Fumizen Japanese Restaurant (Sgt. Esguerra QC Branch) — Restaurant in Quezon City

We came here as a group of 6 to dine in because we wanted to check if the restaurant could accommodate up to 50 guests for an event. They confirmed that they could. Our experience as 6 pax was great. The service was okay, so we decided to make a reservation for 50 pax after our initial visit.

On the event day, we (the first 6) arrived at 11:00 AM, one hour before the lunch schedule for the 50 pax, to give them time to prepare and have the food plated by exactly 12:00 NN.

Around 11:50 AM, one of the cooks approached me and insisted that the tempura and loin be served catering-style (one-time serving, controlled by them per guest) while the rest of the dishes would be plated. I agreed to their suggestion.

However, at around 12:50 PM, after almost two hours of waiting, they only started serving the food. They blamed the delay on me, claiming it was because I supposedly changed the serving style from plated to catering. In reality, I did not request the change, they were the ones who approached me and insisted on catering style for the tempura and loin.

The manager only came up to the event area around 1:00 PM, and that was only because my colleague called for him. He did not come to check on us proactively. When we finally spoke to the manager around 1:30 PM, we explained that this was not the service we expected. The service during our 6-pax visit was much better, and before booking, they confirmed they could handle 50 pax. Yet instead of apologizing, the manager still put the blame on me for the serving delay. Is this really the kind of attitude and professionalism expected from a manager? blaming the customer instead of owning the shortcomings?

Plus, the restroom was dirty, had no tissue, and no hand soap.

By around 2:00 PM, everyone was disappointed. For a group of 50, the service was extremely slow. Instead of enjoying the meal, we were already past our hunger. There were only two staff serving and one cook preparing the food. We ordered an unlimited set, yet it didn’t feel unlimited. Side dish potato was served only once because they said it was “out of stock,” rice also ran out, and the watermelon took so long to arrive, with only 4 slices given per table (each table had more than 10 guests).

I would understand if this was a last minute booking, but we made the reservation one week in advance and confirmed they could handle it. If they couldn’t, they should have been honest from the start and declined the booking instead of disappointing 50 guests on the day...

We dined here during Father's Day. While there you may expect that the extremely slow service was because of the amount of people, as there was an occassion, the place was not full. It took an hour before they gave us the utensils we requested for. The unlimited yakiniku was not enjoyed because again, the service was so slow. When we did follow ups with servers, some would even answer that they were not informed of certain orders. It was frustrating -- they were even informed that we had senior citizens in our group and even a diabetic. Nothing changed as regards the service. We were placed on the second floor seating area and only one server from time to time visited the same area. Thus, orders were not taken on time and the things we needed were not provided for. The sauce for the Katsu orders for 6 different people arrived in one bowl and after almost everyone has finished their meals. No apologies, no explanations. A lot of times the servers were disrespectful as a lot of members from our group were still speaking to them and they would turn their backs immediately and exit the room. Even the other tables had the same experience and were already frustrated.

NOTE: We had a reservation and they knew how big our group was, 8 adults and one child. Worse, the socket for the grill kept on falling the wires were exposed repeatedly. When we told the staff about it we were just answered with - "okay lang yan". Clearly, we won't be...

We had reservations a few days ahead since we are a big group of 12. We opted this place since the kids wanted unli shabu shabu/grill and we made this clear with the person who we reserved with. When we got to the place, they couldn’t explain what are the inclusions of the unli buffet. To add, the area where we were reserved does not allow grilling. Ending, we just opted for an ala carte meal since no one can explain how we should order and what we are getting.

Food: tempura that was served is cold. Tempura sauce is cold. They offered to heat it up. You don't “heat” up food coming fresh out of the kitchen. Taste wise, it is ok but some food were served cold already while some were just right with steaming hot rice.

Service: they got our food wrong, they forgot some of our food, we opted to cancel after waiting for 45min while other tables were already being served ahead of us. When we asked the staff what food they are serving to us, they will “double check”. They dont know what they are serving to us if it is chicken/ pork/ seafood set etc.

Atmosphere: light was poorly lot. Floor is dirty. Our empty plates were piling up and no one even took them. I even handed it to the server since they kept on putting food and not taking out empty plates. It is just a mess.

In short, food is ok but the service is...