Sally K.
Yelp
First of all, the food was pretty decent: rice noodles (Pad See Ew + Pad Kee Mow) were fresh and soft, the Summer Maki was great, and the hamachi and salmon nigiris had generous portions of fish even though the rice was packed too tightly which made for an unbalanced fish-to-rice ratio and an overpriced dish at ~3.50 a piece. The crunchy spicy tuna roll wasn't crunchy, but it had an overall good taste and minimal rice which was nice.
That being said, we did have some issues with the food. The fish itself was rather fishy which told me it wasn't all that fresh, and our chicken satay came fully RAW. This was horrifying seeing as it was CHICKEN and not some other meat which would have been fine to undercook. We ate multiple pieces before realizing! They, after around 30 minutes, replaced our remaining pieces of chicken, but we didn't eat them and ended up getting them removed from our bill.
Which brings me to the main issue: they were understaffed, busy, and overwhelmed as a business. The wait staff truly is the backbone of this restaurant, and I'm sure it'd crumble if they had to rehire since the waitresses were extremely adept and could memorize our orders without a second thought. Paper plates were used for appetizers (not entrees) due to this issue, which was totally understandable, but when we asked for soy sauce + chopsticks (which I understand is a small, unimportant request during busy hours) which we did not receive with our sushi, the waitress gave us the soy sauce packets and container from the table next to us who had just left-- completely unsanitary, and we ended up eating sushi with our hands (after sanitizing)! We soon found out from overhearing the owner or head sushi chef (he walked around the restaurant asking how the food was, which is why I assume that) that they were doing that due to being understaffed.
**I would also like to mention that we were not spoken to by the chef. We made eye contact, tried to get his attention, and were flat-out ignored although he spoke with the two tables on either side of us! Every time we tried to speak about these issues, the staff left and ignored us which was standoffish. We had been discussing the issues with the food and probably were visibly disappointed, so I get them not wanting to rock the boat or waste time but it left us feeling neglected with the $80 bill we paid when we would have liked to discuss all of this.
On that same note, their COVID practices were EXTREMELY poor, which is the dealbreaker for me. Without this being taken into consideration, I'd give it three and a half or four stars on a good day. It was disgusting, as much as I hate to say it for a business whose TWO waitresses and TWO sushi chefs seemed to be working their *sses off with a PACKED restaurant (full seating and the sushi bar as well). Tables were wiped down with the same dry cloth and people were seated without any sanitization in-between, waitresses did not wash their hands in between, and one of the sushi chefs left the restaurant for a few minutes and came back in to cook! At different times during our visits, three dogs came in (with their owners), and two sat on the benches which I felt was fine until I saw that they did not clean the benches in between. The bathroom was connected in a different building altogether so it may not be their fault, but it was unkept and out of TP which was also an uncomfortable situation to navigate while they were so busy!
Overall, I hope they're able to supplement their wait staff and PAY THEIR WORKERS MUCH, MUCH MORE for the strife they endure. The food could have been AMAZING if just the smallest bit more attention was paid to it but sadly everything we ordered, requested, and said felt like an afterthought especially with regulars sitting next to our table, who were waited on extremely thoroughly with quick service. I would not recommend eating here until they can mitigate their sanitization issues and have a safer working environment for their staff.
