Yorokobi by CJ — Restaurant in Aberdeen City

Upon entering the restaurant there are a number of signs with Michelin ratings and Japanese Restaurant Of The Year In The North, this obviously builds a lot of expectations along with the high prices for the food and the ratings online.

Initially when we entered there wasn’t someone at the door to ask if we had a reservation or to take us to a table, there was only one table occupied at the time, it wasn’t busy and you would expect to be waited on immediately.

We ordered our food and drinks all together, waited twenty minutes for the waiter to come over, apologising the drinks order had been lost. This was fine at the time as it seemed like a genuine mistake and the waiter was attentive to resolve, which happened fairly quickly to his credit.

However, when we received our main meals, two of the three meals came out. My girlfriend and I planned to have the two Korean bbq options and share, which didn’t happen in the end due to the long wait for the second portion. We had to chase for the second portion to come, at this point two strikes which can happen but was frustrating, particularly when it ruined our plans to share. We had to wait a good twenty minutes or so for the other portion to come.

When the meal arrived it didn’t come with the sauce. Again we had to wait and call the staff over and at this point third strike. By the time the staff had come over and resolved it just felt like a highly aggravating and very frustrating experience. We could also see the staff were offering more attention to other tables and they didn’t really come over and see how we were getting on, particularly when all the waiters had each been contacted on the mistakes made, you would think this would raise an alert in their mind to look after us.

If I’m honest, for the price, the service just wasn’t up to standard. Given the strikes mentioned, having worked in customer service roles before, there should be an internal alarm going around to ensure your customers are getting the service they have paid for, particularly when mistakes have happened. At the end of the meal we didn’t receive an apology or a discount for the meal, which I do not expect but out of courtesy for the experience this would have been a nice gesture. I think the meals were ok, but they were not to the standard I would expect for the amount charged. It all seemed very basic, I’ve had meals in other restaurants which are cheaper but far better quality. In order to improve more contact with all your customers to ensure everything is fine would be great and goes a long way, it felt like we the customers had to do all the chasing for your waiters. I think some of the meals could also be reviewed, I’ve had Yakitori for half the price elsewhere and it was honestly fantastic, this really wasn’t a £9.00 meal, which is insanely steep for a very simple starter. Overall I...

Update - Should have gone with first impressions. The belated response to initial online booking enquiry was just a portent of even worse in house service.

On a cold February night, our table wasn't ready at the time booked and nowhere at the restaurant to sit inside away from the cold while waiting.

"10 minutes tops" we were informed for the wait. 25 minutes later they began to clean and lay the table.

On finally being sat down, over ten more minutes passed without us being approached for even a drinks order. Catching servers' eye, waving, calling all met with a blank response.

Having been serving staff myself, I have plenty of empathy with waiters. But here, while very pleasant, the staff seemed aimless, poorly drilled and with little energy to provide good customer service.

The food itself:. The starters were good, seafood pancake, chicken gyoza and sweet pumpkin croquette. Everyone was very encouraged for the remaining courses.

When they came two were enjoyable the Je-Yook Bokeum and the Bibimbab. The salmon teriyaki was bland and disappointing.

Finally onto the desserts. The diner who had the salmon teriyaki was by this point fed up with the experience and opted out.

We ordered cheesecake and mozzi. The cheesecake came and was finished before any sign of the mozzi. The cheesecake itself had been defrosted unevenly. One side warm the other still frozen. When the server came to collect the cheesecake dish we pointed out the mozzi had still to arrive. A couple minutes later we were asked "what type of mozzi did you order". Shambolic.

As mentioned all the staff were polite and pleasant, but the whole experience was a massive letdown.

Might we have enjoyed the food a bit more if it weren't for the delays, inattention and mistakes? Perhaps, but it's not an experience we'll be...

A bit overpriced, but still tasty.

We were a bit cautious coming here on a visit, seeing it used to have a Michelin star (as plastered across the windows) but no longer has it. However the starters were excellent and convinced us to stay for a main course. Unfortunately this fell a little short for me, but no doubt it was still good quality.

To start we had the soft shell crab and yakitori. Yakitori were pretty standard, on a par with just about every other place we've had it, but they're so good as it is. The crab on the other hand was excellent, delicate flavour and cooked to perfection.

For mains we had the korean sizzling barbecue which came with far too few (3) leaves of lettuce wrap up all the meat. It came with rice as well though, so probably this was by design However rice was served with flat plates which was a bit awkward. I found the meat itself lacking a bit of flavour, it wasn't marinated and the accompanying sauce portion was a bit small.

We also had the special 10-piece sushi selection which was somewhat hit and miss. The eel, octopus and suf clam were excellent, while the scallop was a bit gritty and didn't have any smoky flavour you'd expect given the torched presentation.

Overall it was undoubtedly a good meal, but I can see why the michelin star rating is conspicuously missing after 2019. The price was also I felt too high, our bill came in at £77, which if it had been more like £50 I would have been...