YAYOI Hurstville — Restaurant in Sydney

I would like to preface this by saying that I have been to this establishment a few times and ordered the same thing each time. I thought that the particular dish I ordered wasn't bad, albeit a little expensive. However, this time I went with a family member and I had the opportunity to try some of their food. I was shocked as it not only tasted disgusting, it was also very expensive and the portion size was really small. My family member even expressed that the food wasn't satisfying and didn't taste very good. Additionally, I have also noticed that their serving sizes for the matcha ice cream have noticeably decreased.

Then when we went to pay, they charged us an extra 10% stating that it was a Sunday surcharge on top of the regular 1.5% surcharge for using a card to pay. I would not have minded paying this had I know about it in advance, but this 10% surcharge was not shown anywhere upon entering the restaurant and it was not added to the total when we ordered on the iPad. We were not made aware of this surcharge until we were at the counter paying, so it is safe to say we were blindsided by all the additional charges. It was no wonder we were the only ones in the restaurant on a Sunday evening (5pm to around 5:30pm). We did think it was a little weird it was so empty, but now it makes sense. Not only was it empty, we had to call into the kitchen to get a staff member out so we could pay. The entire staff spent most of their time in the kitchen and there was no one in the dining area. This is utterly disgraceful customer service.

TLDR: I used to recommend this restaurant to family and friends despite the high price point, but I will no longer be doing so as a result of the sub par food, high prices and hidden surcharges. I am highly disappointed and I am done making excuses for a restaurant that is clearly money grubbing and couldn't care less about their customers. If I could give it a lower rating I would.

In response to the reply from the owner (as I cannot reply directly) I would also like to add that the time we were in the restaurant was 5pm to around 5:30pm and NOT near closing time. Even so, it is no excuse to have such poor customer service. It was also mentioned in your reply that there is a sign at reception, I'm not sure if there was a sign or not but if there was, it must have been extremely small and/or out of the way. There was also no one at the reception to greet us so there is no way a customer would know to approach the reception desk (with no one there) unless it was to pay at the end of the meal, and at that point it would have been too late to realise there was a pretty significant surcharge. I'm glad I did not bring more family members or the charge would have been insane considering the base cost of items was already quite expensive.

I also do not appreciate the accusatory reply that implied it was my fault there was a lack of service (stating the time as an excuse) and a lack of signage when it was clearly designed to...

What I ordered (edited) 🐟Salmon sashimi 🐷Pork loin meal 🐔Chicken nanban meal 🍗Spicy karagee 🍨Hojicha Anmitsu 🍨Matcha Anmitsu 🍨🌸Sakura icecream

Salmon sashimi was very fresh and fatty, serve with fresh wasabi 💕 Their Salmon are from Tasmania so it was very good 💕 highly recommended to order when you visit Yayoi. Spicy karagee chicken: their karagee are very juicy, very chewy, the outside of chicken weren't dry at all. Pork katsu meal service with tonkatsu sauce mix.The katsu was crunchy and juicy 💕 Chicken namban was good and so fulfilling. The sauce they made didn't make me feel bored after eating a while. Every teishoku meal serves with homemade pickles which waz very mild sour, I love it. Their salad were the same 🥗 Hojicha and matcha anmitsu serve with brown sugar sauce in a small cup, so you can adjust the sweetness level to your liking. Personally, I like the red bean serve for this dish as anko (Red bean paste). The mandarin in this dish was sweet (yes!!! I love that🥰) Sakura icecream, if you like flower flavour icecream, you should try this one. Don't worry this icecream is not salty like some sakura tea 😆 Yayoi has many restaurant in Sydney, I have tried 4 different locations so far (The Gallery, Hay market, Westfield CBD and Hurstville), their food quality are good and I have never disappointed at their food. Staff was friendly The price is the same as other Yayoi, but if you live in Hurstville, you might want something cheaper. The interior of this shop maybe not the best, but they take the covid restriction seriously. Their menu reduced some food and drinks. If you look for a Japanese restaurant, I would recommend you to...

We ordered the Pork Loin Katsu Toji set meal and although the price was reasonable, it was a shame that the sauce had soaked through the batter of the Pork loin so much so that there was hardly and crunch from the bread crumbing and was soggy and underwhelming. Not sure if this was the intention but it totally defeats the purpose of having the pork crumbed and fried if you are going to serve it all mushy. The egg was also underwhelming and would have though it would be fluffy at least.

Ordered the Chicken Katsu Toji also and the pieces were larger and juicy and there was a bit more crunch from the batter (only because we took it straight out of the sauce). The sides were ok and the miso was nice.

We also found it super annoying that their popular dish Chicken/Pork Loin Katsu with Curry sauce was not offered at all in the set menu and was asking $8 for the sauce as a side. I know the curry sauce is just from the curry cubes you can buy anywhere so not sure why it was so pricey.

The service was excellent though but not sure if we...