Izakaya by Oku — Restaurant in Kuta Selatan

The food at this establishment is truly exquisite. However, I must express my severe disappointment with the service. We ordered the OKU six-course menu and requested an aperitif to begin. While the bartender was preparing our cocktails (which I highly recommend, as they are expertly crafted right in front of you and are truly perfect), the waitress brought out the first two (!) courses simultaneously.

This is unacceptable! An aperitif, by definition, should be served and consumed before the first course. Instead, we found ourselves struggling to pay attention to both the bartender's cocktail explanation and the waitress's food explanation. As a result, we missed half of what was said. Additionally, we would have liked to order a matching wine for the first course, but were unable to do so due to the simultaneous serving of the dishes. This is not what one would expect from a fine dining establishment.

To make matters worse, while we were still eating (!) our second course, the same waitress attempted to bring us the third course. We politely requested to finish our food first. Despite that, after only a few minutes, and with dirty plates still in front of us, another waitress AGAIN brought out the third course. At this point, we were quite angry. When paying approximately €200 (a huge amount for balinese standards) for an evening of fine dining with a six-course menu, proper etiquette dictates that the table should be cleared of dirty dishes and there should be a brief break before the next course is served. Is that really too much to ask?! We conveyed our dissatisfaction emphatically to the waitress, and from that point forward, we were asked if we were ready for the next course before it was brought out.

It is clear that the service staff is NOT properly trained. A restaurant of this caliber, designed to offer a fine dining experience, should prioritize offering excellent service. For the first three courses, the waitress ruined what could have been a wonderful dining experience! We have dined at several excellent restaurants with multi-course menus, some of them Michelin-star rated. However, we have never experienced such a lack of service and the need to educate the servers on the proper order of a six-course menu.

A note to the chef: I have never tasted Japanese food of this quality prepared and presented so beautifully. Each course was absolutely perfect, and I cannot find a single flaw. Thank you so much for the...

The taste and overall presentation of the food was excellent. Compliments to the chef! Every taste was an explosion in our mouth. However, the service was left to be desired. The waitresses made a large mistake that cannot be ignored in fine dining. As the numerous waitresses that handed out dishes ALL made the same mistake, I am inclined to think that the establishment did not give them proper training and feedback. Specifically, the general rule is that you serve the food from the guest’s left using your left hand. The servers should never want to reach across a table over a guest to hand a plate to another guest. It is always best to hand a plate from the closest point. Instead, this situation happened to me numerous times and I had to move my plate over to position in front of me - something the waitresses should do on my behalf. If this was an ordinary Japanese restaurant, I wouldn’t mind. It’s not a big deal and it doesn’t bother me. However, this is a fine-dining restaurant in a 5-star prestigious hotel. The expectations for fine dining are higher and unfortunately, they did not meet it. I was disappointed about that. The restaurant should give their waitresses proper...

Ruined our night. We came here for my brother's graduation night expecting to celebrate with great food and great service.

Food was far below expectations. It was mediocre at best. For the price, I was expecting to be blown away by the taste when in fact, I could've gotten the same thing at another place for way cheaper, and maybe even more delicious. They're banking on the fact that they use premium ingredients (this is true, the ingredients do look and taste premium), but don't know how to process it to result in a good dish.

The service didn't help either. I booked a table outside due to the current situation, but was reassured by the hostess that there will be a waiter/waitress standing by outside to accommodate us. During our dinner, there was no one on standby outside and my mom had to go inside to ask for dessert to be served, and this has to be done twice because the first time, we waited for 10 minutes and it never came. Even the main course were served late. My mother, brother, and I had already finished our dish by the time my father's dish came.

Definitely not recommended, just another hotel restaurant expecting hotel guests to be...