Kumo Izakaya — Restaurant in Melbourne

I’ve dined here on several occasions and, while the atmosphere is fantastic whether indoor or outdoor, most dishes have something about them that fall flat.

For example, the Grilled Beef Rib ($38) was phenomenally tender, packed with immense flavour, and luxurious. Yet, its smashed potatoes companion were barely salted, tasted almost stale, and somehow wet…? The chimichurri didn’t pack much of a punch either, and seemed to lack everything you’d expect in a chimichurri apart from the dominant parsley and olive oil.

Meanwhile, the Mentai Udon ($28) featured a shockingly little amount of prawn - I probably had six bites of it at most before realising there was none left.

The French Fries ($14) with nori salt is probably my favourite dish from here by far, but I do wish it was more well-seasoned: about halfway through the bowl of fries, the nori salt is nowhere to be seen or tasted.

My biggest gripe with the restaurant is that, recently, they seem to have begun deceiving customers into paying for their water. You’ll be asked if you’d like still or sparkling (without the option of tap), and all of a sudden, a bottle of water lands on your table that will now make its way to your bill.

To be fair, when we probed the wait staff about this, they readily exchanged it and removed our still water from the bill. Nevertheless, I never enjoy bothering wait staff more than I need to, so it certainly put a dampener on our dining experience.

On the plus side, they’ve got an impressive range of alcoholic drinks, from cocktails to sake, and the like. Every time I’ve ordered a drink, I’ve been pleased with it.

Additionally, the indoor area features high ceilings, spaciousness, and a pleasant amount of air conditioning. The outdoor area is even better during good weather, with less noise pollution and a quaint view of Lygon Street.

All this to say, it’s a great dining choice for a special occasion with large groups where the quality of food wouldn’t necessarily be the focal point, but perhaps the cocktails and calm-ish...

A terrible experience from start to finish… and beyond.

Upon arrival, we were seated at this cramped communal table whereby we were shoulder to shoulder with other diners and there was no room for our food alongside other people’s food. We requested to move and to a free spot even if it was by the window but were told that all spots were for soon to arrive bookings (totally fair and no issues with that). However, two minutes later, the couple next to us got sick of the cramped table and requested to move (and much less politely!). To our surprise, they were immediately moved.

Drinks: Whilst the drinks were good - strawberry and lychee cocktail and a sake mojito - one arrived quickly and the other was presented more than half way through the meal. However, they were well balanced and tasty drinks.

Food: Too much ponzu on the oysters, the tuna tataki was $26 for four slices of tuna that was meant to be seared but was 80% cooked through which is not what I class as seared and certainly not what I would called tataki. Karaage was good; could have done with mayo but was good nonetheless. Lobster bao was average. Edamame was stone cold. Scallops were good; maybe a tad too much bonito but that was easily removed so no issue. The crab and krill fried rice was an absolute standout and was very good. I also ordered the 12 piece sashimi deluxe dish which was the only dish that my partner did not eat (relevant because she did not get sick!)

Not two hours after finishing the meal, I became very sick due to, very obviously, food poisoning. The only culprit could be the sushi as we shared everything else. A pretty bad ending to a less than average meal.

One point I would like to make is that our server was terrific; very attentive and lovely. The lady in charge was less so; I wouldn’t say she was rude but she was curt when curtness was not required.

Overall, I would say it’s one of the bottom three restaurants...

High hopes let down

I booked for a table of 7 a few weeks ago, and with the kind help of Sofia I had high hopes for this place to celebrate my birthday. Upon arrival they were extremely busy (no one checking in or asked to show vaccination certs.) , but we managed to order drinks and food after about half an hour. Service was very slow, waiting 30+ mins for drinks to come. We waited about 45 minutes for sashimi, sweet potato chips, gyozas and edamame, which we were all very impressed with and excited for more.

We waited another 30 minutes before asking how much longer the rest of the food was going to be - the waitress apologized and said she would ask. After an hour had passed we asked again where the rest of our food was (it was now around 10:30) and again was told she would check and get back to us. We waited a little longer before telling staff we would just eat what was ready and leave it at that. 20 minutes later we were served one serve of broccoli and a serve of salt and pepper squid (which was extremely chewy). While the food that we were served was mostly delicious, it didn't make up for the long waits and lack of transparency. We watched tables around us come and go and receive dishes that we too had ordered. Three of our guests were vegetarian, and most of their orders never arrived so they sat there hungry.

Maybe we caught them on a bad night, but we would have appreciated a heads up that there would be almost a two hour wait for our food so we could go somewhere else before everything else around was closed. There was little apology and nothing off the bill comped. Many of us have also worked in hospo and were disappointed in the...