Kokoro Brighton — Restaurant in Melbourne

I came here on a recommendation and left deeply disappointed. I ordered a salmon bento box. Perhaps they cater to their regulars, when I arrived, the first thing I was told was the kitchen closes soon and I have to hurry up and order. I was hungry so allowed them to show me to a table. I didn’t get any explanation of the different levels of service they provided. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to use their automated ordering system. Eventually, a busboy told me to hit a button to send my order to the kitchen. The sushi trained seemed to be operating but not related to the tables where I was seated. I ordered a salmon bento box. The miso came first and was great. Sadly that set up a high bar because everything after that was downhill. When the bento box arrived it was a lesson on how to stuff up a bento box. The salmon was overly dry, smothered in commercial sauce, overly sweet. The grilled prawn tempura in the bento box was also dry, overly battered, and cooked to the point of tastelessness. This was to be dipped into a commercial mayonnaise and eaten with the strangest undiagnosable pickles. There was a fried spring roll that had died a long time ago. There was a lot of rice, presumable to fill you up. I wondered if the kitchen only knows how to prepare raw fish. What was more entertaining was the flurry of activity around me of staff cleaning up and setting up for the next sitting. Clearly, the staff were focused on what they get rewarded for: efficiency over customer satisfaction. Eventually, I asked one of the staff busy cleaning where on the automated ordering system do I pay? Ah, “you pay upfront madam”. I had to wait for them to take my money and no one asked if my meal was okay. Don’t expect customer service It was not...

EXREMELY RUDE STAFF. Me and two friend went for dinner last night with a 7:30pm reservation. At 8:15 We were told the kitchen is closing in 5 mins for any last orders which was fine so we ordered a couple more dishes and drinks. At 8:20 We were told the restaurant closes in 10mins so we better "eat fast"!!! I tried to bring up that it says closing time is 8:45 online and the waiter just walked away while I was speaking. 4-5 times after that the male and female waiters took turns coming over to tell us they are closing soon every minute or so. Including taking a plate away from my friend while she was still eating! Other examples were the waitress coming down with the eftpos machine saying "follow me" to the till, and the rudess of all, the waiter coming over to the booth and tapping his watch without saying a word... They were relentless, We could not enjoy our food or drinks at all. This was all at 8:35pm, well before the stated closing time online. We felt so uncomfortable and couldn't believe we were treated this way as polite paying customers. We all had a terrible night there because of the staffs attitude. I would never go back here and strongly discourage others unless they have a complete...

EXREMELY RUDE STAFF! Two friends and I went for dinner last saturday with a 7:30pm reservation. At 8:15pm we were told the kitchen is closing in 5 mins for any last orders which was fine so we ordered a couple more dishes assuming we would have time to eat these before closing at 8.45pm. At 8:20pm we were told the restaurant closes in 10mins and rudely told to "eat fast". The waiters continued to come over every minute telling us the restaurant is closed however it was only 8.25 at this stage and they don’t actually close for 20 minutes. A waiter rudely took a plate while I was eating and then tapped at his watch and walked away. It made us feel so awful being treated this way as polite paying customers who were just trying to enjoy a meal and were more than happy to leave by closing at 8.45pm. I have eaten here several times before but this experience has made me never want...