Madoi Sushi Restaurant — Restaurant in Peterborough

Update - lowered review to 1 star

Didn’t clean the table between guests, in the midst of the COVID pandemic

Bad experience overall - although it wasn’t entirely the servers’ fault. Their tablets weren’t working. We had to switch tables. (Then they seated a couple at the table we were previously at without wiping it down first). Our order didn’t come out right. There was a bee in our food.

I’ve had a negative experience here before, but thought I would give them another try.

Lesson learned. I definitely won’t be going back.

--

Original review (sorry, it's a long one):

Madoi is usually my go-to sushi place in Peterborough, but after my incredibly disappointing experience tonight, I don't think I'll ever be going back.

I made reservations for a large sized group almost three weeks ago. Knowing that the group was so large and that it was the night before Thanksgiving, I wanted to make sure everything would be okay. When I called to make my reservation, I was told it wouldn't be a problem.

I followed up with them about a week before the reservation to confirm final numbers.

I called in again this afternoon, just to make sure they were actually going to be open today (as a few things were closed for the holiday). They said they were, but they might close early for Thanksgiving. At this point I began to worry as I made reservations for 7:30 pm and their posted hours were until 9:30 pm. They assured me that my reservation was still okay, and my group was okay to stay even if they began to close the rest of the restaurant.

When we get there and sit down for a bit we are told it was 'last call' when most of us hadn't even received our food yet. We had to ask a few times where most of our orders were, as there were a lot of dishes that were missing. I had to go home and eat afterwards as I wasn't able to order everything I would have wanted to.

It felt incredibly disorganized and it felt like we were being rushed out. If they intended to close the restaurant early for the holiday, they could have called me. They had my name and phone number when I made reservations weeks prior. They even could have told me when I called this afternoon, and I could have made the reservation for a bit earlier in the evening.

The only redeeming factor about tonight, is that they did not charge for one of my friends who did not eat very much. That's why this review is two stars instead of one.

I'm so embarrassed and upset by the service we received. Many of the guests in the group had never been to Madoi, and I felt it was necessary to apologize to everyone. Especially because it's pretty expensive. I doubt they will be returning after our experience...

Quite possibly the worst sushi experience I've ever had. I have eaten at restaurants across the country, and I believe I would have enjoyed gas station sushi more.

A health thing I will touch on quickly but believe vital to express is their covid behaviour. I visited three more restaurants over the weekend and every one asked for ID, proof of vaccine, and contact tracing, often before they would even seat you or immediately after. Madoi did none of these things. At first we thought they were just wildly busy and would do so as soon as they could, but no. Nor did they do it for the booth that sat next to us or any patrons that entered after (as we could see everyone enter). Additionally, they had every single booth filled with a short line at the door. Quite likely operating above capacity limits.

Now, they did do some things very well. A number of their hot dishes were excellent (though every beef dish was very dry) though each dish was warm at best if not cold due to incredibly long wait times. That is, if the dish ever arrived at all. The quality of most of the fish was quite enjoyable, too. Nothing to write home about, but for the most part exactly what you expect at an all you can eat sushi establishment. Again, if it actually arrived. The temperature part I will chalk up to them being very understaffed, with very inexperienced staff. Nothing wrong with new staff, but they needed to be paired with experience and more bodies, especially for a weekend evening shift. Furthermore, staff that spill a sizeable amount of water on the table that then proceeds to drip on the floor, but never come back to clean it up, could benefit from further training.

The single biggest problem was the rice. I had not been aware that sushi rice could be ruined so badly (and my inexperienced hands have made a few batches at home, to greater success). The rice is the one thing a sushi restaurant can not afford to do wrong. The sushi arrived hot. It was falling apart. And it was somehow sweet and sour and salty all at once. And to a degree that overpowered the fish, or overpowered the rolls. I do not have a fussy palat, even if things aren't great, I can usually eat them just fine. My dinner company and I left food unfinished.

So between inexperienced staffing, unbelievably long wait times, terrible rice, and flippant covid protocols, I would not recommend this place to anyone in the immediate future. Maybe in a few months they will sort themselves out, but right now, they have too...

I'll be fair and say that most times I've gone here the experience was fair, but recently I had an experience that was so appallingly awful that I may never go back to Madoi again!

My advice to anyone considering this sushi restaurant over all the others in Peterborough is this: Do NOT eat here if they are BUSY! ESPECIALLY if they take you to the separate alcove on the other side of the restaurant!

The service was terrible. We were in an isolated room with 4 other tables, 2 of which came in before our group. All the tables left before we did! We got in before 7:30 pm and didn’t leave until close at 10 pm. The other tables around us were obnoxious and had to be rude to get attention before us, so I guess another lesson I give you is that the staff here only serve those who are rude! Don’t try to be nice, it’s not rewarded!

We got tea, but it was only refiled one time.

We had something happen that was almost COMICAL, a “good server, bad server” routine. One server was so annoyingly cold and bitter towards us when we pointed out kindly how we were still hungry and waiting for food. She also seemed pushed to irritation when we pointed out, rather angrily, that one of the meat dishes was cold, as if it was just sitting away from a heater for 30 minutes!

I’m sorry Madoi staff, but YOU don’t get to have and ATTITUDE about that, the CUSTOMER does! Don’t serve me something that could make me sick and then have an attitude about it!!! No apology or anything just a “do you want another one?” Um…. no thanks! Wouldn’t want to wait another 30 minutes for it anyways, of which I’m sure 20 would be it sitting on a cold counter again!

Then we had the “good server” come out, possibly because the bad server was talking behind our backs, to ask if everything is ok in a nice way as if this makes everything ok again.

We also had both servers, and possibly the manager, come in and clean the other 4 tables around us instead of trying to get our food! They didn’t say a word to us; no remorse at all, great way to run a business! When the food finally got to our table (in irregular random bursts), it was adequate. After we finally got close to being full around closing time, we left and paid with no tip. There are times I wish you could just put a negative tip on the machine!

If I ever go here again, it would probably be for the much cheaper lunch menu. The food might be quicker if...