Makimono — Restaurant in Pickering

🪱🤮 I don’t usually leave a review after a bad experience, but the outright denial of the food having BUGS in it tonight has made me frustrated enough to. I know the response will just ask me to reach out via email but I’m really not down to be gaslit again.

I’ve eaten here several times without any issues. It was my favourite sushi restaurant to visit despite not living in Pickering. But tonight I was met with what was obviously larvae in my food.

I didn’t want to make a scene. I understand that sometimes things happen, and I have too much anxiety myself to cause a noticeable fuss. I took pictures and a video before we quietly brought it to staff’s attention, originally away from other customers to give them an opportunity to make it right.

The staff member (who we found out later was the MOD) was originally surprised by what she saw and promptly took the dish into the back. We sat and waited before they returned and told us that they’d spoken with the kitchen staff and it was “actually just a stem”.

I told them it’s not. It was clearly larvae, and I informed them I’d taken pictures and a video. I showed her online images of moth pea larvae, known to infest edamame specifically. After seeing the images I took, they said they would go talk to someone again.

They returned with a receipt offering a whopping 10% off!!! I told them I wasn’t comfortable because they wouldn’t even admit that there were bugs in the food, I didn’t appreciate the attempted gaslighting. I’ve never outright complained at a restaurant, let alone demanded money off, but I was pretty certain this justified more than a 10% discount. Neither of us had all we could eat because our dish had larvae in it!

Staff left again and returned with a receipt that had compensated one of our two all you can eat meals, but not before literally serving edamame to the table beside us! At this point I knew they were not taking this seriously and I was nauseated and frustrated. I told them I don’t think it’s fair to pay for even one all you can eat meal, when neither party could continue eating after finding bugs in the shared dish. We would have ordered more and I couldn’t believe they were not only trying to negotiate how much we would pay, but still serving the edamame to other tables and flat out refusing to admit that there were any bugs in our food. I again showed the pictures and video and they said “I can’t double check because the plate is not in front of me anymore”. I told them that’s exactly why I documented the findings before bringing it to them, because of course you would throw it out and then try to tell me that it was an edamame stem.

Trying to charge me over $80 for two all you can eat meals that weren’t finished because we found this in our food, then trying to charge me $50 while still serving that food to other tables and telling me there weren’t bugs in my food.. I realized they were just hoping I would say okay and pay and leave.

We pointed out the irony of receiving a receipt with a QR code to leave a Google review. I ended up saying look, I know what it was whether you can admit that to me or not, but I’m absolutely not comfortable paying for anything at this point. I tried to bring it up discreetly, I tried to be polite, and instead of apologizing and doing anything at all to acknowledge the issue and prevent other customers from being served this exact dish, you repeatedly tried to gaslight me while exploiting my obvious level of anxiety to get me to pay something and leave.

I didn’t end up paying anything and I can’t believe how adamant I had to be for that to be accepted. I’m still sick to my stomach and disappointed at how it was handled. I know they just wanted us to leave, they clearly aren’t dealing with the fact that their food is infested, so I would NOT suggest going.

Don’t fricken gaslight me after I’ve ingested your larvae infested food. I tried to be so reasonable. I have OCD and I’m still hungry but I can’t bring myself to eat anything else now. Contamination fear is back and thriving...

Extremely disappointed about how quickly this place has gone downhill. I've been a loyal customer since this location was established, but my most recent experience has driven me away for good. I went here for all you can eat lunch with my mom prior to heading to an appointment, and the service was very poor. First off, we were given defective ipads to order off of. I strongly believe the staff were aware that the ipads were acting up before we ordered, because we saw them fiddling around with it for a long time (longer than usual, as we have been to multiple AYCE places using the same system) prior to giving it to us. When we ordered, we waited quite a bit of time only for the staff to come back and tell us that the ipad was defective and we needed to place our entire order over again.

We finally placed the order with a (supposedly) working ipad, and proceeded to wait another 15 minutes for one order of hot and sour soup to arrive (for people who frequent AYCE sushi restaurants, this is extremely slow service). When it came, it smelled foul and was extremely thick, to the point where we had to give it back because it was absolutely nauseating. We know what good hot and sour soup is supposed to look, smell, and taste like.

We were then slowly served 2 other dishes (one order of black pepper beef and stir dried udon), while other tables who arrived after us were quickly being served what looked like their full orders (tons of sushi, tempura, meat, etc). We sat there waiting with 2 measly dishes. No one approached us to give us an update on our order until we called them over to ask them. The service did not have friendly body language. They would quickly reassure us that it was coming, but never followed up. We ended up waiting an hour for the rest of our meal, and we needed to constantly call servers over to ask them if the rest of the food was coming. They also had to confirm with us what food we had not received yet - only when we called them over. We did not even receive our full order by the end of our meal.

The food quality itself has also deteriorated. I would say it's worth it to just check out some places in Scarborough or Markham if you want to feel like you're getting a quality meal for the money you are paying. The rolls are tiny, the quality of ingredients is visibly poor, and the selection has diminished. They seem to be offering more Chinese/Thai style dishes and less of the actual sushi. Even for a lunch menu.

After a little over an hour and 15 minutes, we were going to be late for our appointment and we could not even finish our meal. Not to mention, we were no longer even hungry after waiting so long for each dish.

The server told us that we could pack up the rest of the meal if we wanted, but that's all she could do for the massively inconvenient meal and unaccommodating service. We asked to speak to a manager. The manager then hesitantly offered a measly 20% discount after we had asked for something to be done with the bill. Apparently knocking off a little bit more than the tax is the only way they can compensate. She also said they wouldn't charge us if we wanted to take the food home, which they would inevitably be throwing out anyways. She said this to our face.

Just overall poor customer service, management and food quality. The worst I have ever experienced from any AYCE sushi place - and I have been to some very sketchy places over the years. I am normally very patient and understanding with staff, and not even picky with food quality. It speaks volumes that I even made the effort to write a negative review of this place.

This place is close to my heart as it was the first really good place to come into Pickering, but times have obviously changed. I certainly hope that they revamp the management of the place and return to the quality that it used to...

We just finished an amazing meal here. It was my friends first visit to a sushi restaurant and they enjoyed the many different options which didn’t have fish in it. They even ordered seconds of some of the dishes. The staff were all very friendly especially the lovely hostess who helped us out several times throughout our meal. Unfortunately the staff had to deal with a very difficult customer behind us. I only mention it because the staff were impeccably professional and patient beyond reason with this customer. My friend and I were disgusted by this customer’s behaviour but were amazed by the tact and amazing way the staff handled the situation. I wish all customers would understand several things before they go to a restaurant like this:

Use your iPad. There is a prompt to bring a server over if you need a drink refilled or to inquire about something. It goes to their computer so the hostess or next available staff can help you. Our hostess was very quick, and super sweet. Some of the food takes longer than others to cook. Sashimi, simple maki rolls, salads are going to be quick. Noodles or fried dishes are going to take more time. An AYCE place should not be attempted if you are in a rush. The servers are not YOUR server, instead you have 5-9 people running around to take care of everyone in the restaurant. Don’t expect to be able to “snap” your fingers (eyeroll don’t do this at any restaurant, it’s just rude) and have someone come to you. We try to ask any questions we have when someone is bringing us food or is clearing away a plate.

This is one of the best AYCE restaurants around. I have been coming for years and my friend definitely will be back (and hopefully bringing me). Thank you to all of the amazing...