Emperador Meiji — Restaurant in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

I've never had a dining experience quite like this nor have I ever left a review for a restaurant, but I now feel compelled to do so.

This was the worst dining experience I have ever had. Full stop.

We arrived at 9pm for our 9pm reservation, which we made for the terrace. The manager had us wait 25 minutes while there were open tables and then proceeded to tell us there was no availability on the terrace. Fine, no big problem.

He escorts us to, admittedly, a nice indoor dining room upstairs where we sit to begin the meal. The waiter forced a QR code in our face despite it not working several times to which we had to use an outdated menu online. Also fine, not the end of the world.

After we order 4-5 dishes for the two of us, we proceed to wait 2 HOURS for our dishes to arrive. We weren't checked on once and had to get up multiple times to understand what was happening. There were instances at other tables around us not just waiting a long time, but receiving poorly prepared food with bones and detritus.

We finally receive the food around 11pm. We are starving and just wanted to give the food a chance, and frankly we were having a nice conversation and not terribly bothered by the wait. We are easy going. The food arrives and the dishes are freezing cold. The sushi is mushy and fishy. The udon tastes like a stick of butter. The wagyu was not wagyu. The chicken skewers were rubber. And again, all cold. I politely told the manager that the majority of the table was cold and tasted old, to which he took it downstairs. After about 10 minutes with still no food on the table, I get up to tell the manager that we don't want the food. As I am going downstairs to tell him, I catch him in the hallway bringing what appeared to be just the 'reheated' dishes back up to us. The skewers were bitten in half and the other dishes has pieces missing. Did they just put it in the microwave?

We calmly and politely got up from our table and went to settle this with the manager downstairs. They were receptive to taking the food off of the bill and to let us go with only paying for our drinks. They should have waived the drinks too, but frankly I didn't want to take anything from them. We finally waited another 30 minutes at the bar as the manager incompetently tried to resolve the bill. We remained civil and laughing about the whole thing and actually the bar tender was very very kind. He offered us free drinks, but again, we just wanted to get out of there.

I don't want to be a snobby American and I love Buenos Aires and their food culture and service. But this was unacceptable and hands down the worst dining experience of my life. Thank god I love my girlfriend, otherwise with anyone else there would have been no silver lining in...

I went to this restaurant 5 times this week and can clearly express my ex´periences. Firstly the food is good and tasty with a interesting menu . The serving sizes are a little small for the price but the presentation of the dishes is well done . The service by the waiter Tango was exemplary and he was one of the best waiters I have seen in Buenos Aires with a patient engaging attitude offering a smile at every turn . Now the negative the energy of the restaurant is off and the energy of the management seems unfriendly and unaccomidating . When I was not attended by Tango two times the service was indifferent and the last time yesterday at Lunch plainly appalling . I arrived for lunch this time alone( the other four times with others ) I waited and waited and waited in front to be attended and noone came even though they were clearly open . After attending me with a bored look they put me in a table in a enclosed area . They have a beautiful upstairs area but they refuse to use it at lunch which is bad business sense . Once sat down there by a most unfriendly waiter I was left to my own devices for another 20 minutes without anyone asking me if I wanted a drink . I walked over one hour to arrive in hot weather and the minimum a staff member should do is show care for his clients . While I was waiting I heard other complaints from clients who were also unhappy with their service and seating options . Once again this could have been aleviated by having the upstairs section open for clients . Due to not being served I went to the counter and was confronted by a supervisor also with a indifferent attitude . To top it off the unfriendly waiter stood next to her with a surly attitude with his elbows crossed ( very bad energy) I mentioned that it was unacceptable my now 40 minute wait to have a drink and her response showed no care at all . This for me was the last straw and I left the restaurant without spending anything . The waiter who never attended me said sarcastically goodbye as leaving the restaurant . Imagine I have spent 60 thousand pesos in this week in this restaurant and I was treated in this way . This has very rarely happened to me and would be unheard of in San Carlos de Bariloche where I currently live . I doubt that this restaurant will survive the long term as they have serious problems of management and organization . The only saving grace is Tango who is one of the best waiters of Argentina and should be the manager of this restaurant as to give it organization and a nice vibe . It saddens me to write this review as the restaurant has good potential and the...

This is an odd place to rate.

Ambiance and vibe: 2/5. Hear me out. Visually, it’s an Incredible place to take a date to - 5/5z

But starting at 9:30pm, they turn the music volume from 4 (conversation level), to 10 (nightclub level, where you cannot have a conversation). Negative 10 stars for that

Service: terrible, even to LATAM standards, terrible. Took over 20 minutes just to get us the menu and they were not busy. And the staff did not know anything about the dishes. Took over 30 minutes to get the check as well.

Food quality: this is not Japanese food. It’s more, Japanese themed.

What we ordered : seafood udon and chorizo. The was lacking in any Japanese flavor: no soy, no mirin, no kombu, dashi etc. it was more of an Italian cioppino without the tomato base.

So for food authenticity : 0/5. And yes, I know I did not order sushi, but this is specifically what the staff recommended.

Food “quality”: The ingredients were fine, but their execution was lacking.

Another quirk: do you have a two hour limit for your reservation. As in they kick you out after two hours. But the weird thing is they literally waste over an hour in just getting you the menu (25 min) and the check (35+ min…). So from a business perspective, it makes no sense since you cannot order food.

Would I come here again? No, and I would not recommend it to anyone else either. Unless maybe you’re looking to impress a weaboo date. That is the one function this restaurant serves.

P.S. their “Wagyu“ is not actually genuine. They couldn’t even answer the basic questions around the A or BMS rating. That kind of sums up this restaurant in the context...