Tanuki Japanese Restaurant | Auckland City — Restaurant in Waitematā

I would have rated this place higher but the service we received wasn't very friendly and inviting. The food was beautiful and fresh and the portion sizes were good value for money. I especially enjoyed the spicy tuna roll, the tuna was melt it your mouth...so yummy!! We come to Auckland regularly on holiday and decided to give this place a go. All the places we have dined in for lunch and dinner so far on our holiday have given us outstanding and really friendly service, I have been really impressed....that is until upon entering this restaurant. The young asian boy that greeted us was not very welcoming or friendly, I got the impression that he was over working in this place and simply didn't want to be there. We had to wait quite some time for our food and drink order to be taken. I could understand the wait if it was busy but it wasn't. When we did get our drinks from the young boy working on the bar they were blonked on the table with no smile or acknowledgement..it was a very sour response. The restaurant didn't at all seem like a happy vibrant place. Aside from the unfriendly service we received from the two young boys the little bit of service we got from a young asian girl was friendly and it would have been a more pleasurable dining experience if we had received service from her all night. One other recommendation is to have Japanese music playing as this adds to the authenticity of the overall dining experience in a Japanese restaurant. We won't be coming back to this restaurant again and won't be recommending it to anyone. You get one shot at wooing customers and this place blew it. Hey...with all the endless restaurant choices in Auckland why...

It's the worst place that I've ever been to in my life. The cashier (according to my receipt, it's Zadmin), the Japanese lady, put the wrong dish on our receipt. When I told her that we didn't have that dish, she showed her uncomfortness and said sorry without sincerety. I felt I did wrong thing by double-checking my receipt. Then she gave me another new receipt saying that that was for our table. So I quickly paid with my card at that time and left that place. At that time, she didn't say anything, goodbye nor thank you. What kind of customer service is that??? Then this morning, before throwing into the bin I happened to look at my receipt again, and here it is again. She put another wrong drink on our receipt!!! It's $26 360ml two samurai, I don't know what that is and we never had that drink on that night. I bet she didn't properly check the order, and even put that drink on our paper deliberately. I could call them and correct their error, but instead I feel so unpleasant by being treated from a cashier in the restaurant that I spent over $100. I would never ever go to that place again, wouldn't recomment to...

Likes: Fresh wasabi and not those icky fake ones at other places. Almost all staff were Japanese. Sushi and fried food chefs had very good cooking and cleaning etiquette comparable to most Japanese restaurants in Japan. Wide selection of Japanese drinks Atmosphere excellent with nice ambient music. Delicious food selection Frying smell at minimal to zero.

Dislikes: After each table is cleared, waiter would proceed to spray the entire table including the counter where i was seated covering my phone/arm with ‘detergent:cleaning solution’ had to hold my nose; spray on cloth and wipe would be better option!!

Chef in front of counter also proceeded to clean her area with a spray and cloth wipe. Don’t understand why when I’m still eating. Proceeds to lean mop handle on cooking table and mop general area. (See page photo)

Sushi slices were thin and small cuts(2cm x 4cm). Fresh wasabi was awesome though.

8-830pm someone would vacuum the -upstairs floor which drowned out the music and killed the ambience; i suggest getting a less noisy squealing cleaner; perhaps do it when...