Okinii — Restaurant in Essen

I have chosen this restaurant because I wanted to spend couple of hours before the concert and here was the "all you can eat" option.

So muy friend and I have ordered the "dinner buffet" for 35 EUR. I like how the ordering system has been developed: you will get link to web-app, log in using PIN-code from waitor and then you can order up to 8 rounds, up to 5 dishes each round. All this stuff is limited to two hours.

The choice of dished, which are included in this deal, is more or less good. And you will be able to try almost everything? Why almost? There are couple of reasons why you won't get all that you want. Soon your rounds will be mixed up and you will not be able to follow what is in which round. You still can take a look on your order history in the web-app though. But nevertheless we did not get 3 or 4 dishes, these simply haven't appeared on our table after 2 hours.

What about the dishes: they are small, and I cannot say that quality is good. It is okay, that's it. Desserts are ridiculous. Cheesecakes were totally dry, and we have got them as my cappuccino was already cold. I also asked for glass of tap water to my cappuccino, but I was told I only can buy bottled water.

At the end I discovered that there is no toilet paper in the WC.

So it was onetime experience, I would not recommend...

What began as a great concept years ago, this business model has sadly declined to the point of no return. Familiar with the Dusseldorf (both) and Essen establishments, we have frequented these over the last 8 years more times than I can remember. As an Australian family we appreciated finding a "reasonable" place that gave us a little taste of home; embracing our country's strong Asiatic influential communities. For some years now, there has been a steady decline in service and quality of food. At the request of my daughter visiting here, I reluctantly agreed to dine at the Essen restaurant. A costly mistake. Service staff - inept, incompetent, flippant, disorganised and unskilled; Food - sloppy, inconsistent, cold, some dishes inedible (literally); Price point - outrageous considering the above; One 🌟 for their classic "go to" yakitori chicken sticks and another 🌟 for the complimentary bubbles (ladies night apparently). Will I return? Absolutely NOT. I can't make this any clearer. Look to the smaller, authentic...

I have mixed opinions here.

Food was overall decent, not the best thing ever. Good quality sashimi, rolls were done well, all of it was very well made.

Unfortunately the execution and service were not great. We were brought the wrong food once. I understand errors, but there were only 3 tables in the place. There was also a mixup with a drink order, but it wasn't a big deal.

We entered a bit late and sat around 21:30. It was explicitly stated that we had until 23:50 before the kitchen closed. But around 23:00 they turned the lights up and we were asked to order our final rounds. Why give us a time for closing and finishing when you're going to do this? It felt as though we were being kicked out. I understand closing but at least give us a proper end time if you want to shut down early.

Still a decent buffet experience, but I found the menu was a bit lacking. Definitely recommend the lamb, enoki mushrooms, and salmon sashimi if...