J:unique kitchen — Restaurant in Ottawa

J:unique is a fantastic restaurant with great execution of their menu. My family, friends and I continue to come back because of the quality and consistency of the food and our most recent visit was no different.. However, I would like to make a complaint regarding the customer service, specifically lack thereof of one staff member. We dined at the restaurant on May 11 at opening for mother's day.

Upon entry when we were checking in, we asked for a table for 5. We were speaking to a team member, Shauna (?) “we don’t have room for 5 right now, you’ll have to wait an hour”. It was such a displeasing tone. We understood that aspect given we saw the current seating plan/table arrangement, we could empathize because we could understand the possible fire hazards as well as the difficulty of the staff passing through to serve the other tables. But regardless of all that into consideration, Shauna was quite dismissive of our ideas of arrangement and plainly did not have a pleasant attitude and was quite short with us. Rather than explaining to us the reasons the tables cannot be changed, she was just plainly dismissive. The restaurant had not been open for 30 mins and she was already not off to a good start. The current seating arrangement resulted in splitting the family into 3 and 2, separately.

Moving on to the time of the order. Because our party was split into 2 tables, we asked our server (separate from Shauna) if we can split the dishes as it would be one order of a food item, but because we were divided, we asked to split the dish in two so that the other table could have the other half. Our server politely said yes. Our server then went on and spoke to Shauna in relation to our table I assumed re: dividing the plates, but I could notice that her demeanour to our server was also dismissive, relaying her to the food preppers to see if our request was possible. It was not possible. Our family members kept getting up going to the other table to get food.

We enjoyed our food, despite some glassware deficiencies, we asked for our bill. We pointed out that we were double charged for an item. We were speaking to our server, however Shauna quickly chimed in with her negative tone, saying “there was a miscommunication and she punched in two”. Instead of taking initiative or being proactive or apologizing and/or removing the extra quantity, she proceeded and said something along the lines, “you ate two bowls”, implying two orders, therefore thats what you are charged for. I could sense our server was trying her best to make our experience pleasant, but Shauna kept bringing it down.

Shauna’s presented a tasteless demeanour, she brought the whole restaurant down with her as collateral. We did not provide Shauna’s negative demeanour defeated any efforts our server and the gentleman server had made with us.

I hope the restaurants uses this as a learning and training experience. Quite...

Summary: Good apps, unimpressive sushi, underwhelming experience.

Having read good reviews, I really wanted to like this restaurant. Sadly, our entire experience was underwhelming at best.

First, we weren't told about the unavailable items on the menu. So after taking time to look through everything and decide what we wanted, I was told the restaurant is out of all types of ramen when I tried to order one. The server gave us time to choose something else. And when we were ready to order a second time, we were told the restaurant is out of chicken karaage.

At that point, it was quite frustrating. So we ordered what seemed safe: miso soup, takoyaki, a spicy salmon roll, a spider roll and a tuna belly nigiri sushi.

Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the sushi. The spider roll is so huge it's impossible to eat without the fillings falling out and the entire piece falling apart. The spicy salmon roll came liberally drizzled with mayo and hot sauce; you couldn't taste the fish. The tuna belly didn't taste like tuna belly too. Fortunately, the takoyaki was good.

To be fair: The restaurant put the miso soup on the house as they were out of the items we wanted. But it would have been so much more pleasant if we were just told what was unavailable.

Also, when the second server saw that most of my hubby's spicy salmon roll was untouched, she wanted to give us credits for a future visit.

However, our experience was so unpleasant we really didn't think we would come again. So, while we appreciated the gesture, we felt the rating should reflect the overall experience which is...

I recently visited a Japanese restaurant in downtown Ottawa for the first time, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. Despite the quirky service, which was not bad, it was understandable as the restaurant was extremely busy. I would recommend arriving early, as they do not take reservations ahead of time.

This new restaurant is a great find for anyone looking for a wide selection of Japanese food options. From sushi to tempura, their menu had something for everyone, and all of it was delicious. Our dinner party all loved the food options, and we were impressed by the quality, variety, and taste of everything we tried.

Compared to many other Japanese restaurants in Ottawa, this one stood out as being a notch above the rest. The dishes were expertly prepared and beautifully presented, and the flavors were simply divine. We particularly enjoyed the sushi rolls, which were fresh and flavorful, as well as the ramen, which were perfectly cooked and served in a savory broth.

Overall, I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a fantastic Japanese dining experience in downtown Ottawa. While the service may be a bit quirky, it is understandable given the restaurant's popularity and the high demand for their delicious food. So, if you're looking for a great meal with friends or family, I would definitely give this restaurant a try. You won't be...