Review: Kabuki Restaurant

This place is good

BAD business practices! Better Business Bureau rating is an F! Poor management, some rude waitresses, mediocre sushi for high prices.

My husband and I used to eat at Kabuki at least once a month and have spent several hundreds of dollars there. However, we noticed the food's quality began to take a dive in spring 2009. They raised prices for sushi while also using smaller portions of fish in their rolls. We started eating there less often, because the quality was getting worse while the prices were rising.

We decided to go there again a few nights ago and see if things had improved. When our sushi rolls came out, we were sad to see how badly two rolls were made. We had ordered the Red Snapper roll, which is our favorite, but it had little fish and was coated with thick tempura. I literally choked to swallow my first bite. We decided to send the two deep-fried rolls back. Our waiter apologized and said he would take the charges for both rolls off the bill. We were happy with how he handled the situation and continued to eat the two remaining rolls, which were both good quality.

Ten minutes later the restaurant's manager came over and said she refused to take both rolls off the bill. She said, "You ordered the rolls, and we can't sell them to anyone else, so you have to pay for them." Though I tried to explain that we'd eaten at Kabuki many times--and brought our friends and family there as well--the manager was rude and adamant that we had to pay for the sushi we sent back. It didn't matter that our waiter had kindly pledged to take both rolls off our bill.

As we discussed the situation with the manager, a tall college-aged waitress walked by and called in a loud voice: "If you don't like it, then don't come eat here again. God, I hate people like you." The waitress was not involved in the situation, yet she felt the need to make a scene in front of other customers. This just further demonstrates the lack of professionalism at Kabuki.

My husband and I had no cash or check, so we had to pay the entire bill with our credit card. It would have been wrong to skip on the bill, no matter how unjust the manager was. The staff ignored us and did not come to collect our credit card, so we had to walk to the counter. When we did, the manager criticized us for not leaving the waiter a tip. I stated that she should take the extra money she charged us and pay the waiter, who was a good man.

We went to a dinner party not long after this experience. Several people told us that they, too, had bad experiences with Kabuki. We also discovered that the restaurant's Better Business Bureau rating is an F, due in part to previous customer complaints that were not resolved by the restaurant.

The sushi is not worth the price. The poor management, poor quality in food, inflated prices, and rude individuals make this a terrible place to eat! Don't waste your hard-earned cash here!