sincere, it was just the right thing to say I guess. No offers of how to make things right. Or at least show interest in what transpired so they can make improvements. At this time, the crowd has slowed down and they are approaching closing time. I guess that's the advantage we got from the long wait. We didn't feel rushed to get out so that others could be seated. And the food was great so that's also a plus. No complaints about the food and will definitely not mind going back again. I just don't know about the wait. Perhaps next time we will order to go & find a spot to eat at if they are busy. But they can be more organized in handling their busiest time and big crowds if they can't move somewhere with more space in town. And the staff should be trained better to handle these situations and everyone should be telling customers the same information.