Izakaya Cowan Grill — Restaurant in Tarlac City

Hadn't been to Izakaya for some time so was excited to visit last night at the new location. Sadly my excitement was short lived. Once seated we were issues the well worn menus and the waiter rather than give us time to browse the menu stood pen in hand waiting to take the order. Being a lover of sushi and sashimi I order salmon and tuna. My wife ordered beef teppanyaki. It wasn't long before the salmon sushi arrived and what a disappointment, the sad pale looking salmon looked as appetising as a flip flop and I called the waiter over. When I complained that it didn't look fresh he came up with a story that it was due to the wasabi underneath. WHAT NONSENSE !!! the sushi should not be treated with anything, anyway I rejected it and asked for fresh. Ten minutes later after the manager and waiting staff all huddled around the sushi only stopping to point and stare at the fussy foreigner, I received a supposedly fresh plate of salmon. problem was that it looked exactly like the first plate had been sent back to me. The grumpy waiter then admitted that the salmon was frozen. I rejected the salmon hoping that this tuna would be better unfortunately it wasn't the case and after eating of few pieces it was clear it was frozen and low quality. The rest of the meal was served by the cheerless waiter and it was a similar standard to the sushi VERY POOR. Anyway the tuna was taken home and given to the cat he seemed okay with it :) What also annoyed me is the 15% service charge included in the bill for terrible service, not once did the waiter top up our water or see if we needed anything. Sad to see a decent restaurant drop it's food and service standards, there are new options for Japanese dining in Tarlac now so I wont be going...

The food was mediocre. The service was slow. The food took forever to come out. I was going to leave a two to three star review but had to drop it down to 1 star when I was faced with the establishments failure to ensure that their credit card terminal was not working (allegedly for several days). This caused enormous friction in trying to leave. Advise to the establishmentnis to let a group that is obviously foreigners know about your card terminal failure...

I struggle to find a compelling reason to return to this restaurant after each visit, except for their exceptional service and the lack of a queue. It's worth noting that the restaurant has relocated to this current location, which has less foot traffic compared to their previous spot.

The overall dining experience, including the food and atmosphere, lacks a certain "UMPH!" that I believe could be improved to entice...