Photo dump…I went last night with friends, and the courses came out almost fast and furious so I wasn’t able to remember everything we had…also forgot a few items because we were so so excited to eat.
Plating was was quite stunning. Or perhaps it’s been a while since I’ve sat at a proper counter. Chef and his team were warm and personable. It was a fun evening.
Standout bites:
Conch (and conch liver!)
Crab tofu (though Hayoto’s bento would edge it out)
Hokkaido Hotate
Live Santa Barbara spot prawn (they were literally jumping off the plate)
Smoked king salmon
Zuke maguro
Coffee mousse
Panna cotta with azuki
Kaneyoshi remains my favorite omakase game in our area. But it was fairly easy to score a reservation a week and a half out at Sushi ii.
So we dined at Sushi II. I made a reservation at the sushi bar, and emailed them asking to be seated with Chef Ii. They emailed back telling me that Ii san was committed at the time of our reservation but chef Koji was a veteran sushi chef and was available. We figured we would give it a shot anyway.
We ordered Oribe - Signature Course - $180 consisting of a starter, appetizer, 10 nigiri, miso soup, and dessert.
Starter was a a cold smoked unagi with seaweed/cucumber cold dish and was delicious. The plate of seasonal appetizers was excellent as well. Nigiri was a total disaster. Shari was bland and sticky. Chef Koji cut fish in large thick slices, and some were chewy as hell. Seasoning was quite restrained which we liked. Only ebi nigiri was excellent, all others were painful! He precut all the fish for our nigiri, and when I saw him cutting it, I thought it was for somebody else’s sashimi. On top of it he had weird pacing, with several pieces coming out in a rapid sequence then a long lull, and then rapid fire again. Pear sorbet was nice and refreshing. Chef Koji was polite but not engaging. He would not discuss the food much when presented, nor the ceramics, nor anything much.
Service was polite but not friendly. We had a reservation at 7:30 and showed up at 7:30 on the dot. They appeared bewildered when we walked in. After a few minutes of them looking bewildered they admitted that there was not space at the bar and the seats would become available in about 15 minutes. We were offered a choice of waiting in the hallway or outside. After about 10 minutes of checking on our emails we wondered if its time to look for another dining option we asked for the manager. She told us that people before us are taking longer than expected. We asked why this was our problem, she assured us it would be just a few more minutes. True enough after another 5 minutes we were seated.
More bizarre encounter occurred at the end of the dinner when I went to the bathroom. Even though there was nobody in the bathroom one of the servers blocked my path and said another guest needs to use the bathroom first. I stood there for a bit looking at unoccupied bathroom for a bit. After a minute of so, I squeezed past the server into the bathroom telling her that bathroom VIP can wait.
In the end, I would probably forgive the service/seating issues had the food been worth it. Maybe it would be better with Chef Ii. I will never find out…
Do you think it would be worth sending the restaurant a message about your dining experience? Esp when there were multiple issues, incl the food prep and quality.
I have no intention going back and doubt they would do anything to make me feel better about our experience. They already know how unhappy we were about being made to wait when we showed up on time. If I were in charge I would offer a glass of champange on the house or something.
We ordered 2 omakase ($180) and one bottle of champagne ($82). 20% service was automatically included. $500+ down the drain and a beautiful evening when we could have done something else to enjoy gone.
I understand the frustration of being made to wait (and also for your poor actual dining experience) but that kind of response feels…pretty entitled. Shit happens, I know hindsight is 20/20 and they didn’t make it right in the end but that’s not the 'tude that’ll get you anywhere.
Not sure about my attitude but believe me we were super friendly and polite about everything.
I would have ignored all service issues if the food was actually worthwhile. Poor service just added insult to injury.
As to being made to wait, I have been in restaurants with multiple seatings where I was forewarned that at a certain time they have to turn the table over. The restaurant knew I was coming at 7:30 for omakase so they could have for example called me and said they were running late and maybe I would just walt a bit along the water or stopped to get gas. I do know know if I am entitiled but I was offended by their lack of respect for my time. They never even apoligized verbally. Once I was dinning at Shunji and wanted to have some extra rounds of Nigiri and Shunji san apologized and said he could not serve it to me because there were people coming in a few minutes for dinner at my seat. I promptly paid my bill and got out and had no ill feelings about that.
Joking aside this is very strange behavior. Very off putting. I think I would maybe be able to put service issues aside if the food was amazing but that does not sound like your experience.
Do you really expect a restaurant to call you if your seat isn’t ready at the expected time ? I can understand it when the delay would be 30+ minutes but 15 minutes delay happens all the time at restaurants
When it is omakase at the sushi bar, yes I would
The delay ended up being more than 15 minutes. i think particularly off putting was their language of uncertaintly about when the seats would become available. Last comment I would make is that they seemed to be embarrased about this happening, but rather than acknowledge there was a problem they would rather pretend it did not exist.
