Saboten Japanese Cutlet — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

Disappointing dinning experience

Avoid unless you are prepared to have a meal per person. The stinginess of this Japanese restaurant does not reflect the true Japanese hospitality.

As a group of 6 (4 adults and 2 kids), upon sitting down at our table, we were quickly served with a standard size bowl of shredded cabbage. (Our bowl was the same as those are a party of 2 and shared between the 6 of us). After ordering the 4 adult meals, the manager pushing me to order a kids meal, however our children would like to share ours instead. When I asked for a top up on the shredded cabbage, I was refused because we have only ordered 4 adult meals (shocking! 🤯) and not a meal for each person of our group. We let that one go without a fuss, but why being stingy on cabbage is beyond me. When the food arrives, we try to order a couple of rice as add-on for the children but was told we only have the 4 that come with the meals and that is it. They have basically penalising our right for free refills of cabbage (and my little boy doesn’t even like cabbage 🤷🏻‍♀️), miso soup, rice and pickles, even tho at the display window (see photo) of the restaurant clearly labeled that every meal comes with free refills of the mentioned above, because we didn’t order the 5th meal like the manager has asked me to. There’s no where on the display window or menus stating that each person needs to order a meal to be eligible for the free refills.

While the food is average, the whole dinning experience has left a bitter taste in our mouth. We will not return to this restaurant in a hurry, there are better ones with better service...

It was pretty fire. Found this spot in the basement of Henry House - kinda gives off those hidden gem vibes2. The place has this chill Japanese aesthetic with wood beams and these lowkey comfy seats. Their tonkatsu game is straight up legit. The pork cutlet was dummy thicc with this perfect golden-brown crust that's mad crispy but not greasy at all1. The meat inside? Stupid juicy. Apparently they use some fancy 180-day aged pork that's been living its best life eating barley or whatever. The best part? They give you this whole DIY situation where you grind up your own sesame seeds with this mini mortar and pestle before mixing it with their special sauce. Kinda therapeutic ngl. Plus, they hook you up with unlimited cabbage, rice, and miso soup. Your boy was going hard on those refills, no cap. Prices aren't too wild - like 88-198 HKD for set meals. Just don't come between 3-6 PM cause they're closed, and be ready to wait cause they don't take reservations and it gets packed during lunch rush. Only L is the service can be hit or miss, and if you're vegetarian, RIP cause it's basically all pork and chicken here. But tbh, if you're coming to a tonkatsu spot looking for veggie options, that's on you fam. Solid 8/10, would smash again. Just come early to dodge the...

Avoid at all cost. Here's why:

Staff are rude. They are impatient and will raise their voice at you. I was replying an email when the food came, and the waiter rudely shouted 'excuse me' out loud to get my attention. The manager accidentally dropped my card on the table after paying but didn't even say sorry.

They charge top dollars for everything but the food is certainly not up to par. Ordered the premium cutlet set ($228). Let's just say I've had better cutlet at Apita's deli. The meat was tough & the breading fell off easily. The tea & miso soup were both severely watered down. Underwhelming is perhaps an understatement!

The all-you-can-eat cabbage salad WAS the highlight I suppose. Sauces were pretty decent. The lady who brought me salad turned out to be the nicest of them all. However, I didn't go there to eat cabbage!

The place is small and noisy. You can hear every conversation around you. I'm of course aware that it's a busy restaurant but that level of noise is OTT.

Certainly won't...