Raku Izakaya — Restaurant in Orange

I only had the sashimi moriawase and a beer. the food was very good. however near the end of my dinner, and with the bill still on my table, i had to visit the bathroom, leaving a half full glass of beer that intended on returning to, considering it was 9$ for that beer (kirin). when i returned the beer was gone but my bill was still there. i asked the female waiter but she had not taken it - nor would i assume she did as she was fantastic all night, very attentive. the male waiter admitted to taking and apologised.

i left a tip as i was impressed with the female waiter but i provided feedback about the male waiter who removed my beer. the owner seemed to understand but i’m not sure how much he understood. he offered no discount nor did the waiter. i would have politely declined but they didn’t even offer. being a wait staff before i know quite clearly that i don’t remove anything from the table unless i am sure the guest has left. my bill still on the table was an obvious indicator that i was still here.

also, this isn’t an authentic japanese restaurant either. the food may be japanese in style but the owner is Korean and most likely his chefs, in fact let’s go ahead and say that his chefs are koreans too, koreans dont hire japanese chefs. and unfortunately you get this kind of service from Koreans. removing my beverage that i paid for is unacceptable just as it would be unacceptable if i decided to not drink it all and request a refund for half of the price.

i would give 4 stars but the fact that the owner either didn’t understand what i was saying or didn’t care means that he is either not concerned at all by what happened or he didn’t understand what i was saying - either way it’s a 3 and it’s japanese food...

This is the second time I have been here. The food from here is what I would expect from a food hall. It’s sloppy, overcooked and cold. I picked up takeaway after ordering 3 dishes. The Teriyaki Chicken, Pork Belly & Korean Fried Chicken (KFC). The KFC was waiting for me on the bench. 5 minutes later the Teriyaki Chicken arrived so was put down next to it. Finally the pork belly arrived after another 5 minutes. Naturally it was all cold when I got home 5 minutes later.

The Pork Belly was burned to a crisp. I don’t mind it a bit over, but this was black and charcoal. The Teriyaki Chicken was sloppy and tasted nothing like any Teriyaki dish I’d had before. Was really just a stir fry. Finally, the KFC was tasty. Definitely the winner and had a bit of chilli to it. Unfortunately it was not at at all crispy, and seemed like it had been sitting in a Bain-Marie for half an hour or so.

The sides were expectantly average. Rice cold and uninviting, pickled veggies were rubbery.

I Will not be returning for a 3rd time. Not worth the $70 I paid for it. No idea why I gave it a high...

What a amazing Japanese Izakaya restaurant right in the heart of the Orange CBD. The restaurant offer 2 sessions for dinner. We arrived in the early evening session and the restaurant was encouragingly full house. We decided to select our own share plates rather than going for the set menu. From the go-to comforts such as the agadashi tofu to spicy salmon pokes and the more adventurous sushi platters, each served course was a testiment of the kitchen's attention to detail in irs preparation and design. The flavours were authentic where it needs to but also showing hints of adventure, sprinkling some excitement to each plate. The basics were not forgotten as the batters on tempura were light and tofu firm yet silky. The only room for improvement would be for the green tea creme brulee as it didn't quite reach the right texture eventhough the flavours were fine. However by all accounts the chocolate souffle was a hit. Overall I highly recommend this restaurant for high quality Japanese izakaya and an overall...