Haidilao Shinjuku Branch — Restaurant in Tokyo

I’m not sure whether to give zero stars to this store. I read some reviews on google Maps about this shop and most of them are good reviews. So I took a reservation and came there today. And my experience here is the worst. The staff here are not good in communicate. They didn't even try to introduce how the system here works. Their Japanese or English is not good. And I realize all the good reviews are mostly from Chinese customers who can speak Chinese. After we decided on our course, we had to wait for 20 minutes for the food even though it was early and not crowded at that time. We chose the 7800¥ course x3 person( all you can drink is included but it is pointless ) and there was a dish sold out but the staff didn't bother to tell us the resolution. So if there was 5/15 dish sold out, we still need fully pay for the course, right? And the staff here just do whatever they want and don't need to ask for your agreement or opinion. There was a dish that take more time than another dish (according to the staff) and I didn't realize the time she talk about is infinity. We waited for an hour and it never come. Even though we ask another staff but it didn't help. She just talks something through her phone and with no explanation, she just walks away like nothing. And at this time, it was more crowded but one sentence to explain won't hurt, right? So after another 30 minutes of waiting in hopelessness, we decided to go and never come back. This kind of experience makes me feel unsure about the services of Chinese owner restaurants ( I know there are many good Chinese restaurants but I can help but have that...

Honestly, HDL in other countries have better services than HDL Japan.

Food : nice, but less spicy than other HDL.

Service : In HDL (Singapore), we can play mini-games for discount coupons while waiting, and they also help us celebrate our birthday with a free mini cake. In Japan, they don't have those services (they do have bd cakes but have to be paid), and moreover, when we went to the desserts corner, the server lady rushed to us and told us, "Not free!". (I don't mind paying ¥99 for the desserts, but the annoyed look on her face is just sth :/ ) Like, come on, we could eat plenty of ice-cream in other countries, and all you have here is small pieces of cake and jelly anyway. Well, we paid and ate the desserts anyway, and they are tasty and refreshing after hotpot.

Other services: They have a nail corner, and the lady doing our nails was really nice and patient. But don't forget to book for it as soon as you get there since they usually have a long que. If you'd like to experience traditional dance, go around 7pm.

Atmosphere: I rate it 3/5 based on my experience comparison. HDL is supposed to be a friendly and lively atmosphere where we can have fun eating. But this one is so quiet and servers are in kinda bad mood. It's not even that crowded or in busy hour. (I don't know if their service style changed bcoz this is in Japan? The party mood...

I love HDL, so came here for dinner but never will again. First off, this branch is in Kabukicho so you have to walk through a street or two that’s a little sketch. I didn’t feel unsafe, but didn’t exactly like the neighborhood either. Second, the service here is atrocious. I understand it’s a busy store and there’s a 90-min time limit, but after seating us in the farthermost corner of the entire restaurant, absolutely nothing happened for a good 15-20 minutes even after we’d placed our order and asked a waitress at least 3 times about our food. And then they had the gall to come and try to chase us out right on the dot, and when we logically pointed out their tardiness in serving us, instead of an apology, we got a “Yes, I know, but the next customers for your table are already here waiting.” Not my problem, lady. I don’t think they even refilled our soup broths once.

Do yourself a favor and go to the Ikebukuro branch instead, where the waitstaff was friendly and...