GOKU Japanese restaurant — Restaurant in South Island

One star because it’s the minimum I can give. I do feel like doing charity giving this one star. If I could give ZERO I would. It’s been a couple months and I’m still mad at this place. The sushi looks like it was wrapped by the owner, because no sane owner would ever hire a chef producing something this sloppy. Each piece is the size of a thumbnail. Size aside, the quality is abysmal. Every strip of nori is cut to a different length and width, which makes every bite a new kind of disappointment. The seaweed is fully soaked through, giving each piece a texture that can only be described as catastrophic.

Every hotpot base and every sauce tastes like something straight off the shelf of an Asian supermarket. The so-called signature chicken broth recommended for drinking tastes literally same as the flavor packet from a Japanese instant noodle cup which you can get in any seven eleven in Asia or any, again, Asian supermarket here.

On the menu, mushrooms are listed in the same category as meat, and 100g of mushrooms costs the same as 100g of pork (quality of pork and beef are also low btw). At this stage, I feel pity for both the owner and any vegetarian who eats here. For the owner, relying on this mindset for profit guarantees a bleak future. For vegetarians, this pricing is pure exploitation and insult. None of this has anything to do with wealth, it has everything to do with respect and quality, both of which are missing.

Service is absent from start to finish. Only one young Japanese server showed some effort. I understand the WHV situation anyway. BUT a middle-aged Asian waiter delivered fawning service to a big table of white ppl, then brushed us off with a hollow “be right back” before disappearing completely. He didn’t show up ever since. To be fair I’m not saying his racism or anything I’m just saying what I saw and experienced, I’m saying his attitude and actions made me feel like he is the owner, cuz again, I would never hire someone like this if I’m the owner.

Queenstown is filled with excellent food and professional service, from fine dining at 200 dollars per head to lakeside street stalls. Each one left us amazed and eager for the next meal. Even the lakeside food trucks showed more warmth and hospitality. This restaurant alone stood out as a masterclass in failure. I have never encountered food and service this dreadful at this price level. It is the kind of experience that makes you want to stand outside the door warning every passerby not to waste their time and their money here.

TBH price is never the obstacle when traveling. The obstacle is a restaurant that serves disgraceful food with contemptuous service while pretending it deserves respect. It’s disrespectfulness at its worst. If there are pictures in dictionary, photo of this restaurant will be next to“Disrespectful” and “Failure”. After all, I want to say is it is crazy that a negative review can be so long and the fact that I didn’t even lie about one single word, just crazy. Anyway, the owner deserves a bankrupt because he is literally ruining the experience the town the EVERYTHING. Just leave the industry if you are not willing to pay ANY attention to your food or your customers, it’s very clear even to a random first time customer that all you think about all day is just money, money at the moment, nothing else not even your employees. And trust me I worked in hospitality and FB industry for so long I’ve seen a lot ppl like you, you are going fail. Btw I’m judging whoever read this and still decide to go cuz you have...

What a tourist trap, plz go just about anywhere else.

THE worst restaurant experience ever in my whole life. Everything we got can be seen on the table from the pictures, this was a nearly $250 meal for the two of us, and none of us were anywhere close to being full. We have been to Queenstown many times, and had other somewhat overpriced food before but nothing came even close to this, this is over the line even for Queenstown.

We went for two pots, the cheapest and the second cheapest meat options (NZ Angus or NZ Wagyu or something like that), and it may look like a whole big plate but the meats are razor thin and shrink so much that they couldn’t cover my little ball of rice when all cooked. The soup is bland (which is sort of expected given that shabushabu is supposed to be blanched in water or lightly seasoned broth in Japan to amplify the meat quality) but both meats we got were partially frozen.

If that’s not bad enough already, the petty little portion of cleverly marketed and named but actually average meat and the flavorless pot of broth is all you pay for in the asked price, which is not cheap already. But EVERYTHING else is extra, raw egg, bowl of rice, an equally disappointing and small serving of frozen udon noodle and even just a few leaves of cabbage (And they actually asked for a whipping $20 extra bucks for some verges and the noodle) Anyways, we first came in with good intention to have a nice meal that may costs some damage to our wallets, and even finish up with some desserts, but after the dishes were served, we just felt this is too much and left early despite finishing everything, we actually had to go to another place for a second dinner as we were still not full after losing $250 dollars.

The service wasn’t great either. After our waitress filled us in about the prices and extra charges, we decided to only order one set of side verges and noodle to share and add another rice and egg, and she actually laughed and asked us if we were sure since it might not be enough, maybe her laugh was intended to be harmless but I still felt ridiculed and looked down upon and this actually effected our experience in a very negative way. Also, if what on my pics are not rust on my tea pot, I don’t know what it is, disgusting.

Anyways, I realized this place is still popular and booming, but we surely won’t be back or recommending it to anyone. It’s true that Queenstown can be a bit overpriced, and there are many other restaurants, including some of which we been to before, that are arguably more expensive, just about any other place can give you a better experience in exchange of...

Very disappointing. We went to the restaurant at the busiest business hour and no customers, alarm number one! Waitress was nice, but too nice by standing behind us full time so I didn't feel comfortable chatting with my companion, but it isn't hard to understand her motivation since we were the ONLY 2 customers in the shop for more than an hour! We ordered 2 Shabu Shabu from the menu, cost approximately $50NZD each, which in both Japanese and New Zealand culture means this is the price we expect from a michelin star quality (mind that shabu shabu in Japan was traditionally designed as family friendly economical nabe or hot pot). We sit near the chef table, which the chef was no where there 90% of the time. If I am the chef, I will run away as well! God bless him. Right in front of us were a line of frozen sea foods, alarm number two! If what they displayed were all frozen, what were we expecting from our order? Frozen 3 from Disney confirmed! Elsa is going to be proud. It was served with 2, not so fresh and uneven size white button mushroom. I mean, no attention to detail is forgivable for a $50 shabu shabu but the cheapest mushroom in the supermarket? Vegetables were okay but then the Udon was still frozen when they served it and also shredded to pieces. Maybe because they rough it up when they try to take it out of the small packaging where they bought from the SUPERMARKET. Again this is a $50 shabu shabu and they didn't make their own Udon? When you dine at shabu shabu, it is always good to try the broth neat first before everything. It tells you all the information about how attention to detail the restaurant is. Is it seasonal ingredient they use for the broth or regular kombu, bone or bonito broth? Well, I have to say I didn't expect commercial powder broth you get from Japanese mart. With all that, we waited 30 minutes for the kitchen to prep our food. How long does it take to defrost everything? Also, maybe it is better next time to serve an utensil for the raw frozen meat. I don't think using dinning chopsticks on frozen raw meat is a good idea. All that being said, I do think Elsa will give it a 5 star rating if they survive until the next...