Mr. Miyagi — Restaurant in Melbourne

What can I say about Mr Miyagi after my birthday night out this week. The owners describe their cuisine and dining ethos as one of playful spin on the food and flavours of Japan. Further describing themselves as “casual but fancy” I guess I agree to some extent and with all this fusion style approach to dining, the problem I see with this modern fusion is that it encourages young chefs to think that blending miso and butter is just about the coolest thing they can do in a kitchen. What’s lacking with fusion is the many young chef’s today is the traditional base, which means that in general, their food is not grounded in technique. They’re likely to do anything and serve it to you as a $18.50 Salmon Nori Taco with spicy Nappa cabbage as I had. Taco in Japan…well I guess that is cuisine fusion. The night was just ok bordering on difficult given we were all squeezed into the front section of the Mr Miyagi as if were in an airport lounge ready to board a plane in an hour. People literally right next to you that you could see them posting their cocktail phone snaps to friend on Facebook and Instagram. I guess casual but certainly not fancy as Mr Miyagi owners see themselves. The other great challenge with designer fusion are the portion sizes and their ratio to the price paid. Dining of any kind should be based on value like all things in life, and for me Mr Miyagi fell way short of this equation. My final feedback comments are that fusion has become a bad thing in the culinary world because most fusion restaurants are bad at both styles of cooking and rely on the idea and intrigue of fusion to propel their restaurant success. Where people come flocking to see the food as if almost an exhibit, a lot is lost. Mastery of both styles takes a long time, as does building a successful restaurant where patrons return regularly. Fusion is the easy way out in my view. Expensive for what we had at Mr Miyagi and a noisy place; not a fancy experience I can say. Leave it to those who love to queue up and embrace this type of "have to be seen there", “draw card” place and dining. 5 out of 10 as an overall experience. Stick to...

I was excited to visit Mr.Miyagi with a couple of my friends as I had seen the “most recent” reviews of the place and it looked good. I wish I had seen the lowest reviews before I went here. The entire experience was atrocious, and I’m not usually the one to leave reviews, but this place is worth noting to never visit. Since the moment we stepped into the restaurant, the service was below scum level, constantly being rushed to eat our food and leave. Mind you we paid about $80 each for below mediocre food and then we were asked to take desert as takeaway as we were “running out of time”. Every complaint we made we were responded with “I’ll go talk to the manager” but no follow up was given. The food served was -1/10. KFC fried chicken is better than their tasteless unseasoned doughy fried chicken and there were tiny sharp bones in the salmon nori tacos. That’s not even the worst part. We paid for a set course for 3 people. We were only served 2 desserts . After confronting the waitress, she advised us this is what we get, but it honestly seemed like she couldn’t be bothered getting us a third. When I looked at the place online, it looked like a fine dining restaurant, but much to my surprise, it was like a bloody club. If I wanted to go Laundry Bar, I would’ve gone there. Waste of my money, but please don’t waste yours. Highly recommend not coming here. Also when asked a lady, to tell us the names of the people who served us, she hesitated and gave us two names: Bella and Sarah, which I am pretty sure are made up, because the name on my receipt said GEORGIA. So along with their waitstaff’s service being barbaric, they are also liars. Would’ve given 0...

Was excited to come here with friends as the place and food looked very decent in the photos online especially the salmon nori taco.

However-

Service - not great at all, constantly rushed to leave even from the beginning before sitting down. Was forced to get the dessert as takeaway as we were “running out of time”. Every complaint we made we were responded with “I’ll go talk to the manager” but no follow up was given. Careless service yet way over staffed. Hmm that must mean the staff are more attentive to one another rather than their customers.

Food: salmon nori taco was full of small sharp bones. I found 6 in mine. The rice in it was also super mushy. Miyagi fried chicken was poorly seasoned. Not crispy either. Despite having paid for a course set each for 3 people, we were only served two desserts. After confronting the waitress, she seemed like she couldn’t be bothered getting us a third (that we paid for). Salmon was served twice as a dish on the set menu - the second dish was the yuzu coral salmon - which is served raw. The marinade and sauce it was mixed in did not suit it and was confusing to taste. The overload of crispy rice noodles was an awkward choice of topping as it didn’t compliment the dish at all and covered the whole dish.

Music was TOO loud. Worse than clubs. Could not talk to my friend next to me without shouting. My ears were ringing after walking out of the place.

Came out of this place without even one positive thing to share. This may even be the first time I will tell people to avoid this place. It’s honestly disheartening to see authentic Asian cuisines be messed around with and be charged a premium for....