Daikoku Botany 大黒ボタニー店 — Restaurant in Howick

Last night I tried Daikoku for the first time. It was mine and my partners anniversary, we had my MIL come over to look after our kids and we were excited.

When we arrived, we were seated at a table which already had a group of 4 seated. 1 man and 3 woman. The man was clearly a gang member as he sat at the table in his full gang attire including his vest and patch.

Mid-way through dinner, another male turned up - only for 2 minutes at most, where a very significant handful of cash (all $50's from what I saw, so I'm talking thousands of dollars potentially) was exchanged for a 'package' - a drug deal happening in the restaurant, less than a metre away from where I was sitting, trying to enjoy my anniversary dinner.

Never have I ever felt so uncomfortable.

We understand that they sometimes seat people at the same table, but given that this man was clearly a gang member, I felt the staff didn't take into consideration how the other patrons feel being seated at a table with them.

Not 5 minutes after we arrived, a party of 2 were seated at a table by themselves. We would have much rather been seated with them, even if it meant a slight delay in getting served (honestly, we wouldn't have minded the wait and had we been given the option..... )

Sadly, our anniversary dinner, and my first dining experience with Daikoku has had all the gloss and shine removed. We couldn't WAIT to get out of there.. we almost left once we were seated and before placing our order, but - we had kids at home and I didn't want to be out too late, plus - I was really keen to try the food at Daikoku - which was absolutely delicious (such a shame about the experience we had)

This afternoon I thought I would pop in and have a talk with the staff - just to make them aware of what was going on in their restaurant and to the fact that we had our entire experience ruined by this, and while the manager(?) did say the word sorry, I feel like he was being defensive and insincere. Given that we spent, what I would consider to be a reasonable amount of money on dinner for 2 - some sort of contribution towards another meal (so that we could perhaps have a do-over of our ruined anniversary dinner) would have been a great gesture.

GREAT FOOD THOUGH!! Yum! But if you are seated somewhere with people you don't feel comfortable with..... maybe just ask to be seated...

Thinking of going here? Think again. The duty manager here has got to be the rudest person I've come across in a long time. Arrogant blunt offensive spoke hardly a word of english and appeared extremely dirty. We turned up a few minutes early and from what I could make out he was like what do you want? Can't you read the sign? Im duty manager! The door was wide open.. One could easily mistake that as open for business. So we went to lone star further into botany and the welcome was amazing and hospitable. Lone Star Botany is league's better. Diakoku is low and scummy. ps For all you gluten free and dairy free lovers Lone Star has it all. I will never spend money in Daikoku and I strongly advise you all reading this to reconsider before dining at this hole in fact I wont be shopping anywhere within 100 metres of that Daiakoku as the bad feeling I get from that place permeates like a stench in my nostrils and taints the whole area around them. There are much better places to go with a loved one or family and friends. The standard of this place is so low it should do Botany a favour and relocate next to the nearest sewerage treatment facility. Please Botany town center establish a restaurant with class taste and a friendly atmosphere. This place degrades and devalues such wonderful town center....

The food was superb, but the service terrible. Something iswrong with the management of the place. The experience started right from the front desk when the elderly couple was standing in from of us waiting for someone to get them sitted. They were waiting patiently and we felt rude to overpass them. The old gentlemen waved to the waters expecting someone to come forward, but was still ignored until he actually went to the tilt. After we got to out table, I asked for a regular menu as tepan-yaki lunch menu on the website clearly says that "regular menu is also available - ask waiting staff". The first waitress came and said that regular menu was not available at tepan-yaki table, but after checking with the manager brought us the regular menu. The second waiter came to take the order so we were back to square one with "regular menu not available". Still can not understand why we had a struggle to get food from the kitchen on top of our tepan-yaki lunch. Then the drinks: we ordered 3 beers, but were brought 2 beers and sake. Sent sake back expecting the beer to come. It came only half way through the lunch after asking different staff 5 times. The chef and quality of food was superb, so it kind of compensated for the service, but I...