Tanuki Restaurant — Restaurant in Markham

The fact that I am writing this review upon immediately leaving the place after eating shows my extreme dissatisfied about this supposedly high-class restaurant. I don't know if it is supposed to act like a fusion-style Izakaya restaurant, but I didn't think it lived up to the hype I was told it'd be like. The pictures are a fraud and service was beyond just terrible. I went the moment it opened at 11am and tried out the three dishes as attached to my post. It was overly fried and the tempura batter wasn't sticking to the shrimp. Their fried stuff needs a lot of work. Their representation of the food and how the photos are published don't match so there's a consistency issue. It also doesn't taste that great as others stated. The atmosphere was quite cold when fall is just around the corner. We changed our seating location once already thinking that going up the top of the stairs would be warmer but it's not. We didn't even take off our jackets when dining and we still kept feeling a draft coming from somewhere. Maybe the a/c was still on. Idk if they changed the staff and owners overtime, but it was definitely how I remember it when I even walked in to grab a take-out menu as a newcomer. My brother bought the Thanksgiving special one year and again, the inconsistency from the promo pictures weren't lining up! The roast beef was too dry despite the outlook of it looking quite juicy and moist. One thing I agree with one of the other reviews mixed in here is how they said the service is unbelievably frustrating. They come to you frequently for the first 2-3 times when you're NOT ready yet but when you are, they DO actively ignore your table when it isn't busy. Mind you, I said I went there immediately upon opening. Later, walked in 2-3 more tables of people. It was still quite empty. I wonder if they think it's because us customers are indecisive and slow at ordering that they essentially just give up on coming back to serve your table until they hear you say "we're gonna leave if they don't come back to me in the next round." On top of all of this, she didn't come back to clear out the table as we were running out of space to put things aside when done and she didn't refill our water pot (I asked to have hot water) given it's finished so fast because of its tiny size. It's the same size as the cups she provided us and we deliberately watched ourselves to conserve our pouring because we knew it'd be gone in a flash of we split it in half. The fact the waiter said it's 10% off if we paid in cash made us fume given how poor the customer service experience was so I said we will stick with paying with credit card. We were originally thinking of tipping but luckily we didn't and saved a few dollars on top of a hefty bill. The customer behind us did the same and we could almost feel off of him even that he was dissatisfied with his visit here as well. Absolutely not worth it. Is the dinner time portion the same type of...

I had an incredibly disappointing experience at this restaurant.

First, we had to wait 20 minutes just to be seated. Once we were finally seated, the server kept pressuring us to place our order.

After ordering, it took two hours for my first dish to arrive. My friend’s food still hadn’t come by the time I finished my meal. To make matters worse, we noticed that other tables, which arrived 30 minutes after us, were already being served. When we asked the waitress how much longer we’d have to wait, she responded impatiently, assuring us that the food was on its way.

After waiting another 30 minutes, I checked with her again, and she admitted that she had forgotten to place our order in the system. She apologized and offered to prepare the food immediately, but by that point, my friend was too upset to wait any longer, having already waited three hours without any food. We decided to leave.

When we received the bill, we were surprised to see that it included items we never received. We had to point this out to the waitress, who, this time, didn’t even apologize—she just corrected the bill and handed us the POS machine. We also asked for a takeout box, and while she said she’d bring one, she went off to serve other customers instead.

After waiting another 30 minutes, we realized she had likely forgotten about the box. My friend was starving, so I went to the front desk to ask another server for the takeout box. However, the girl there seemed annoyed that I approached her, telling me rather curtly to return to my seat, and that she would bring it to me. I wasn’t sure what else we were supposed to do after all the mistakes—just sit there and wait indefinitely?

I did go back to my seat, and when the second server finally brought the box, it was the wrong type. I wanted to take home some soup, but she brought me a paper box that obviously wasn’t suitable. Trying to remain patient, I asked for a container specifically for soup. Without a word, she returned to the kitchen and came back with a used, dirty container. At that point, I just wanted to leave. I was completely disheartened.

When we were ready to leave, nobody came to collect the POS machine, and no one acknowledged us as we left, even though there were at least five servers working at the time.

The food itself was quite good, but the terrible service left me frustrated. I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to anyone—I don’t want my friends or family to be treated so poorly.

P.S. Although the food tasted good, I ended up with severe diarrhea after I got home, and I couldn’t go to work the next day. I can’t believe a restaurant like this is even...

Update after reading a reply from the owner: hi, I appreciate your reply. If you have videos then please spend some time and review what really happened, because at all time we NEVER entered your kitchen. After the long wait my baby was getting extremely sleepy and fussy. We tried to find your waitresses who were not nearby, so excuse us for walking around and try to talk to someone. Again, I emphasize that WE NEVER STEPPED INTO THE KITCHEN!!!! NOR DID WE SHOW ANY DISRESPECT TO YOUR STAFF!! After all I still tipped and let my baby wave goodbye to your staff. As a customer I did nothing wrong. Even if customers did enter your kitchen (WHICH I DIDN'T!), maybe your kitchen staff could start asking them to leave with a more polite tune first, instead of being so offensive and almost directly threatened your customers. I don't demand any compensation (but thanks for offering), and it's pointless to argue here. I was happy about your waitresses but not happy about your kitchen staff. End of the story. I also appreciate you taking time and replying to my review, it shows that as an owner you care about your business. as a customer I'm glad to see it. Personally I won't return anymore but best wishes to you and your future business!

Original review: Waited way too long for the order, but that's not the worst. The kitchen forgot one item from my order, we asked many times and it was still not ready. When we were getting very upset and tried to ask for another time, a bold guy with tattoos stormed out of the kitchen and began to yell at us. His exact words were "we are busy here if you don't want it then leave". ARE YOU KIDDING???? We were not happy because you made a mistake and instead of apologizing you try to intimidate your customers? If you are short on staff then hire more people, this kind of attitude from a service provider is intolerable! On the other hand, two waitresses were nice and patient. They deserve...