Utage Sake Bar — Restaurant in Amsterdam

If you are planning to meet up your friend early evening to enjoy full dinner time in a cozy atmosphere, please AVOID this place. My evening with friends were totally SUCKED! It was an awful experience where ugly "service" can totally ruin actual "taste" of food.

Isses are;

Lack of communication on critical matters We made our reservation via Google at 1700pm on Tuesday anticipating/expecting cozy evening with a friend of mine. When I arrived, I had to kindly ask whether we can have one more guest. (If it is not possible, we were ready to move to other location of course) Instead of checking possibilities, a male staff (all of sudden) told me that we need to leave at 1900pm. First of all, I was getting informed that I need to leave in 2 hours, yet I was neither welcomed nor guided to sit on any table. I showed him that e-mail confirmation where I can't find such policy at all then He told me he will check how long we can stay longer. I asked to consider for the future to add such information for customer so there won't be any unnecessary inconveniences. To be sure, I just double checked again their website. I can't find 2 hours policy anywhere in their website yet any google reservation process.

If I knew this prior to my reservation, I would find better location to enjoy our evening.

Too much information what time to leave while we were EATING/URGENTLY FINISHING FOOD ON THE TABLE (I can't say anymore enjoying) Food start being served and a male staff came to us telling that we can stay till 19.20. It sounded very strange. It feels like "We generously grant you to stay longer" then after couple of minutes, a female staff came to us telling "you guys have 15 min left" which is not aligned with previous communication from a male staff. we checked with a female staff whether we can order one more plate then she said she will check. but She didnt come back to us whether it is possible or not, Instead of coming back to us she simply processed ordering. Before we finish the last plate, she dropped the bill on our table without telling anything.

I find their way of communication is

UNBEARABLY RUDE UNPROFESSIONAL EXTREMELY CHAOTIC UNFRIENDLY UNACCEPTABLE SERVICE IN HORECA industry

I am curious how others feel about their service level.

When I look back, food was nicely prepared but I can't remember what was my experience because whole evening was totally ruined.

Waste of money and waste of time...

My experience with Utage Sake Bar was very disappointing and disturbing.

We made a reservation at 17:00 which is a fairly early time for dinner to have a relaxing long dinner. Upon arrival, they already emphasised that our reservation is only for 2hours and the table have to be vacated by 19:00; this was nowhere mentioned during the booking process, also not such thing indicated booking confirmation. When we pointed it out, they never recognised nor apologised their lack of clear communication. Instead they just made it clear that we had to clear the table by 19:00 as the house was fully booked, and the table should be given to other party. We told them that we were not comfortable with this, as rush dinner was definitely not what we planned, and if we knew that the table was available only for 2 hours we would have gone elsewhere in the first place. Somehow they decided to give us more pressure by telling and reminding us AT LEAST 5 times during our dinner that our table was only until 19:00 as if we were not welcome there, or they wanted us to leave as soon as possible. Around 18:45, a staff came back to us AGAIN and told us we could stay until 19:20 as if they gave us a huge favour. Then 5min later another waitress came, telling us we have to leave by 19:15 What a joke!!!! We felt like we were unwelcome guests or free guest begging for staying there. The way they treat and communicate with us was totally unprofessional, rather insulting. Food was probably ok but It was certainly not enjoyable.

edit after the response from the owner I see now they added reservation system indicating time slots, that’s a good improvement, but when we were there about 2 weeks ago this system wasn’t there. We booked thru google reservation and it didn’t say anything about 2 hours’ time slot. And we showed the confirmation email which saying nothing about time slot to the staff on that day to make our point, but it was just ignored. I am glad they have improved booking system and added time slot as we suggested during our unpleasant visit, but clearly the current reservation system indicating duration of the booking wasn’t there when we visited. And what made us upset was not ‘2 hours reservation time’, but it was how...

Food was great, slightly better versions of the izakaya classics. But service was extra awful! :( We went on Friday night and it was full house, but that’s the true test right?

1. My friend had a cleaning brush stuck in her straw. And instead of taking back my friend’s entire glass, the female waitress pick out the straw from the glass with her bare hand, but DID NOT IMMEDIATELY replace the straw, and instead focuses on other things first and attending to other customers. How weird? Like literally you could ask the kitchen directly for replacement?
2. The male waitress who took our order was visibly overwhelmed. They don’t use electronic device to take your order or simply an old fashioned notepad. He had to repeatedly ask our order because he couldn’t memorize it, still went back to our table to ask again, and as the night went by it was obvious he missed one of our order, so we had to ask it again to another waitress. Guys, please help yourself and just use ipad or something.
3. Food and drinks took VERYYY LONG to come out. Nobody scanned the room to check whether we have everything in place. It took 15+ minutes for us to be asked what we want. +another 20-30 minutes for our non alcoholic drink and first order to arrive.

I left the experience feeling like they would only be attentive to you if you order sake. What a shame, I was expecting a delightful dinner. Would just go to Hakata...