Midori Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Abbotsford

Don’t bother with this place. It seems that ownership has switched hands in the last two years or so. This, and Sagano (used to be beside KFC and One Stop Love Shop on S.Fraser before closing shop) were really good AYCE sushi restaurants back in the day, but that is no longer the case…

I’ve never seen a restaurant skimp so hard before. First of all, they limit the dinner AYCE menu to only 2 slips/orders, which would be justifiable had it included premium/high end sushi rolls and more variety of BBQ items, but their dinner menu is very bare bones. As other users had mentioned in their reviews, what would normally be an order of a single piece of sashimi, gets butchered into like 8 tiny chunks and counted as such which is ridiculous considering they also limit the amount of sashimi you can order (at an AYCE).

The portions for the other items are just as bad… A bowl of udon literally consists of 2 strings of 5 cm noodles in an over-salted “broth” which can be finished in a single bite. The chicken and beef teriyaki had no flavor. I kid you not, even the TV's hanging in the corner seem to be smaller than what used to hang in those spots. Rather than an AYCE feast, this felt like a taste-test of an inconsiderably small amount of overall subpar items. I get that they are trying hard to limit food waste, but this is unironically the opposite of "less is more"; instead of serving nice respectable portions, the customers need to keep ordering and waiting for these small dishes that the kitchen needs to spend even more time preparing... this is very inefficient when they need to keep grabbing different ingredients, switching woks, taking orders etc to cook small batches as opposed to large ones, of things the customers keep ordering

The service was not up to standard. The servers were friendly, but we were one of the only tables in there on a slow weekday evening, and we couldn’t even get water refills without having to ask each time. Considering how small the portions were, it took an unreasonable amount of time for the food to come out even with at least 4 different cooks from what we could see coming in and out of the kitchen. And of course they bring the cheaper items out first and make you wait for the sashimi and BBQ, so by the time they arrive you have slowly lost your appetite.

I don’t like to dog down on a restaurant without at least pointing out any positive(s); their saving grace is their spicy chicken karage. They do a much better version than the previous owners and actually rival the quality you would see at a Korean fried chicken joint.

To the owners: I’d love to give another chance, but there’s still a lot to improve. Fix the portion sizes, and actually serve the amounts that people order. Have the servers check on the customers more frequently; something as simple as keeping refreshments topped off, goes a long way. If you can add some Korean dishes, such as jjajangmyeon, there would be no need for Noodle Road across the plaza...

Visiting from out of town. YIKES. Failed to read the reviews beforehand which was a big mistake. I also did not heed the warning of a friend that mentioned AYCE is a huge gamble in this area.

Pros: -staff was initially friendly and attentive but that was short-lived. -tea and water came fast enough and an extra pot of tea was preemptively provided which was great. -some items (miso soup, seaweed salad) were fine. -wait times for food were normal (we arrived past 7PM). -most of the tempura items were good although more vegetable options beside yam and potato would have been healthier and better to see. -$24.95 is decent for AYCE.

Cons: -now I know why it was only $24.95 -the restaurant is DIRTY. The booths had bits of food and sauce stains all over the corners and nooks, my plate was dirty and it honestly looked like I got the same one back when I asked for another, our booth curtains and cushions were stained, the washroom looked like it hadn’t been cleaned beyond once that day and the sink was clogged/just started filling up. After a while, I just stopped focusing on things and stared at my phone. -the menu is poorly laid out and confusing/ -the menu options are also limited in range and variety—sashimi is chopped up into cubes over slices, few fish options, making something spicy means they pour a nasty, bright red hot sauce over it, etc. PLEASE, just throw it out and use something better. -staff really stopped bothering to come by halfway through to clear plates or ask if we wanted to order more. -is it really AYCE when you’re limited to two slips per party? News to me and it forces you to lump all your orders at once which can result in food getting cold by the time you get to it. -the whole “two pieces of sushi per order” is odd...you feel obligated to order 8+ pieces of a particular roll in order to ensure it’s been freshly made. How can you be sure that the two pieces of maki/hand roll you’re getting was made within the past 10 mins? The rice was also of poor quality and old. -the food options that really stood out as disappointing and unappetizing were the seafood udon (two tiny, over-boiled shrimp constitutes it as a seafood version), the BBQ oysters (DEAR GOD, why did they even think it was ok to serve an oyster the size of a chickpea in those small tinfoil dessert tart cups buried in neon orange cheese? The little sea creature deserved better, RIP) and the ice cream (pre-scooped to save time I guess? Just resulted in overly hard and freezer burnt/ice buildup scoops).

SUMMARY: after reading what I wrote, I thought “maybe I’m being too harsh”. Yeah...I’m not. I sincerely hope management makes some big changes regarding cleanliness, food quality and service because it scored low in each of these areas. If you’re looking for decent tempura and some very specific and hard-to-mess-up items, the odds are somewhat in your favour here. For anything else...just...

COME HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GET THE FOOD YOUR ORDERED

let me present you with a moral dilemma:

would you rather (a) spend an extra 5 dollars at another restaurant where you get exactly the food that you ordered? Or (b) spend 3 hours in a half-empty restaurant begging for 40 microscopic pieces of fish while the owner does his best impression of a cartoon villain lurking in the shadows?

cuz that’s exactly what you’re signing up for here.

we get to the restaurant with our group, all hyped for this “all you can eat INCLUDING sashimi” restaurant thinking we just found a new usual spot, thinking it’s time to feast. they give us the order sheet, we go and check off 100 pieces of sashimi (*this is important) plus other dishes, we’re getting back to town from a roadtrip and are famished

the servers sprint out with the cheap filler foods like their lives depend on it. Chicken wings? tempura? here you go. miso soup? take 5. but the sashimi? NAH. that took 45 whole minutes. for RAW fish. You don’t even have to cook it. what were they doing?

and when it finally came out... i’ve seen thicker pages in a bible. i’m talking about cuts of sashimi like they were crudely chopped to all tiny and odd shapes under a microscope. 40 pieces if you squint, but more like 20 if you use your glasses.

We asked server where’s the rest of the order, she goes to the owner, who’s around the corner like he’s doing recon. she comes back all nervous saying “they’re busy with other orders, so we can’t give you 100 pieces of sashimi”. busy? the place was half full. 7 tables filled out of probably 20, 4 of them starving with no food on their table

so we’re like “okay, let’s order more sashimi.” now they say “oh we don’t have enough stock, we had a delivery error”. it’s an all-you-can-eat place that runs out of the main thing they advertise.

we even ask for the server to bring the manager, and the man literally looks at us from the corner, makes eye contact, and shakes his head at the server like he’s in a sitcom. bro said “nah” without saying a word. Server says she’ll bring the owner’s wife to talk to us, never happened

we were in there for almost 3 hours negotiating like we were at a UN peace talk just to get served.

listen. the food isn’t even the problem. it’s the total lack of respect, transparency, and basic decency. the servers tried, but the management? goofy. owner? goofy

if you are inclined to test your patience, work on your negotiation skills, or just hate yourself, come through. but if you value your time, your dignity, or your brain cells? do yourself a favor and stay far, far away.

you’ve...