Matt B.
Yelp
My mom and I came here tonight, me for the third time, my mom for the first. We were excited to spend time together and get some tasty food, but unfortunately ended up deciding never to return.
We had the same bartender I had before. The first time I was there, she wasn't welcoming at all and made it seem like serving me was an inconvenience. I figured she may have had an off day, and I didn't really mind. After being in the service industry for 15 years - 5 of them bartending myself - it takes a lot to get under my skin, as I know it can be a challenging role (and we all have bad days!).
But here I am, writing a Yelp review lol...
My mom (a super likable, retired public school teacher who worked a second job as a server to put food on the table for my family as I was growing up) and I ordered a few appetizers and a beer each to start, and everything came out in a good (normal) time frame. As we were eating the apps, which were ok, we put an order for a sushi roll, which was what I was most looking forward to.
After 20 minutes, we asked if the order was put in. I've spaced on putting orders in before, and kitchens I've worked with have been backed up, so I just wanted to check in about it to make sure.
The bartender said it was put in and didn't offer any other words. She seemed to avoid eye contact after that. Since my mom had somewhere to be, as the minutes crept by we started thinking more and more that we should cancel the order and just take off.
We ultimately waited another 15 minutes, then she came over and asked my mom if she wanted another drink. At that time I asked her to take the roll off our tab, because it was taking too long, and we had to be somewhere.
She then muttered under her breath that it was "taking this long for everyone" and proceeded to take it off my tab and run my card again. I know a sushi bar bottleneck isn't her fault, but as bartender, she's the point person for communication with her customers. If she would have given a heads up that the sushi would have taken a while when we ordered, and/or apologized at any point for the wait, and/or comped us a beer - and/or seemed to care *at all* about the experience of my mom and I - I would have brushed it off.
But here I am, feeling compelled - and justified - to write a bad Yelp review...
I gave two stars instead of one because the barback was hospitable, attentive and our kitchen-made food wasn't bad (and it wasn't great).
If you're going to come here, expect to wait a while for sushi, even if the bartender doesn't say as much.
Thankfully, having a bad customer experience at a sushi restaurant is pretty inconsequential on the list of possible issues to experience in life. And I'm also thankful there are a lot of other options for sushi in the area...