Yamato II — Restaurant in Boston

Yamato II near Copley Square is known for decent sushi and horrendous service. I’ve been here more times than I can count, so I know what to expect: zero greeting, zero warmth, dark and cold interior.

You walk in and get silently pointed to a table with a piece of paper and a pen. Not even a hello. That’s fine, I’m not there to make friends.

But what happened on my most recent visit was unacceptable and honestly, disgusting and reeked of entitlement in exchange for not even bare minimum service.

I was there with one other person. We ordered sushi, crab rangoons, and drinks. When the server brought the sushi, she shoved the entire tray into the middle of the table, right where our water glasses, soy sauce plates, and appetizers already were. She didn’t ask to make space. She didn’t wait. She didn’t care. The worst part? There was a clear, empty section of the table to my left… which was left empty on purpose so food could be placed. She saw it. She chose to ignore it. Why? Because she had a tray of water in her other hand for the table next to us and didn’t want to take two steps behind me to set the sushi down properly. She prioritized convenience over basic respect and decency. That’s not being busy. That’s being intentionally lazy.

Fine. I let it go. I paid the $65 bill with $70 cash. And not even a minute later, she comes back…not with change, but to point at the suggested tip section like I was supposed to feel guilty. I asked her to bring my change, and told her I’d handle the tip on my own. That should’ve ended it.

But it didn’t. She came back again. Hovering!!! Staring at me and my younger brother while we clearly talked about how much we were going to leave. She lingered nearby, circling us like a hawk, just waiting for a chance to grab the cash. At one point, she literally tried to take the money off the table, and I had to say out loud: “Please stop touching the money and go away.” It was invasive, inappropriate, and downright unprofessional.

Let me be very clear: I could’ve and should’ve left her absolutely nothing. Her service didn’t deserve a cent. But I also understand that some people rely on tips to get by. So out of decency—not because she earned it—I gave her $5. And even after that, she came back again to ask for more, yet again pointing at the suggested tip section and implying that’s what the establishment required. Which is a lie and also just nonsensical. That’s not just bad service. That’s harassment. That’s entitlement.

That’s the behavior of someone who is lazy, incompetent, and feels owed something just for showing up.

I love tipping well. I’ve left huge tips!! $20, $50, even $100, but for servers who show effort, warmth, and respect.

But if you serve me with an attitude, shove food onto a cluttered table to avoid walking two steps, hover over me, and try to grab my money like I’m not even there, you don’t deserve a dime.

Also, side note: if you ever get soda here, only get it canned. I’ve been served old, flat fountain soda before and had to send it back. It’s not a one time thing.

This isn’t just about one server. It’s about the culture this place breeds. It’s dark, dingy, and feels like they’re doing you a favor by letting you eat there. If that’s the energy they want to give, fine..but don’t expect tips like you’re running a high-end restaurant. Tips are earned. And this server earned nothing.

I will never return. And if I ever do, it’ll be a reminder to tip exactly what’s...

Went here for lunch with my wife. No wait, so that was nice. The server seemed very rushed to take away our order sheets without offering to answer any questions about the menu or explaining how the 'All You Can Eat' lunch option works. There were about 10 vegetarian options available throughout the menu, although some of them contain eggs but are not labelled as such nor were we told about this. The advertised rate was $24.5 + tax per person Monday through Friday, but we were charged the Saturday/Sunday rate of $26.5 + tax/person. They charge extra for sauces, so keep that in mind. Bring your own napkins if you need to use more than one. We asked for one from our server, but were never provided. I am sure it wasn't a very big ask if we are paying $25+/person.

Passively aggressively asking the customers to tip by printing the suggested tip amount on receipt is one thing, but forcing customers to add a mandatory tip of at least 15% is what our server demanded as we were getting up from our table. Not happy with the service and the food, we were not really in the mood to tip on top of all the charges that we paid. First, we were told that we have to sign the receipt. Fine, that's fair. We signed and felt that the server was indirectly asking us to tip which is why they cared if we signed. While not happy, feeling embarrassed we added $5 to tip as a forced gesture. As we were getting up after leaving $5 as tip, the server told us that we had to tip at least 15% based on the lowest 'suggestion' offered in the receipt! This was embarrassing and we felt harassed by this demand of our server. In the end, we were forced to leave at least 15% tip because our server demanded that we have to leave at minimum. We generally leave 20-25% tip at restaurants because we know that the exorbitant menu prices in Boston don't pay enough to the restaurant workers. But, we receive good service in return.

From start to finish we were never offered any help with the menu, the server responded in a very demeaning tone when we specified that we wanted vegetarian spring rolls (it's not labelled as such on the menu) and were not even provided extra napkins after we asked.

She asked if there was something wrong in her service and why we were not tipping her more (when we left $5). We told that we were still waiting on that extra napkin that we asked for, but she didn't even offer an apology! She just ignored that and walked away with the added tip! It's one thing to add mandatory gratuity to the bill, but it's whole another level when the server harasses you to leave more tip while you are getting up to leave.

Never coming back here again if offered free food!

Edit: After reading through other reviews, it seems like a common practice from the servers to demand at least 15%...

I'm greatly disappointed in this restaurant and will think twice before I come back.

My partner and I were craving sushi and he told me about this place that he loved to recommend to others; so we drove up to Boston for dinner. When we got there, I dropped off my partner to put our name down while I went to find parking. I join him five minutes later and he tells me the hostess gave him some attitude because he didn't have his whole party with him to be seated. He explained I was parking the car and would be right in and she wrote his name down.

We saw three different parties come in after us and were promptly seated. So he went up again to let the hostess know we were still waiting and now also had the rest of his party with him. She said they were busy and would sit us soon. So we waited. TWO MORE parties got seated and when he went to ask them about it, he saw that his name had been crossed off the list. When asked, the same hostess just shooed him away and rewrote his name on the waiting list.

At this point we were about to get up and leave but we decided to give it a few more minutes. A LARGE part of 6 came in, wrote their name down after ours and got seated IMMIDIATLY. I was FURIOUS. The original hostess had walked away and there was another women at the desk, so I asked her why our name kept getting skipped. She looked confused and said she would ask the original girl. We had been at the front entrance to this restaurant for 30 minutes, with nowhere to go or sit. So its not like they forgot we were there.

FINALLY the original hostess came back and when I went to ask her why we kept getting pushed down, she ignored my comment, looked around and brought us to an empty table. This table had been clean and empty the entire time we were waiting. So why was it so hard to put us there in the first place???

The food was delicious and the waitress was very attentive; but that's the only thing they have going for them. Awful front of house and awful attitudes. No thank you. I can get sushi ANYWHERE else and have a...