Nippori Cafe — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

Very Disappointed with the Service – Poor Handling and No Accountability

I rarely leave negative reviews, even if the food isn't great, but I felt compelled to write this one based on our recent experience.

We arrived at the restaurant and asked the staff if they could accommodate a group of 8–9 people. Two staff members told us to wait outside while they prepared a table for us, mentioning that a few tables were finishing up and would soon be available. So we waited, as instructed.

While we were waiting, another group of about 12 people walked straight into the restaurant and were immediately seated—at the exact tables we were supposedly waiting for. One of the staff even asked us if that group was part of ours (which they obviously weren’t), and we said no. As customers, we expected your staff to explain the situation to the other group and ask them to wait their turn. Instead, your staff allowed them to be seated and told us they would now arrange a different table for us.

When we asked how much longer we’d have to wait, and why the other group was given the table even though we arrived first, the staff simply pointed at “Table A” and said we had to wait for those customers to leave. But those customers had just arrived and hadn’t even received their food yet. When we asked again, another staff member said to wait another 10 minutes for “Table B.”

We understand that mistakes can happen—but what matters most is how you handle them. Throughout the entire experience, no one from your team offered a single apology. On top of that, one female staff member showed clear attitude and was visibly rude both before and after we were finally seated.

Is this really how you treat your customers? Are we expected to confront other customers ourselves and tell them, “Hey, those are our seats. Please go queue outside”?

I honestly don't understand how your staff is trained, but this experience was extremely...

Used to love this place pre Covid but the food quality seemed to have dropped when I visited a week ago. Portion remained large but pricings were relatively high as compared to other restaurants, nothing special to mention anymore, honestly.

Basic service level was very disappointing. Made a reservation and requested for a tatami seating via the letsumai website (there's an option for normal seating as well on the website). However, when I reached, I was directed to a normal seating. I was surprised and told the foreign waitress (idk her name but she had her hair bunned up) that I requested for a tatami seating. She gave me an annoyed stare and said the system didn't prompt her anything until I had to show her my reservation details. She then showed me that there was no tatami seating info shown on her list (basically this letsumai also damn cmi). But ok fine, I asked to be swapped to tatami seating once there's availability and the waitress promised.

However, my friend and I were monitoring the available tatami seats all time and noted that one of the tatami seatings was available for 10minute. We tried to give the waitress chance to move us asap so we waited for a bit. However, it was extremely disappointing that this waitress was just staring blankly and barely serving any customers throughout the 10minute and she didn't even bother to move us to the empty tatami seating! We had to ask another waitress to move us after that. I seriously do not think that the waitress could be so forgetful within 15-20 minutes because the no. of customers was not a lot as well. Didn't really fancy that annoyed stare from the waitress as a customer.

Also noted one of the waiters served the tea cup with 4 fingers touching the rim of the cup, which made me rethink if nippori gave the simplest serving skills training to its staff.

Nippori, you...

Been meaning to want to try this place since before COVID but never tried until now. First impression is they have friendly staff who greeted us very nicely and quite attentive to our orders and needs. The seating on the platform was quite cool, so we sat there. We ordered sets, one of it was beef yakiniku set with rice, sashimi and soup, and the other set was deep fried fish with tartare with rice and soup and fresh salmon sashimi as well. We even ordered their best seller King Salmon Nigiri sushi.

The king salmon sushi was quite delicious and fresh. And quite generous with the salmon cut too. The yakiniku set, the beef was cooked nicely and very tasty. The deep fried fish tartare was another unexpected surprise. Texture was crispy but soft fried fish with fantastic fish meat that was cooked hot inside. It was one of the best set meals I have ever had. And it really felt authentically Japanese based on the taste itself and the interior decoration. Their fruit tea drink was not bad either. Not too sweet, just nice and fruity.

But the most surprising of all, was the traditional tiramisu dessert. 🤭 Hands down, one of the best tiramisu I've ever tasted. It's like ice cream texture but with some in between bread crust or something. Very nice and crunchy fluffy texture. It's really one of a kind dessert that's simple and complex at the same time.

Overall, we had a great time eating dinner there. And I can't wait to visit again and try their other dishes. If both sets we ordered were delicious and satisfying, chances are other dishes are tasty too. Price wise, maybe slightly on the high side but it was worth it. 👍

Highly recommended for anyone who loves Japanese food. This cafe is really a great alternative if you don't want to eat at those usual Japanese restaurants...