MON JAPANESE BISTRO — Restaurant in Leederville

Disappointed and not impressed. A quote from the MON menu uses “Japanese style for our guests to savour in a special dining experience – the taste of Japan.” Having lived in Japan for many years and eaten and prepared Tokyo style Washoku I can say it was special but not in a good way or anything like the taste of Japan for me. There were plenty other customers there, so perhaps I was just unlucky twice. After a few recommendations, our first visit was less than impressed so to give it the benefit of doubt we made our second visit to MON Taste of Japan which has prompted me to share my experience. The first visit, I wasn’t impressed by the warm beer & burnt oil-soaked Chicken Katsu set $32, but regrettably it was a busy night, and the deep fryer was probably getting a work out even though it wasn’t too late in the evening, so I gave try again. This time I tried the Sashimi, never have I had Margo taste like the bottom of the fridge with the colour & texture of bacon, the other Sashimi on board had a slight odour and dried out piece of wood platter that absorbed any flavour left, not up to a standard fitting the price $21., even the shredded carrot resembled brass guitar strings in appearance & texture. Here I must say I miss the authentic Japanese style sashimi served on a bed of fresh shredded daikon radish, or at least finely sliced fresh cabbage served at other & budget establishments. The pseudo wasabi must have been in short supply that day because the dry pea size accompaniment was just mean. Without too much focus on the menu I expected miso and a bowl of rice as comes at my local venue, but it didn’t appear and when asked if it was so there was a short sharp reply “NO” and no offer of service, I did spot it down the bottom in the side’s menu - a bowl of steamed rice for $3. and miso soup $3. would have brought the total of a disappointing dish to double the cost at my regular establishment and the time it took to get our meal would have been too late. For a busy place that you need to order at the counter and pay as you go on sticky leaning wobbly tables chairs on a leaning pavement or cramped cheek by jowl inside, I expected friendly fresh & tasty. We were going to have another not quite cold beer, but it was one minute past there closing, the tired looking staff gave us the short sharp “NO” we just closed. My only hope is that the owner will read and realise not all is...

Don’t let the four star review fool you: the food here is amazing. Absolutely 5/5 stars. Tasty, generous portions, fresh produce, everything pairs well with each other, good presentation, very premium food. A steep price, but worth it. One of the better Japanese restaurants in Perth.

However, the service was beyond subpar. The servers themselves were nice enough, but they were inattentive and slow. I reserved a table a week in advance and still had to wait ten minutes - poor organisation on their part. They took another ten minutes to take our orders, and they took others orders who came after us, before us. Annoying. The food then took twenty minutes to come which was acceptable, however the drinks took about fifteen minutes which was not. Of course, this was a Friday night and the restaurant was quite busy. But that’s no excuse.

So, if I were rating off food alone, it would definitely be 5/5. But due to the poor service I regret to bring it down to 4/5 stars. I recommend this place for those who love high quality modern Japanese food but won’t easily get irritated by poor service. Oh, and willing to pay $40 for a tempura bento. But I love the food so much I’m definitely coming back. It’s worth it. Next time though, I’d choose a different time and day so perhaps we’d get...

We attended the vegan night and unfortunately were sorely disappointed. We felt bad for the poor waitress wearing a trainee badge, who appeared to not really have an understanding of what was happening with the event, and appeared to be struggling with the demand, jogging back and forth from tables at times.

The food was also bland, uninspired and underwhelming. The first dishes, including the gyoza, tempura veg and eggplant arrived to our table cold. Not enjoyable at all but we weren’t able to flag down the poor waitress to feed this back.

Some of the second lot of dishes arrived hot, thankfully, but they were unfortunately average tasting (agedashi tofu included) and we sincerely hoped the sweet and sour veg were intended to be as fridge cold as they were.

The dish I enjoyed most was the eggplant and the tofu dango, but for $60 pp, and quite the wait for service, it was certainly not worth it.

I appreciate places having vegan cuisine as an option, but tonight unfortunately just felt like people jumping on the bandwagon for $$ with no actual intention of providing great food or a great night.

It was a very...