Alex W.
Yelp
My partner and I arrived for dinner quite hungry around 9pm and had a mixed experience. The yakitori and other kushiyaki itself was truly some of the best we'd had anywhere outside Japan. The grilled hamachi was excellent. Based on food alone we'd happily return.
However, the rest of the experience left quite a bit to be desired.
Upon arrival, despite having a confirmed reservation for a counter seat, we were seated at a table and told that was all that was available (the counter was, and remained, empty the entire time).
Despite advertising reservations up to 10pm, we were told by 9:30 that it was "last call" for any orders. Most of our initial order hadn't even arrived by then, and slowly trickled in over the next 30 minutes. This is for skewers that realistically take a few minutes, tops, to cook. We ended up over-ordering under the time pressure.
When we asked for another drink while food was still being delivered (the "last call" had been framed as for food), we were first told it was too late before the requested drink later appeared without apology. That umeshu (plum wine) was good, but also served in a Western-style wine glass, which simply isn't right (it should be in a rocks glass).
A number of items were also mysteriously and seemingly randomly not available with one of either the tare or shio seasoning options. These are seasonings typically applied as cooking, and for items where both options would traditionally be available, so this didn't make sense.
The menu is written in both English and Japanese, but the staff doesn't understand even the basic Japanese names for items they serve: asking for an order of "momo" (thigh) or "tsukune" (chicken meatballs) or "negima" (chicken + scallion) resulted in blank faces. This is like going to a sushi place and staff not knowing what "toro" or "uni" is, and reflects the seemingly poor overall training/quality of the staff.
Finally, the value proposition was also very poor: the bacon and asparagus skewers, for example, contained two tiny pieces each for $8. In total, we spent close to $200 for a meal for two that would've cost $50 in Japan and $100 most places in the US.
I'd love to say we'll be back because the skewers were legitimately great, but I don't think we will be given the service snafus and value proposition.
