Hakata Senpachi — Restaurant in Amsterdam

NB: I’ve been accused of writing a fake review, but as proof, I’ve included my reservation and payment confirmation (not including my 75 euro downpayment) from the restaurant.

Our daughter's successful exam results called for a celebration, and we decided to do it in this place due to our love for Japanese cuisine and the positive reviews that surround it. Being a beautiful, warm day, we anticipated that many families might want to dine outdoors. In light of this, I chose to reserve an outdoor spot through their website, which obliged me to make a €75 down payment.

However, upon arrival, we were disappointed to learn that due to an alleged system error, our reservation didn't exist. According to them, our reservation was double-booked. However, having worked in IT for years, I highly doubt the system is at fault. It seemed more likely that there was poor management on their part, perhaps allowing some guests to occupy the tables longer than allowed, or granting seats to those without a reservation. For a Japanese-inspired restaurant, we expected them to go above and beyond to rectify such a situation.

Unfortunately, the solution they proposed - seating us indoors - wasn't acceptable to us. We suggested we wait inside until a spot becomes available outdoors. Indeed, the interior had a truly Japanese atmosphere, but the noise level was a bit high. For people who don’t mind the din, this isn’t so bad. However, we wanted somewhere quieter where we wouldn’t have to raise our voices to converse. To further dampen our spirits, as we waited, no staff attended us for drinks; we had to actually flag someone down to get served.

When we finally got an outdoor table, we ordered drinks via their electronic system, which were served promptly. However, their system then crashed, making it impossible to order food, which added to our growing discontent. We found ourselves jotting down our orders on our phones and handing them to the waiter. The system remained down even as we left.

Given our Asian roots, the food didn’t overly impress us, but it was aesthetically pleasing and tasty.

What was more disappointing was the staff’s decorum. We found them to be lacking in courtesy and helpfulness, unlike the many other Japanese restaurants we've visited worldwide. Shockingly, this was the first time we felt it was otherwise.

Ideally, one would anticipate the restaurant to offer compensation or a small goodwill gesture, such as a complimentary tea, in response to the inconveniences we experienced. Regrettably, they did not demonstrate such courtesy.

Lack of a polite thank you or goodbye from our waiter was the final nail in the coffin. It seemed to us that they were relieved at our departure, which was unfortunate. Our special night felt dampened by this less-than-satisfactory experience – a night that had all the elements to be...

This restaurant has long been a favorite dinner spot for my family. I have visited at least 6–8 times in the past year and always enjoyed the experience. Unfortunately, my most recent visit was very disappointing.

The quality of service seems to be declining with every visit. There is a high turnover of staff, and many new servers don’t even seem familiar with the menu or dishes. The ordering system is clearly not functioning properly—our orders were either lost or delivered in the wrong sequence, with dishes arriving out of order (for example, rice arriving separately, while meat was served together with dessert).

The biggest frustration came when it was time to pay. My payment was mistakenly charged to the wrong table number, and I was asked to pay again with the promise of a refund within 2 days. Despite sending 10 emails, it took 7 days to finally receive the refund. At no point did I feel there was a sincere apology or any effort to acknowledge and rectify the frustration caused to the customer.

On top of this, the restaurant has changed its pricing strategy. It used to offer a good dining experience at the right value, but now the prices are approaching Omakase-level fine dining while the service quality has dropped and the overall atmosphere feels run-down.

For a restaurant I once considered my family’s go-to, this experience was disheartening. I truly hope management takes these issues seriously and works to restore both the service quality and the value that once made this...

I used to really like this place, but last night was a big disappointment.

For Christmas they had a special Christmas menu created by the chef for 75 euros per person. Already a steep price so you expect enough food. However, this was not the case.

At arrival we got told they didn’t have the grilled sea bass anymore and it got swapped with karaage or vegetable tempura (they told me first it was with shrimp?). Weird to substitute a fish dish with chicken or vegetables instead of a different fish dish. We got served all the dishes in 10 minutes, so our food got cold because we couldn’t eat that fast. I told the server this but not a lot happened. The table next to us got their dishes in a normal pace it seemed, so why didn’t we? We only got 6!! different skewers to share with two people while the menu clearly stated you would get 6 skewers per person. A table of 4 next to us only got 12 skewers to share. This was an outrageous little amount of food, keeping in mind it was 75 euros per person. After telling the server this we got 6 more skewers extra because we were ‘lucky’. Other tables also complained about the little amount of food given.

The food was good, but if you want to make someone’s Christmas special by creating a special menu you should really give more food which is equal to the price. I feel like they just ran out of food the past two days and just gave us the scraps. Should’ve prepared better for this. Super...