Sushi Gonpachi Shibuya — Restaurant in Tokyo

I really hate to do this, because I've had a long streak of raving about places, but it's gotta be done--the streak has come to an end.

I was excited to come to Gonpachi based on the positive reviews. Upon arriving, the hostess asked if we had a reservation and which side we wanted to go on (sushi vs. izakaya), and the impression I got was there would be a wait either way... But then someone else came out and said there was no wait on either side. Which was great!

We were led to the sushi side, which was significantly quieter than the izakaya side--different vibes but both cool. We sat at one of the tables by the window and someone came by promptly with menus. But then took at least 10 minutes before coming back to take our orders. Which was fine because they might have been busy on the other side.

When they came back, we ordered one of the dinner sets for 6000 yen and we each ordered a cocktail. Granted, we were a party of two who asked for one dinner set. But we didn't realize they put in two orders until the third course.

The first course was the appetizer, which we were told was an egg dish. To our surprise, we were served something else completely--something that looked like a snail and tasted fine, but it would have been nice to know in advance. They put it down and didn't offer any alternatives.

Next course, I thought they were just being nice, giving us an extra croquette (because at many other places so far, after ordering, they gave us complimentary small dishes) and then also splitting the tempura for us. But right before we finished the tempura, it suddenly occurred to us they possibly put us down for two orders of the dinner set, which we did not want or ask for (or, granted, clarify).

So here's where the benefit of the doubt ends and where the night begins to spiral.

I asked one of the staff to come by and explained the situation, and he understood and went to see what he could do. After about 15 minutes of us waiting anxiously for a resolution, he came back and said the best he could do was charge us 6000 for one full set because supposedly the food was all already made? But he could discount the second set to 4400 because the last few components of that hadn't been made yet (while they had been for the first set?). The math was not mathing.

But we accepted that. But still nothing came out for another 10 minutes. So clearly, none of the subsequent courses had been made. I found him to say we would just pay a la carte for what we had eaten already, but he insisted he couldn't cancel anything because the fish had been cut, the other fish had been cooking, etc. Again, I accepted, even though I felt like we'd been deceived about the order of events.

The course of grilled fish finally came out a few minutes later, and one piece was fine, while the other thicker piece was tough and not cooked through, and it really started to feel like that was pettiness in play, because for a nice restaurant, a piece of grilled fish should be easily accomplished. Plus, if it had already been cut and cooking, wouldn't it have been overcooked, not undercooked?

The nigiri came out next, just one set, which was what we expected from the resolution. That was fine. The other stuff came out as expected to complete the one set.

But all the while, we were getting dirty looks from the chefs. We finally got the bill and tried to just leave swiftly to save the rest of the night.

We spent over 2 hours here to have a mediocre meal with terrible service, and there are so many other things I could think to do with my...

Last dinner in Japan was my best! I am a vegetarian traveling with my husband and kids. This was a place when we were all Equally satisfied and enjoyed our meals. I made my own multi course meal, rather than do their pre-fix/omakase. It was a great decision. I got the tofu (delicious!!) and edamame which we all shared. Then for 3 skewers and enjoyed trying them.

Then got the vegan sushi.

I am happily stuffed and loved having options when my family also loved their food.

My husband for the mid course omakase. He enjoyed most of the courses. My college aged kids picked a few items a la caste and enjoyed them. Service was nice and view and atmosphere was great.

They spoke English well which made it easy to communicate as well.

Very happy with our choice!! We all recommend it, especially for a family with our mix of dietary needs as it was hard to find places to make us all happy.

It...

You have to take the elevator and go to the 14F. You will find this jewel in Shibuya. The food is amazing, but the service can be improved. We were waiting for more than 20 min until we decided to stop one of the waiters to order something to drink, we didnt even had water, and then the guy said that we have to ask them if we need anything, so i think they dont have waiters asigned to each area.The waiter just came back 2 times more, and that's it, we decided to just have dinner and go somewhere else to drink. In the beginning, we decided to order a bunch of food because the service is really slow, but it is worth the wait. So far, one of the best restaurants to eat and drink, they normally play good music and the place is beautiful, totally recommended 👌. Anything that you order in the menu is going to be good and they have plenty of sakes that are from different prefectures, so you should...