Sushi Hotaru — Restaurant in Sydney

👎🏻I do not recommend this place at all.

😐Food is overall average and extremely overpriced.

🥵Service is awful, staff and manager working there on 2 Sept 2024 evening are very inflexible and unhelpful.

I went there with a friend who is tall with a large physique. He could barely fit into the smallest booth at the back and I could see a part of his body sitting off the seat. We asked for a large table that supposedly sits 4 people. Waiter and manager refused to let us have it even though the restaurant was quite empty. They wouldn’t take on feedback and said feedback can only be provided after we pay at the end of the dinner.

My friend went up to the manager and the manager complaint to us and lectured us, saying that if they had other customers asking us why they seated us in a 4 seat table, it would make their job difficult and we would have to explain to other customers why 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have never ever experienced this in my dining life where a manager of a restaurant would complain and tell their own customers off, that we need to solve their problem or their incompetence.

Next up, we ordered a lot that the table was too small to fit our plates, so they asked us to just stack our plates (blocking our ability to speak comfortably to each other because plates were over us). Waiter said the plates needed to be there and asked if we would order more. E.g subtly hinting us to order less, or order more if we were seated in the 4 seat table. I’ve never seen a business where more food ordering was not welcomed.

We should have left but because we ordered already, it was just inconvenient to move to find another restaurant in short notice.

To the owner, please re-think the way you train your staff to treat their customers. I didn’t even take photos of your food coz of the very unpleasant and...

Recently renovated and went to try out last week. It’s our first time and most probably our last time to dine in. Place was crowded since it is after work hours. We were show to our seat and my goodness the table was sticky and dirty with crumbs. I basically have to wipe myself since none of the waitress notice that. They don’t have menu but to order from monitor screen in front of us. The monitor is way too far for missus to use where she basically have to stand up on the chair to reach out to the monitor. It’s really not efficient enough for someone who is short though. Ordered few items and the handroll is equivalent to the length of my index finger. Should call it a mini-size handroll. The raw prawn is totally bad as it taste of ammonia, which taste not fresh at all. What shocked me is their knowledge of hygiene by which it is a must for any food and beverage staff but I saw one of the staff just place the Dettol Surface Cleaner on the working table very next to the sushi after using it. No one gives a heck to keep it away after use and pathetically it was still on the working table when we left, which is more than half an hour and sitting next to the food. Sushi staff were all not attentive and just fooling around with each other laughing having their own sweet time without respecting their own job position or be attentive in their work. Even one of the kitchen staff was not in proper attire without wearing a kitchen cap. Hygiene knowledge is totally zero. It’s a sushi place where majority of the food is raw. This kind of working attitude is very extremely dangerous to the health of customers. Never ever come back anymore. There are a lot more sushi place around the...

The quality of sushi here is not what is it use to be. They have started cost saving by scrimping on rice and key ingredients. Sushi on the conveyor belt look sad and about to fall apart because there isn’t enough rice to hold it together or were just poorly made. The size is smaller and you can see the seaweed peeking through the rice on the side.

The quality of the hand rolls have also changed compared to 6 months ago. I ordered a soft shell crab hand roll. There was a small piece of soft shell crab wrapped inside a big piece of egg omelette. Since I ordered a soft shell crab roll, not a soft shell crabs and egg roll, I would expect the star of the roll to be the crab, not the egg. The unagi (eel) hand roll was the same. There were 2 small slithers of eel and the rest was rice and cucumber. The eggs of the hand roll was empty.

Service was poor. The staff are not familiar with the etiquette of sitting customers at a comfortable distance from others when the restaurant is not full. Several customers after us also had request sitting further apart where there is space.

Getting the bill was also an issue. We requested the bill from the ordering system but not attended to. After waiting and trying to call again using the machine, we were questioned whether had pushed the bill button. Asking a question is fine, but my suggestion to the staff would be to watch the tone as it can appear accusatory when all we wanted to do was pay.

The poor quality of food and poor service means I will not be returning. I would give them zero stars but considering ultimately we were fed, a one star...