The Mad Monkfish — Restaurant in Cambridge

I arrived tonight around 9:15, 45 minutes before close. I was seated promptly and served water and menus immediately. I was notified that the kitchen closes as 9:40 and the restaurant closes at 10. I was not surprised by any of these things, though I continue to find it weird that restaurants around here that list hours until a certain hour close at that hour, rather than stop serving food at that hour, and stay open for a while until people are done. That said, kitchen closing only 20 minutes before close is pretty good. I'll take it.

I had already reviewed the menu, and admittedly have been tired of sushi lately, so I ordered a Korean Grilled Beef Bulgogi Bun and a Chicken Katsu Don. My food arrived together and within about 5-8 minutes. I wasn't generally happy with anything but the quantity of the food, but perhaps my experience should be taken with a grain of salt, and the sushi at this restaurant might be better. That said, the menu was too big, and that's usually indicative of a bad restaurant. There were at least four different cuisines on the menu (American(?), Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Chinese), with probably around 100 items total.

The bun was pretty good. It had pickles of some kind in it, which I didn't love, but the bun was pretty. The meat in it was not what I would call Bulgogi (which I consider as being characterized by small/narrow strips, rather than big wide pieces), and it was seasoned passably, albeit not well. The textures of the bun were good, but it was all together pretty flat. I would not order this item again.

The Katsu Don I was expecting to be good, but it was definitely not. The serving size was pretty good, and the Katsu was very crunchy, but that's where the quality stopped. The breading was falling off the chicken, and overall the seasoning was very poor. The meat was unsalted, and there was no good flavored sauce for dipping. There was some kind of teriyaki or something on top of the katsu, but it really wasn't all that flavorful. The rice that came with the dish was a dome-shaped molded mound, which while it looked good, was dry and evidently pretty old. There was also a big cabbage and carrot salad with a spicy mayo dressing. Personally, this was not my thing, but maybe some people like it.

All together, the food's primary merit was quantity. The price was pretty okay for the quantity of food, but the quality of the food was poor. The service was pretty good, but I felt unnecessarily rushed and I very much dislike the checkout method where they have a card scanner and stand there while you decide what to tip. That method makes me feel horribly rushed and pressured to tip in a particular way, and not consider the service and experience carefully.

There wasn't anything special about the atmosphere. It seemed like multiple restaurants had been glued together with some walls torn out. No complaints but also nothing cohesive.

I think the number one suggestion I would have for this place is they should choose the things they're actually good at, and only make those. Stop making stuff you're not good at and narrow your menu down by at least half, and you'll be a...

Great live jazz Thurs, Fri, & Sat nights. All the music is live streamed on Facebook. So go to their Facebook page and check out the videos section. Restaurant has recently expanded to 3 rooms now and I still recommend making a reservation since it gets busy. If you want to be in the room with live music, ask for the Jazz Baroness room. If you’re going to talk over the music but still want to listen to it, ask for the middle room with the sushi bar. There’s a new 3rd room that’s the most brightly lit so maybe pick that one if you want to photograph your food? (I haven’t sat in that room since it’s all about the music for me.) A huge sushi and Asian fusion menu means that friends with various dietary requirements can still find options that work for them (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free..). Some of my go-to dishes are Crispy Salmon with Cashew Nuts, Spicy Pork Ramen, Chirashi (assorted raw fish slices over rice), Mackerel Don (mackerel slices over rice), Salmon+Salmon Roe over rice, the Frog Prince Roll, Coconut Curry Fries, chicken wings, Peking Duck tortillas hand rolls, Mad Monk Noodles, Green Curry, Masaman Curry, Mr. Snuffy’s Favorite Dish, and Avocado Salad. Great cocktails and it even has a selection of Japanese whiskies. Prices aren’t cheap but not too expensive either. It’s a fair price for what you get. Service is generally very friendly but also on the leisurely side so don’t go when you’re in a hurry. Great music has kept me coming here 150+ times over 3 years. (Used to have live music 5...

Disappointed. Online presence and reviews were totally opposite of in-person experience. From start to finish, the customer service was horrific. The food was edible and we only stayed because we were hungry. We were a party of four with a reservation. We asked about the live jazz, and were told we only had the option of sitting outside or in the room without the live jazz. No explanation, not even a smile and a “welcome” just a rude attitude. Waitress didn’t greet the table or speak to us beyond asking for our order in a rude manner, and more consumed with the iPad than with the customers. The menu is digital but the online platform they use sucks so we asked for paper ones to understand the options better since the waitress provided no info and had a bad attitude. The exchanges when ordering between the body language and the aggressive replies from the waitress left us very uncomfortable—like our presence was bothering her—and we had to go out of our way to be extra nice to try to get a decent response. The live jazz is only on one side of the restaurant blocked off with a curtain. There is a speaker where you can hear the music outside. We were on the side with the weird caged chandeliers, dirty tables, and chairs that were falling apart (literally the first layer of pleather was peeling off all the chairs). The staff needs to get some basic customer service training. Night and day compared to all the other restaurants we visited during our weekend...