Sumo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Biloxi

We booked and paid for the party room several days in advance for 30-40 people. We show up the day of my son's 21st birthday about 10 minutes before our scheduled time. We stood in line and waited and we were then told the room had no air conditioning and we were asked if we'd like to use the other small room. There were people already seated in that room. They told us the people in the room were finishing up and would be out in just a few minutes. Approximately 15 minutes later more people joined that table and the hibachi chef started cooking again. Meanwhile, we had about 20 people standing waiting for the table. After another 30 minutes they finally just started sitting down at the table and eventually pushing the people out. The other part of the group had been seated, ordered drinks, food and our hibachi chefs had started cooking. We finished up at that table and the other table was still waiting on their hibachi chefs. By now we are about 2 hours in and they still had no chefs or food. Meanwhile everyone is drenched in sweat, using menus to fan themselves and looking for a waitress to fill drink glasses. The table that had been served and ate then FINALLY got their Sushi rolls but by that time they were done eating. The other table still waiting decided to just cancel their orders and did not even get to eat. Numerous complaints were filed to management When we arrived the gentleman that checked us in told us that when they came in that morning there was no AC. I asked why no one called to let us know so we could decide if we wanted to make other arrangements or not and I was told, "oh we're sorry" with no real excuse for that disaster. We asked if we could get our son's birthday cake that they put in their kitchen and it took about 20 minutes, meanwhile people were leaving his party because it was HORRIBLY HOT and everyone was frustrated. My elderly parents had to leave early because of the heat. Management attempted to refund my money I paid to book the party room but could not figure out how to apply it back to my credit card so after 15 more minutes of standing at the counter sweat rolling off my face, I suggested just taking it off my bill. That's what they did and took another $15.00 off for our trouble. I was a little insulted by that discount after what we'd been through but I got all of our stuff and got the hell out as I dripped in sweat. My son's 21st birthday dinner was RUINED and he was definitely not happy with what used to be his favorite restaurant! We made sure we took our business to other places to finish the night where the air was working and so were the employees. EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING...

UPDATE!! Over the years have been here for several birthdays and have always had a great experience… until tonight. My mother was looking forward to celebrating her 84th birthday here only to have the most disappointing experience. I called ahead to let them know of her birthday and asked if it was ok to bring a small cake. Given the ok, we arrived and were seated promptly in a great location. Trent took our order and all seemed great. The chef showed up and was definitely not in a pleasant mood. His mood was so poor that I said “ I’m not sure if they told you, but it’s her 84th birthday”. His response was “no, none of the staff communicates”, then …nothing. No happy birthday, no excitement..nada, zip. Other than the “volcano” there was no showmanship and no communication. When he was done serving the food he said Happy birthday and left.

The ONLY saving grace was the staff that came and sang happy birthday.

Feeling underwhelmed and seriously disappointed, I went to the front desk and asked for the managers name only to be told “we are not allowed to give a managers name out”. I pressed and he said there are 2 managers. I pressed again was told there were 2 or 3 managers. I asked if any were on duty, and was told yes and asked if I wanted to speak with him. The. “Jackie” came out. While Jackie listened and seemed concerned, i couldn’t hope but think that he was manager of the moment and had no power to do anything. He said something about we would like to make it right the next time but did not ask my name, give me a business card or do anything to to make me think it was anything more than an empty platitude.

Had this not been my mom’s birthday, I could chalk this up to one bad day but they knew before we got there and then again when we arrived and once again when the chef arrived. There is no excuse for such poor customer service. The fact that it was like pulling teeth to get the name of a manager, makes me lose all faith that management stands behind their people. I can no longer recommend this place.

OLD Review: Been here several times. Good variety of options, reasonable prices, and...

The food was good but the service was poor. It took 10 minutes after being seated before a server spoke to us. He was unfamiliar with the menu. The server mentioned that there were sushi roll specials but said he couldn't see the board from where he was standing so we would need to get up to go look at them ourselves. There was no sushi check sheet, so we had to go through the menu item-by-item listing off all the pieces of sushi we wanted. it took 45 minutes to receive our sushi with most tables empty and one couple at the sushi bar. The sushi was fresh with large portions and relatively inexpensive. Half way through dinner we ordered another beer which we did not receive until we finished eating for 10 minutes (took 30 minutes to get the beer, we sent it back). We had a coupon for 5% off up to $50 or 10% off over $50. Our dinner was $49.75 after they took off the beer we didn't;t get. We didn't complain, but our waiter said he would talk to the manager about giving us the 10% off, especially since our food took so long. After over 5 minutes of discussion with the manager (we could see them discussing it), our waiter said he met us half way. He then handed us the bill showing 5% off which is what the basic coupon said anyway! As we walked out after paying the hostess was hunched over her phone texting (in full view of the "manager").

We actually spend several hundred dollars a month on sushi but will not bother with Sumo in Gulfport again. Too bad because this could have been a new favorite if not for...