M L.
Yelp
I felt conflicted about leaving this review, wary of spreading negativity, but this needs to be said. I don't want to bottle it up & I need the closure to move on from this.
My experience began with awe at the amazing retro aesthetics & lively atmosphere. After a 10min wait for a table (peak hour), the waiter at the door gave us a 3 seater table. Another waiter asked us if someone had seated us there, as if we weren't supposed to be there. We didn't think much of it, & said the first waiter directed us there. A waitress gave us menus & took our orders at 1:10PM, based on the timestamp on my screenshot of their Insta.
I was chatting to my friend (both of us were one of the few Asians there at this point) when we were asked to move to the upstairs bench so a group of 3 could be seated there instead. We carried our own water, napkins & cutlery upstairs.
We lost track of time chatting until it was already 2PM; 50 minutes had passed since we first ordered. We should have checked after 30mins, but making sure they had our order was not our responsibility.
My friend checked on the order, stating that about 1hr had passed since we ordered. The waiter replied, "what did you order? I'll look into it", & later to his credit as she was walking away, "sorry for the wait, our kitchen is really backed up at the moment". Good hospitality practice would have been to apologise sincerely & fast track a forgotten order to the start of the queue. Depending on restaurant protocols, complimentary drinks or a discounted meal would have been a reasonable goodwill gesture.
Upstairs, a pair of white-presenting girls had just been seated & asked me if they go downstairs to order. I told them we had been waiting for 1hr; they should go downstairs to order if they want food. To our shock & dismay, both of them got their food within 15mins, while we were still empty-handed. The white-presenting trio we were bumped from our first table for were already halfway through their meal.
This demonstrated that our wait wasn't simply an issue of kitchen inefficiency. It wasn't that the food was not being cooked, they had just chosen not to serve us. I am still in disbelief about the blatantly selective hospitality existing in Australia in 2025.
What is disappointing to me as someone who has had 8 years of hospitality experience is not just that they lost our order -- but more importantly how they handled it. It happens, but the way a place responds shows their integrity.
As a place that calls itself Japanese, there was a startling lack of Japanese hospitality -- it was saddening to see the nonchalant attitude, dismissiveness & lack of proactivity in solving our issue apart from, "its coming soon".
By 2:30PM (1hr 20min later), we had tried to remain as positive by laughing the situation off & listing things we were grateful for in life, but it was becoming too much so we decided to leave. On the way out, she told the waiter we were leaving, to which he replied casually, "oh they haven't given you your food yet?" -- no further apology or investigation on what actually went wrong. It took us until after 2:37PM for us to get a bite, from Huxtaburger instead.
Seeing Reviews, it made sense the extended wait time was a regular occurrence during a busy lunch hour. What didn't make sense was, the majority of customers who had a 40-60min+ wait time were non-white. Surnames like Yang, Hutama, Jang, Teh, Yun, Yen, Singh, Ding, & Tangtanawit. Whatever the reason, this reads like discrimination as other reviewers have pointed out, & isn't a good look, especially at an Asian eatery partially staffed by Asians.
Am I wrong to feel indignant about yesterday? There are worse things in life than what happened. This review is not intended to be vindictive. While these events won't hurt the business, they've repeatedly hurt customers.
I hope this prompts them to improve their practices, so these issues are minimised & managed well when they do occur. While I have lost 1.5hrs of my life I will never get back, this doesn't have to happen to others. Wabi Sabi, please do better.
