YAYOI Chatswood — Restaurant in Sydney

Our third time being there, the food has been good. However, the particular female waitress ( with the smaller eyes) has been very rude! The 2nd time visit, she was rushing to take the plates away and very rough for a lady to do that. Then, she didn't care if the plates would fall off on my hands or not, the leftovers was just splashed all over the table. Then funny thing was she left the plates right on the table next to us. She didn't come back to clean or take the plates away. Then, a male (could be the owner or the manager) passed by. I asked him to take away the dishes and we let it go. The last time visit, this particular funny female informed us to sanitise the table before serving, and then she started spraying the sanny all over the table, OUR HANDS & belongings without any pause to allow us to take our belongings away from the table! It's actually very derogatory or even discriminating against others for a Japanese FEMALE FEMALE to do such things! Then, I was served with the paper napkin with a stained rice grain (leftover from someone else's). This time I didn't let it go. I asked her to change the paper napkin immediately and asked for her name. She didn't even bother to introduce herself properly... lisping "Yuri" "yuki" or whatever she wanted to say. I didn't get her exact name. I was ready to leave the table as my mood had been ruined, but I decided to make a complain to the other female (might be the manager or the owner) in the black shirt. She kept apologising for the complaints and had been polite. After this, I decided to stay and gave them another chance. The food was still good enough. The particular funny female staff had been with a little bit better attitude. So, things had been settled down. We finished out meal without further dramas... my suggestion to the restaurant is the quality of service needs to be catching up with the prices of the dishes. If not, please do a better training on staff or get more staff for your own pride sake at least. Imagining these incidents being happening anywhere back in Japan... it's...

Yesterday I ordered the Wagyu Sukiyaki Teishoku, for I was feeling cold and nostalgic, and wanted to eat something warm and something that reminded me of my childhood. I left dissatisfied, and struck by the cruel reality that there's no one else to blame for my poor decision making skills, other than myself.

For the Main : The wagyu was a little hard, but thankfully not chewy, the broth was surprisingly tasty and not as bland as another review had described it to be, the veggies were nondescript (Potatoes or carrots would've been a good addition), the tofu had the perfect balance of softness and firmness, the abura-age was the tastiest part of the sukiyaki, having soaked up the flavors of the broth and the right amount of chewiness, the shirataki noodles were a good addition but at only 2, left me wanting more, the udon noodles were a bit overcooked, becoming softer than I'd had liked it to be.

2/5 ⭐

For the Sides : Rice was Rice, The miso soup was sour, The Goma-ae was bland, The Onsen Tamago was bland, The Pickled Daikon was TASTY, but with just 3-4 pieces, it really wasn't enough (or maybe I've just been so spoilt by the endless banchan Korean restaurants are usually so generous with).

1/5 ⭐

It was average at best, and for $27.80 it sure wasn't worth it. If you were to order this dish however mixing the eggs and the broth and using it as a dipping sauce is a must.

After eating half the portion, I couldn't continue as I experienced some sort of palate fatigue, the broth was to tasty, and everything else just became so bland, I've taken away the leftovers which are now sitting in the fridge, maybe in a few days I'll finally be able to finish it without feeling the trepidation of having a salty throat.

Afternote : I downloaded the WOW rewards app after seeing the ad on the ordering screen, and asked about it and how to get the points before I paid, asking whether there's a QR code of some sorts I was supposed to scan, only to be told it'll just appear. Oh well, maybe I'll ask about it before I order, if there were ever to be...

i went with my partner to yayoi, they said we couldnt be seated but there were many free seats, we asked if a seat is available if we could have it, the staff members agrees and reassures us. some other couple comes 20mins later and complains enough that the manager comes out and gives them a seat even though we were here before them. on top of that the food is overpriced and too salty, small portions. Never returning.

RESPONSE :

your response is so painfully predictable that i literally told my partner what it would be before you even wrote it.

firstly every business is effected by COVID. You know using covid is an absolute copout excuse for what is in reality bad management and mediocre food. Did you know we went to a sushi place down the street immediately after to make up for that experience? they were way more busy but we could dine in and let us takeaway the sushi.

do you understand that i specifically asked your staff member if a table becomes available to let us dine in. I made it extremely clear. Your response only highlights your poor management and communication skills. We had our names written down. As you escorted the people who came in later i called out to you “Wait hold on a second. We were here before them” which you ignored. I literally spoke with your employee after about the situation and she clearly didn’t pass the information on to you.

This isn’t an issue of us not being clear enough. This isn’t an issue of COVID. this is poor management, poor communication and poor quality, overpriced, small portion salty food which we had to eat outside next to your shop with ants crawling over us.

How can you claim to apologize yet not even accept what you’re apologizing for?

There is cheaper more welcoming, larger portion, better quality places to go. I’ve always accepted YAYOI is overpriced but your dreaming if you think the quality of management and food has not slipped here in the past few years. Because I...