Masuya — Restaurant in Sydney

I was very disappointed. The staff's attitude was terrible. I’m Japanese so I feel embarrassed that this restaurant operates as a Japanese restaurant.

We visited there on the night of October 18th, and when we entered the restaurant, the female staff member had no smile and was curt and spoke as if we were at fault, which made me feel bad. From the staff's atmosphere, she seems to be a team leader or something, but her response ruined our dinner party.

If there are families considering using this place, I want to tell them that there is a minimum order requirement, and it's necessary to order over $85 per person. When we inquired by phone, we were told in a strong tone that our group, which included 2 and 4-year-old children, would also have to order $85 each.

I hung up the phone once to check about minimum spend with my group members. After that I called restaurant again, but it never connected, even after calling five times. We were a group of 7, with 5 adults and 2 children. We reluctantly tried to make a reservation online, but website showed that online reservations were not possible for 7 people, so we made a reservation for 6 with a message saying “we have an additional child needing a high chair”. After making a reservation, we called them again, but it still didn't connect.

Finally, when we arrived at restaurant on time and mentioned that I have a reservation. She bluntly said they had prepared a table for only 6 people. Furthermore, as the reason, she said we didn't call them back, so they didn't prepare the table for 7. I restrained my desire to blame them for not answering the phone and asked if there were any available seats for 7. Obviously, it’s difficult to find another restaurant for 7people at that time. She replied that there were no other available seats and forcefully added one chair to the 6-person table. We had no choice but to use the 6-person table for 7. We reluctantly agreed and sat in a cramped seat that didn't seem to fit all the dishes we will order. While drinking the water we ordered, I looked around and saw that many tables are still available. I was doubtful about it and asked another staff member if there really were no seats for 7. She said she needs to check with the manager. She left and then returned, saying they had prepared a table for 7. What’s going on? The woman who seemed like the initial team leader hurried over to me and began to make excuses, saying that the table for 7 was near the entrance, so she didn't suggest it initially. If there was a table for 7 available from the beginning, why couldn't they have guided us there pleasantly?

Due to the initial woman's attitude, I was quite upset. The staff member who seemed our table in charge had a decent attitude, but not just her, I felt that the entire staff lacked training. Every time I had a question about the table or the minimum order, I had to wait for her to ask the manager. They placed dishes on our table without considering space, so I and my guests had to reach out and take the dishes ourselves when more food arrived. They came 3 times to ask about the last order. It seemed like there was a lack of communication among the staff.

This was an important dinner party, as I invited family and friends from overseas. After a day of sightseeing, my tired guests had to wait before being seated, were placed in an odd seat, then moved. If the woman who initially responded us had provided a pleasant service, I wouldn't have felt this disappointed. I don't think I'll ever go there again. If I want sushi or seafood, places like Sushi e, where many Australians work, are much friendlier. Even Sushi train is better than this restaurant. For Japanese food, Yayoi Ken is more reasonable and offers good Japanese...

When is about dining for me is all about quality and flavour … but not this time as service was a tad beyond frustrating. But let’s start from the food: Masuya has always served consistently authentic flavours and last night it nailed it again. it takes the ability of a master to elevate a sushi roll or a nigiri into something so well balanced that stands out from the crowd; it wasn’t fancy but authentic and the sumeshi component was great and perfectly balanced with good quality raw fish that was treated with love and respect. The meat used in the beef tataki (carpaccio) was really Good. The Tempura was great with a very nice and light golden batter. Probably only the green tea was a bit on the light side but overall we had a 5 star meal well worth the money (we were really nicely surprised when we got the bill). Unfortunately we had a bad experience with the service … I always liked low key and essential service (I am not a big fan of dining with staff coming around continuously to top up your glass or asking how it is going … I found it invasive) but last night the staff was continuously ignoring us. The place was not understaffed and had with multiple waiters walking around (sometimes aimlessly) and never seeing us. We had in multiple occasions the arm well raised for long minutes till it sore to ask for attention but everyone was looking elsewhere. Starting from having someone to get our first order or our second order. At one stage I gave up trying to have someone coming to our table as we had no more soy sauce for our second sushi/sashimi platter … I gave up and walked to the counter and asked for it. Also no one came for water, our plates never got changed (not even for our additional order for a large platter) and at the table had only two of us with the chopsticks pillow … and a lot of small things that to me means low customer care well below the essential … I would say inadequate. However on the positive note the food was coming out quite quickly considering its nature except they served our daughter last (part was our fault as as we did not clarify it immediately but only later). Would I come back? I would say yes as everyone can have a bad night. Obviously the staff did not see their shortfall and did not farewell us when we left turning their heads away probably because we did not leave the tip … for obvious reasons (I also hate when the tip is asked with the eftpos before the PIN number...

I visited Masuyama Japanese restaurant last night with high hopes of enjoying a delightful dining experience. We opted for their Sushi and Sashimi platter, excited to savor the flavors that many reviewers had praised. The food was reasonably good, but unfortunately, our evening took an unpleasant turn.

As we eagerly indulged in the salmon sashimi, my boyfriend unexpectedly encountered a fish bone while chewing. It was a small, yet hard and sharp bone, which we found concerning and off-putting. This incident tainted the entire meal, particularly since we had saved the salmon sashimi for last as it's our favorite.

Upon discovering the bone, we politely brought the matter to the attention of our sweet waitress. She was understanding and promptly informed the chef about the issue. However, we were taken aback when she returned with the chef's response, stating that small bones in sashimi are common. As patrons, this explanation was disheartening, as we believe that bone presence in sashimi is indeed a significant problem, potentially posing a risk of the bone stabbing or getting stuck, which could lead to discomfort or injury in the gum or throat.

Despite our dissatisfaction with the chef's response, we didn't want to make a scene and ruin our date night. Towards the end of our meal, we received two miso soups as an apology. While the gesture was appreciated, the miso soup is typically complimentary in a Japanese lunch set, and it didn't fully compensate for the inconvenience we experienced.

While we understand that incidents can happen in any establishment, we believe it's essential for restaurants to handle such situations with utmost care and attention. In this case, we felt that the chef's response was inadequate and didn't sufficiently address our concerns.

We left the restaurant with mixed feelings, appreciating the decent food and kind service from our waitress but still disappointed with the handling of the bone incident and the lack of a more substantial resolution. As a result, we can't wholeheartedly recommend Masuyama Japanese restaurant based on...