Azabu Juban Sushi Suzume — Restaurant in Tokyo

Please Do Not Support Racism

On October 10th, my girlfriend and I had an 8:30 PM reservation at Sushi Y. Although we are Canadian citizens, I used my Hong Kong travel SIM for the booking since we were visiting Japan from HK. Due to an upset stomach, we arrived at 8:40 PM, within the restaurant's 15-minute grace period. (confirmed arrival time by my Uber receipt)

Upon exiting the elevator and entering the dining room at 8:42pm, Chef Takanori Wada immediately started, "Sorry, there is no more food. No more for you guys [my girlfriend and I]."

Initially, we thought he was being sarcastic, especially as other guests laughed. We apologized and explained my stomach pain, hoping for Wada’s understanding. There was zero understanding, support, or empathy shown by Takanori Wada.

Wada glared at us and expressed, “You need to know how to respect MY time,"

Then, Wada turned to the other guests who were no longer laughing and stated,

“It’s always people from Hong Kong who are always late.”

This comment felt prejudiced, as we were judged based on our appearance and the HK-coded SIM, while directing racial hate towards an entire innocent community of Hong Kong. This action showcased Takanori Wada’s attitude towards his customers from Hong Kong and potentially the whole of Greater China.

My girlfriend was upset and was ready to leave but she looked at me worried and decided to stay since I hadn’t eaten all day. However, Wada's rude demeanor persisted with no remorse or any form of reconciliation, creating an uncomfortable and unsafe atmosphere for us, his first- time customers.

After the below average third course, with the side glares from other guests and Wada’s racial discrimination, I chose to leave. When I asked for the bill, Takanori Wada smirked and said, "Leaving?" It was disheartening, my girlfriend and I had been nothing but grateful and apologetic throughout the whole discriminatory treatment. We did not cause a scene, decided to leave before the full 20- course meal, and willingly paid the full price.

Absurdly, after I have paid for the full bill of 3 pieces of sushi meal, Wada had the shamelessness of chuckling as if he was celebrating that we are leaving. Wada’s actions indeed triggered me to exchange words with him.

As proven, Takanori Wada does not have any professionalism, integrity, and communication of a proper Omakase chef or basic human decency towards my girlfriend and I. Unfortunately, racial discrimination marked our overall experience at Sushi Y, we left feeling unwelcome, unsafe, and discriminated against.

Takanori Wada, an Asian chef, showed prejudice against his own customers and his own race. It is extremely important to recognize such behaviour in the...

[ A taste of Japanese coldness ] We were only 3 min late (outside of 15 min allowance) due to meeting and weather. And we called while we were on the way… it’s raining heavily and the driver was so nice to rush that it was actually quite dangerous on a rainy day. We arrived 18:17 the lift was already locked for their floor . I had no choice but ran up the back stairs and knocked on their back door . I checked my watch. It was 18:18. After 5 mins of continuous knocking, they finally answered the door… a guy came out and he said we’re not allowed to go in due to their policy. We got stuck in the back stairs with him for over 20 minutes. This is the worst experience I ever had with restaurants around the world . We offered to skip the earlier courses and we explained the traffic situation, we have been treated so lowly by a restaurant, and not to mention we are paying the full price on the cancellation. We booked through Omakase, the late policy wasn’t mentioned in the booking confirmation email, and we were not aware of this 15-min late policy until we called the restaurant about our slight delay… ( which was only 3 mins late when we are outside their door) The guy even said we can call the police for help but there’s nothing could do despite we had paid for the two empty seats inside.

Regardless of how good the food would be, the way they treat customers is brutally rigid and arrogantly disrespectful. After all it’s only a dinner, why do they have the right to make people feel so diminished for just being a few mins late. And why they feel so legitimate to charge full meal cancellation while we were right at their door! ! Is there any law to govern this unfair...

Chef Wada's omakase experience is A MUST for anyone living in or visiting Tokyo. Fresh seafood and great value for a 25 course omakase experience.

Chef Wada was trained in Tokyo and New York and had previously ran his own restaurants in Honolulu and worked at Michelin rated restaurants in Japan. I was excited to try his new restaurant for the first time when it opened back in March and had a fantastic experience. Chef Wada speaks English so the lack of language barrier allowed us to be engaged and learn about the inspiration and techniques behind the food we were served.

I returned a second time recently in May, this time bringing my husband for his birthday. Chef Wada recognized me and had made sure to switch up his menu to ensure I had a new experience - extremely thoughtful and personable.

Chef Wada takes on a modern approach and adds his own flair to his delectable 25 course omakase menu. He prides himself on sourcing his seafood from Toyama and highlights of our set included specialty ebi, hokkaido uni, more uni served with fugu liver white sauce, aori squid, hair crab hand roll and much more. Our meal finished with a homemade sea salt ice cream which was also to die for - this alone is worth another trip back to Sushi Y!

Thank you Chef Wada for superb food and an amazing experience each time. I am counting down the days to my next trip out to Japan for another amazing omakase...