DaRuMa Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Lounge — Restaurant in Cape Coral

One of the worst dining experiences I’ve had at DaRuMa in over 30 years

I worked for the Chang family back in the early 90s, and I can honestly say Mr. Chang would be turning in his grave if he saw how his restaurants are being run today. We went to the Fort Myers location last night for my daughter’s 18th birthday with a party of 8, and it was a complete disappointment from start to finish.

First, they asked about allergies — I have a shellfish allergy. The protocol has always been to either cook my food early on the grill with the rice, or flip the order so mine is done last. I signed the waiver as required, but the chef ignored this and immediately threw shrimp across the grill, which meant my food had to be taken to the back. Anyone who has been here before knows it’s never the same.

Our server, Alex, was mediocre at best (5/10). I asked for two waters to avoid waiting on refills since I was the DD, yet still had to wait. We ordered an appetizer (Negamaki) that came out barely cooked and flavorless.

The chef — who I rate a 1 out of 10 — was a total disaster. He wore a childish Batman bandana, barely spoke, offered no energy, and made zero effort to interact with our table. The entire point of going to a Teppanyaki restaurant is the fun, engaging experience with the chef — instead, ours had the personality of a rock and couldn’t even cook properly. My steak and tuna were ordered medium rare but came back well done and medium well. Completely ruined. Everything tasted bland — honestly, Chipotle has more flavor.

What sealed the deal for me was my daughter. This was her 18th birthday, and without knowing my frustrations she said: “I’m good never coming back, the food wasn’t that good and I didn’t like the chef.” When a kid says that about what should be a fun, memorable night, you know the experience was awful.

To top it off, I noticed they’ve now lowered the threshold for automatically added gratuity down to parties of 4. Back in 1993, it was 17% for parties of 8. It later became 20% (fair), then 7 people, then 6, then 5… and now 4. 🤣 At this point, is service really so bad you have to force people to tip? That’s not only a red flag, but borderline illegal unless a customer specifically agrees to it.

I spent 23 years in the restaurant industry, and I’m someone who tips big (20–100% depending on service and occasion). But last night was hands down one of the worst experiences I’ve had at any restaurant — especially one that used to stand for quality.

I’ll be reaching out directly to Tony Chang to let him know just how far this location has fallen. Until then, I’d strongly recommend spending your...

I find it hard to find the words to express how unfortunate this experience was for me and my extended family. We booked a reservation for hibachi for a party of 12. One family member brought her baby with us that day. When we placed our order, she kindly expressed an allergy concern for her child, who is allergic to eggs. We were under the impression that this was noted, but there must have been a miscommunication between the waitress and the chef. She ordered a small New York strip from the kid's menu for her baby and her normal entree. Our hibachi chef was Anton. He had a great beginning with us, as he was making jokes and prepping the food as per usual. Once he started with the fried rice, our family member kindly asked him if it was possible to cook the eggs on one side of the grill so that her steak wouldn't touch the parts that the eggs touched. Anton stops the trick he was gonna do with the eggs. Suddenly, everything changed. Anton's whole demeanor changed and he became quiet and visibly annoyed at her. He told her that usually, you have to sign a waiver when expressing an allergy concern (which we would have been fine with, had anyone told us that). She expressed that she wasn't told that and he goes quiet again, this time staring blankly at the eggs. He cracks all of them while huffing and puffing, even going as far as to make passive-aggressive comments such as "The trick is ruined now" and "Normally people don't do this". When her sister tried lifting the mood with a joke followed up with "The show must go on, right?" He coldly replied with "Well, not really." I wish I was joking. At one point, his passive aggression got so bad that she asked if she should leave and tried apologizing because he made her feel like she ruined thr night. He did not say another word the rest of the time he was there, swiftly prepared our meals, and left with a half-smiled goodbye. He made this one concern and miscommunication into an opportunity to embarrass a paying customer and made all of us very uncomfortable and unsure of what to do. For how expensive this place is, I would expect to be treated with respect as we did on our behalf. This was not worth the money solely for how poorly my family was treated and I feel this chef should be fired for treating her so poorly. He had complete power over that situation and chose to ruin it for everybody over something that should not have been a big deal. Be aware of this chef if...

So for Valentines Day my daughter and her friend decided to go eat at this place. And for a gift I wanted to call and cover the bill, a Valentines suprise. I called gave them all my info and everything sounded good. Apparently my daughter had the server from hell, I heard the whole experience, as follows: Seemed as though everything was going well, until the server found out their bill was covered with tip. The server totally flipped and was a nightmare to deal with, and she said "WHO IS CORY?! (Looking upset) my daughter said "My Dad" Waitress says "feel free to leave a bigger tip." Rolling her eyes. I figured 20% off the bat without knowing the service was a good amount. And if they had a good experience they would leave more. Everything they tried to order was a chore for this waitress, she even made a comment about waters. So the girls wanted sushi, which was the main reason for going. Both girls filled out the sheet and ordered 5 rolls and a salad. The waitress , or one of the three brought out 7 rolls. The girls then said, "we did not order 7 rolls" the waitress made them look really stupid and the other waitress with her said "Oh, one may be for that table." Removed the roll from the girls table and brought it to theirs, which I think is a no no once it touches another table. The waitres then accuses my daughter for ordering 6 rolls and not 5. So now Im thinking, I have an open credit card on file and they just want to charge extra. So after a bit the waitress came back and asked if they were going to order "meals", my daughter said no we came for sushi and have plenty. Waitress rolled her eyes and walked away. After this experience, they give my daughter a receipt for over $90 and no break down on it. Already wanting to just get out of there the girls didnt ask for one. The next day my wife calls Kathy the night manager to complain, she was apologetic and said "I will talk to her" nothing else. And we know how that goes. There is more to the experience in the place she told me, I would have walked out. We are huge Asian Food eaters and will never go here, and let everyone know. Many good places out there, dont need...