Uni Modern Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Victoria

For what they charge the food isn't particularly amazing. It's good but there's other places that are better. The service is just bad. I've been twice and both times they were just all over the place. The first time we were in large group and they had 2 different servers so one side of the table finished their food and was ready for bills while the other table was just getting their food. The other time the server confirmed our orders verbally and yet forgot a sushi roll for my friend who only ordered 2 things and was too polite to complain. Another item didn't arrive till we were ready for bills. There was no soy sauce on the table and we asked for some which arrived 40 minutes later and I waited because I wanted it for my sushi. The server made an excuse that they were busy inside, which is just unprofessional...like I understand when a restaurant is busy and the service is slow but this guy has 4 people helping him serve his table and honestly it would be smarter just train those people as servers and have smaller sections. If the server is apologizing to his table for failing because it's busy, more people should be taking tables, more support staff does not make service better it just increases room for error. He was super nice so I feel bad but it's not even his fault, this place is just poorly managed. My agadashi tofu came with seaweed on top and I had to request bonito flakes from one of the many people coming by our table and she didn't even know what bonito flakes were until I said fish flakes....I've never had agadashi tofu without fish flakes and on my previous visit there were fish flakes on it. As a customer it's really annoying when multiple support staff are coming to your table but you aren't getting what you need and then you don't really know if you should ask them or wait for your server, it's draws the attention away from the food and dining experience and just makes you focus on the service wondering if you're actually going to get what you asked for. I also hate the real wasabi upsell. It's offensive because they have so many staff members and the restaurant is overpriced. I also dislike the ipad service where the server talks to you while staring at a screen, but that's just a personal dislike and I'm only saying that because of how pricey this place is and the fact that the electronic device obviously didn't prevent the server being too busy and missing an item. It feels impersonal and it's not impressive at all. I've been in the restaurant industry and I hope people realize that good service is not that hard, and it's just unacceptable to market yourself as an expensive fancy sushi place and deliver awkward confusing and just crappy service. There are better places downtown Victoria with fancy cool sushi and good service. I hope they improve because that corner they are on is "cursed" and no business has ever...

The food presentation was beautiful. The food was average tasting. The atmosphere was nice. Service was lacking.

I was actually a bit disappointed by this restaurant. It had such high ratings.

It was busy, and we waited about 20 min for a table for 2. Normally a good sign!

We were sat but our server took about 8 minutes to come see us. We were ready to order. We had the silver Omakase (24 sashimi), the Flaming Unagi, and the Tuna Bumblebee. We also ordered drinks.

About 20 minutes later, the Omakase showed up, smoking from the dry ice. We had to ask about our drinks. She went away and came back a minute later with them.

Our 2 seater table was too small for the drinks, bowls, silver omakase tray, sushi, etc. It was awkward trying to work around everything.

The Omakase looked fantastic, but was really hard to share. If we tried orienting it for both of us, we couldn't reach the closest sashimi. Turned so it was open to both of us, the food was only on one side. I think they should have arranged the food so we could get it from either side.

The Flaming unagi was kind if fun. There ghostly wasn't a lot of flame and I don't know if the flavor changed that much. My wife did like the flavor of the eel, though.

The Tuna bumblebee was fun - I think the sauce made it good. I couldn't really get a piece in my mouth though. When I tried to bite down, it exploded out if the sides of my mouth due to the size.

Our server only came back at the very end asking if we needed anything. I probably would have ordered another drink but we were almost done...

Visited: July 5, 2025 Summary: Great food, torpedoed by service so incompetent it’s almost performance art.

Let me start with the only positive: the food was good. Not life-changing, but solid. Unfortunately, the service felt like it was managed by a group of people doing an experimental piece on customer neglect. -It took 20 minutes just to take our main orders, and not because the place was packed. It wasn’t. -We ordered miso soup early on. It arrived 15 minutes later, alone, with no explanation. -After our food hit the table, our server fully disappeared. No check-in, no water refills, not a single glance in our direction. She ghosted the table like we’d been exiled from the service section. We never saw her again. Genuinely weird. -When we finally finished eating, our plates sat there untouched for another 20 minutes. Eventually, someone came by… and removed only half of them. Just half. Then wandered off again. Meanwhile, other tables that had already left were getting cleared with military precision.

It was like being trapped in a social experiment to test how long guests can sit in confusion before giving up and busing their own table.

The irony? The kitchen clearly knows what it’s doing. But that effort is being totally sabotaged by front-of-house service that feels both disinterested and directionless. It’s not just bad, it’s apathetic in a way that suggests management isn’t paying attention, or worse, doesn’t care.

End result: This place could be great. Instead, it’s a masterclass in how to make good food...