Kabuki Japanese Restaurant
6770 N Sunrise Blvd
Glendale, AZ 85305
(623) 772-9832
Corporate Website: http://www.kabukirestaurants.com/
WOW! That is all I can say. I have been to hundreds of restaurants. Service can vary from place to place and but NEVER in the history of my eating (15-20 years) have I ever been refused a return when food is not up to par.
So we decided to try Kabuki in Westgate for the 1st time. I am always looking for good Sushi in the West Valley and there are a few decent places but nothing compares to Stingray Sushi in Scottsdale, AZ.
The hostess was the best part of the experience. She was courteous and smiling and actually was the most helpful to us in the end. Our sever was a nice friendly guy and overall I didnt have any problem with the service. I would have hoped he would have gone to bat for us a little more or even fluffed his Manager's response to not ruin our meal, but he was young and terribly honest.
We ordered a Fried Calamari appetizer and another dish with Tuna that I cant remember along with 3 rolls. The problem was that when the Calamari Appetizer came I was hit with a wiff of Fish!!!! It was very hard (over cooked). I tried a few pieces. I didnt really care for their version of a dipping sauce.
So as I do in any other restaurant, I told the waiter to take it back, and I would gladly order something else. He came back and said: "All I could do was get you 50% off because my manager tasted it, and he didnt think it tasted bad..."
WHOAAA!!!!
1) I was a restaurant manager for 5+ years and I have never eaten the food of a plate that came back from the dining room. I actually had a long talk one time with a bus boy who I caught doing that. I actually bought him dinner out of my pocket I felt so bad for him. I doubt the manager was hungry.....
2) Does it really matter what the manager thinks of the food, its what the customer believes.
I also NEVER returned food without going to the table and personally finding out whats wrong, show compassion for their unhappiness, and make them feel like we cared.
So after the waiter brought the dinner, by that time we started losing apetite. I finally told the waiter that I would like to see the manager. He comes to the table and the 1st words out of his mouth was :"Whats the problem here.... " with an attitude of disgust (like I would rather be sitting on a cactus then be here right now).
This type of service from a restaurant manager is completely un-accpetable. We ate maybe 25-50% of the food and paid full price for almost all of it. They did remove the Calamari but it really didnt matter... the damage was done.
I have been able to send back Lobster at Red Lobster. In this case it was an $8.95 calamari appetizer and I was actually going to buy something else.
This brings me to my question of the day.... Has the West Valley area around Westgate lost the customer focus due to the heavy tourist traffic.... Has anyone else had bad service here on in the Westgate restaurants... I would love to hear your comments.... post away!!!
12 comments:
so you mean to tell me that if I order a meal at a restaurant and I only eat 50% of it, I should just be charged for half a meal? awesome concept, maybe the trend will catch on.......
No thats not what I mean. The fact is that if I go to a restaurant and I dont like what I tasted. I should be able to get an alternate item, especially if I believe that its been poorly cooked or its poor quality.
I spent $65 at Kabuki and I was not really satisfied. The manager's attitude was what you would expect from a Taco Bell. And I really lost most of my desire to eat that food (hence only 50% was eaten). If he did nothing except remove the Calamari from the check and offered something else to me instead the evening would have been just fine...
The sushi is not bad at Kabuki. In this case, just poor customer service
Update: The restaurant itself did send an apology letter and then said that they will send their manager through sensitivity training. I never got a call from the restaurant Manager eventhough I specifically asked the waiter to give him that message.
This dude is eating off plates thats coming back from the dining room!!!!! And all they can say is "Yeah he needs more training!!!"
One More Update:
The restaurant's lack of response was even after I announced that I was a food critic blogger....
If I was them I would have been on the phone finding out what happened.
I still thinks its because its in a tourist area....
hmmm, sounds like you need a lesson in humility as well. My parents have always taught me to be responsible for my actions. If I order something at a restaurant and I don't like it, I won't return it since I ordered it and the food will go to waste. If everyone was like you and sent food back that they didn't like, food prices at restaurants would go up for the rest of use just to cover the costs of people like you! On a side note, if you like to sample your food before you buy it, I would suggest you go to costco or sam's club, they give out free sample every weekends. ....
No... this has nothing to do with humility. So what you are saying is that if you go to a restaurant and dont prepare it to be safe, healthy and well cooked to anyone's standards, used poor sub quality ingredients, you will happily pay for it and consume all of it because your "mommy" told you always to finish your food....
I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on food and hundreds of restaurants. There have been times that I didnt care for the food, or perhaps the restaurants rendition of a particular dish...
In seafood if the food tastes or smells like ammonia, it is not fit for human consumption. Based on the poor smell and the fact that he over cooked them way past done, I felt it was not fit for human consumption and I wouldnt have fed that to a pet either.
If a restaurant was to give you a raw chicken finger appetizer say 60% done but a little bloody, would you eat it because your mommy told you not to waste food!!!!
The whole reason for the post was not whether I could return the food or not, it was a warning to potential visitors that this restaurant served poor quality food to me. There is no way to know if you will go their and get the same quality, better, or worse but I publicly share my experiences.
I have had many positive reviews of restaurants that may not have suited my taste quite, but had their own merit: something good, good ambience, good service.
you just said the sushi is not bad at kabuki, just poor customer service, but the first thing you said on your yelp comment is that the food is not up to par. And if the food is not fresh or good, did you really have to eat half of the portion to make the decision to return it? Come on, you're just so full of yourself. You, my friend, are not a food critic. You are just someone who happens to have a website that reviews restaurant you've been to. I mean if you are really gonna be reviewing a restaurant, and not expecting special treatments, why would you tell the restaurant that you are a food critic? I mean, if I go to a restaurant and tell them I'm a food critic, I would do so expecting them to bend over backwards to cater to my every whim, but the fact is that you are NOT an official food critic, and you going around restaurants telling people so is just deceptive. And is that the tone that you use to talk to people? "because your mommy told you not to waste food!!!!" No wonder people don't respond nicely to you. I think it was just a case of sour grapes, when you didn't get the expected reaction of people bending over backwards for you when you told them you are a "food critic". I think you need to learn a thing or two about dealing with not always getting what you want. Just by reading your other review about saddle ranch, I think I can already know what kind of person you are. The manager was kind enough to offer you dessert, but you turn your nose down to it, ridiculing him. Take a long hard look at the mirror pal, you like what you see? Btw, I was talking about not liking the food and not returning it, and not about the food being not up to par. Don't twist my words around. If a restaurant serves me bloody chicken, of course I will send it back, tell them to cook it again or make me a new batch, but what I wouldn't do is sulk and tell them I'm a food critic and I expect my bill to be taken care of. Come on, don't be stupid here. Btw, the weekend is almost here, don't forget to make that trip to costco os sam's.....
Dear Anonymous,
You obviously have a lot of time on your hands if you are going to check out my reviews on Yelp and on my own blog.
Of the 30+ restaurants I reviewed I have never told anyone who I was and what I did. I wanted a non-biased review--hence the name "Credibly Edible".
In the case of Kabuki I was upset at the Manager's attitude that when a particular item is not prepared correctly, or uses sub standard ingredients, most food establishments will return the food.
More than the issue of not being able to return it was that the Manager had 0 training in customer service and walked out with a chip on the shoulder.
These 2 items are unnaceptable in my book. When I put in the comments that the Sushi is not bad at Kabuki, yes the "Sushi" and "Rolls" were not bad. I was only commenting on the improperly cooked, improperly prepared Calamari appetizer.
When I mentioned the part about being a food critic was only after I left and what surprised me is that all they did was to send me a Generic Form Letter and said the manager would get some more training.
As far as the Review at Saddle Ranch... Again the Manager was extremely short sited. He was looking out for his own bottom line rather than making sure the customer got what he wanted. At Saddle Ranch the steak was not cooked as we asked and it was very poor quality (not a $40 steak), but in this case, he didnt come out with an attitude and it the food wasnt in-edible or unsafe. We did eat all our food because I dont like to waste food.
What I didnt like about him was that he attempted to make us happy thinking that was all we wanted and never listened to the customer. I am saying, I HAVE DIABETES and cant HAVE SUGAR. And he sends a 6 foot tall Cotton Candy!!!!
I didnt beat him up too bad because he pretended to care. Their environment was a little too much like a Hooters and less like a steak house. I personally didnt care for it. And as I said in my review I will honestly tell you what I think.
It doesnt mean that you dont go to them. But if what I am saying is something similiar to how you feel like "A $40 steak should be perfect and come with great service", then maybe you might skip it.
If you are into the the Hooters seen, and single then by all means go and enjoy yourself. Maybe Saddle Ranch's burgers are awesome and they dont serve a lot of steak. I dont know.
I think this is pointless now to keep going back and forth on the same issue.
Here is my final comment:
I always eat all the food I order. The only exception is unsafe food, or really inedidble. Every thing I say in my blog is my opinion and its up to you if you want to try restaurants I have tried and even rebuttle the reviews. This is an open forum and thats the way it should be. I will not however go back and forth like s child and personally attack anyone's morals and values. This has nothing to do morals and values. All it is, is a way for me to share my opinions on restaurants I have eaten at.
All comments on this blog are moderated. All comments on this topic are officially closed. If you have been to Kabuki and want to share your thoughts, I will gladly post it here.
Dear Anonymous:
I am not allowing any more comments on this topic any more.
Unless you are someone that has been to Kabuki yourself and would like to tell me your experience--Positive or Negative.
Note: Mysteriously the review on Yelp was removed. I assume the restaurant wasnt happy getting a bad review (in my opinion).
kabuki, hands down the best sushi yet, i have yet to try stingray but have tried akehana, sakana and ra, and kabuki blows em outta the water
You cant possibly be serious man... You have to try stingray scottsdale... I think its the best hands down
#2 is Pure Sushi on Thompson Peak and Hayden
Kabuki quality was ok, but the manager was a ja** *ss. He refused to return bad food and then he tried it for himself...ewwwww!
We ate at kabuki last night, we have eaten there many times it was our favorite, but unfortunately the manager who was there was very rude, the server was disrespectful, and after trying to complain to the manager, he would not even let me say one word , and when I got visibly upset and raised my voice to try to get him to listen, he called security. Too bad for them. Not going back even if the food is good. Did I mention it was our 27th wedding anniversary? :(
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