Chris D.
Yelp
This was by far the worst experience I've ever had at any Katsu-ya group restaurant in L.A. or the Valley.
They don't take reservations, which might be forgivable if the quoted wait times were even remotely accurate. We were told 30-45 minutes. We waited well over an hour before a table was ready. If your guests are routinely waiting that long, fix your system instead of turning the entrance into a zoo of people packed against the host stand and blocking the door.
My wife and I brought our mothers out for what was supposed to be a casual but special dinner. My mother, who is 87 and in the early stages of Alzheimer's, walks with a cane. My mother-in-law, who is 80 and Japanese... from Japan, is fighting cancer and had recently endured a 47-day hospitalization (in which she almost died multiple times) and over two months of being unable to eat solid food. She is not out of the woods, but this was some respite for her and her first sushi meal in what felt like ages. It should have been a celebratory evening.
After an hour of waiting we finally got a text to check in. We could barely squeeze through the crowd near the door and host stand. No one greeted us. When I finally got a host's attention and gave them our names, we were told our table was being cleaned and almost ready.
I asked for a table near the entrance--easier and safer for our moms and not crammed in the back by the bus station and kitchen/bathroom walkway where they initially tried to seat us. The table I requested was empty and just needed to be bussed and wiped down. I said we'd wait while they cleaned it. The host barely acknowledged the request and it seemed to cause some kind of issue... rocket science apparently!
When it was wiped, our moms--who had already been standing and squeezed by the host stand--walked over to the table to sit and rest while it was being set. One host objected and tried to stop them because the "table was not ready," but the other lovely, kind, and compassionate hostess said it was "totally fine" (clearly seeing our parents were elderly and having a hard time). Then a so-called "manager" appeared out of nowhere:, a green-behind-the-ears young man who seemingly could barely tie his own tie. He came over and, unbelievably, tried to make our 80- and 87-year-old mothers get up and go squeeze back into the chaos again, reiterating the "table was not ready."
I told him, "It's clean. They're just sitting while you set it for us." He doubled down and tried to have our moms get up again, just so they can set down a few plates. That's when I lost what little patience I had left and told him flat out they were staying seated unless he wanted to kick us out (and I might have cussed him out in the process). Instead of diffusing, acknowledging, and problem-solving, he said, "I am going to have to ask you not to use that language," so I asked for a manager--he puffed up and said, "I am the manager." I cussed him out again, and he stormed off and disappeared. If he's a manager, he should go back to managing the night shift at Taco Bell. His lack of empathy, basic judgment, or even common courtesy was appalling.
Forcing two elderly, disabled women to stand after an hour's wait, at a table that was already cleaned and just waiting to be set, is more than just bad service. It's inexcusable. And for a restaurant serving the public, it's skating dangerously close to violating the ADA's requirement for reasonable accommodation.
Eventually another manager came, set the table, and handed us menus--no apology, no acknowledgment of what had just happened. The food was fine, but by then the damage was done. Our poor moms had to witness all of this, and watch me lose it like this while trying to protect their dignity (and their rights).
Kudos to the one hostess who seemed to be the only one of ten staffers to have intelligence, common sense, and compassion. As for the "manager," he's absolutely unfit to run the front of house in any establishment--let alone a restaurant that wants to call itself upscale. We won't be back.
