YAYOI Galeries — Restaurant in Sydney

Dear Yayoi Team,

I’m writing to express my disappointment following a recent lunch visit with my family. We have been regular patrons and have always enjoyed dining at Yayoi, particularly our children who look forward to it whenever we visit the city. However, our experience this time was unexpectedly poor and far below the standards we’ve come to expect.

Firstly, the water glasses provided had visible food residue on them. After requesting a replacement, the new glass had a fruit fly inside. We asked for it to be taken away and chose not to have any water following that, as we no longer felt confident in the hygiene standards.

When our food arrived, we noticed that the portion sizes—especially for the children—were significantly smaller than usual. While the dishes matched the menu descriptions, they appeared to be about half the portion we’re accustomed to, and our children were still hungry afterward. My wife and I ordered our usual set menu, which has always been a favourite, but we were also disappointed. The rice was overly sticky, lacking the individual grain texture and delicate flavour that we’ve previously enjoyed.

To compound our frustration, after paying the bill I asked to speak with a manager about the experience. I was told by the host (David, I believe) that no managers are on duty during weekends. As someone who has worked in hospitality for over 20 years, I found this shocking. Weekends are typically the busiest trading days, and it’s highly unprofessional not to have any member of management on-site to handle customer concerns.

This visit left a very poor impression and was a stark contrast to the enjoyable experiences we’ve previously had at Yayoi. I hope you take this feedback seriously and review your operations, especially regarding hygiene, portion consistency, and management availability on weekends.

Kind...

I have a very good impression to Yayoi in both Taiwan and Bridge St - Sydney in general. Food are great, high quality thou pricey and waitresses/waiters are professional. However, this unlucky store in the Galleries did not impress me.

Went there 2 times , first time on a Friday, heaps of ppl gathering at the door. As I walked in to the restaurant and about to write down my details on the waiting list , there was a guy walked in front of me and jumped the queue. The waitress who was standing next to the waiting list did not care. I shouted to the guy he has to line up, both the waitress and the guys ignored my words. I left the restaurant immediately.

2nd time went on 20/4/16 was even more dramatic. I was in the middle of my meal there was a 1cm long COCKROACH walked pass the ipad screen. I caught the cockroach wrapped it and passed it to the waitress, not even a single waitress dared to touch the tissue and had to wait for a waiter to take the wrap away. So if you were scared and found it disgusting you think I like it too?

None has offered to change seat and clean the desk thoroughly.

They have offered a free of charge to the single scoop ice-cream one of my friend ordered and gave us 3 spoons asking us to share the "compliment dessert". 3 ppl sharing 1 scoop of ice-cream as complimentary .... what more could I comment ...

Not their fault in general all I could blame was their general cleanliness in the Yayoi Galleries store was pretty poor. I have lost confident to their food...

Yesterday, I had the most disappointing and frustrating dining experience I've ever encountered. My friend and I arrived at the restaurant around 7:45 PM and placed our orders. We received our food at 8:20 PM, we were looking forward to enjoying our meal.

However, things quickly took a turn for the worse. A staff member approached us and casually informed us that the restaurant closed at 9:00 PM, so if we wanted to order anything else, we needed to do so by 8:30. Fair enough, we thought. But just five minutes later, the same staff member returned and abruptly told us that the restaurant was already closing and that we needed to pack our food into take-away containers.

This was completely out of the blue. We had just received our meals and were still in the process of enjoying them. On top of that, we typically take around 20 minutes to eat, so being told to leave immediately was both unreasonable and rude. We had spent $72 AUD on the meal, and this sudden rush to get us out left a bitter taste in our mouths—far worse than any food could.

To make matters worse, the staff had initially told us that they would be open until 9:00 PM, only to change their tune so abruptly. At the very least, we should have been given a few more minutes to finish our meals and wrap up. Instead, we were treated like an inconvenience, and it completely ruined what should have been a pleasant night out. It was an experience I'll certainly never forget for all the...