Goji y Agave (Goji Bistro) — Restaurant in Cary

Ken, one of the co-owners and the General Manager has a solid history and well known reputation for his professionalism and super friendly hospitality in the industry for decades based upon reviews that are in the thousands from various sites all over the internet. I wanted to mention the previous bad review on Google written by Heide McLaine is false and misleading.

GOJI BISTRO is local family owned and operated for decades. Ken handled the situation and was being extremely patient, friendy, polite and as professional as possible, probably spent 30 minutes or so at their table in attempts to resolve the guests own incompetence, considering the entire restaurant and bar was completetly packed. Ken somehow managed to address and resolve all issues as there were several folks at Heidi McLane's party that were shouting at him simultaneously. Please note this was the busiest shift I have ever seen and I have been a regular customer at GOJI for over a year.

I was dining in at another table and witnessed the entire situation and folks at party of 12 were being very disruptive, loud and rude even amongst each other. There was a large man with a hat at the party that was yelling at multiple staff, being physically aggressive and hostile towards Ken and another lady was being very rude to Sarah, who is super friendly and she was the 3rd server working extremely hard like the entire staff. One of the ladies shouted personal insults to Ken repeatedly non stop and as a result she was then asked politely to leave the property and not to return to the property.

Other guests at the party were eventually asked by Ken to stop shouting and being disruptive in the dining room, otherwise they were told by Ken to leave the property immediately as well. These folks were making insults to staff and management and indeed was very disruptive towards everyone and afftected other guests dining experience such as myself trying to enjoy my dinner.

There was apparently a lot of confusion amongst the party within themselves since they were all arguing and shouting at each other, clearly because they were intoxicated or in other words could not handle their alcoholic beverages since they had no clue as to who ordered what and they could not agree on who was paying for what which made it extremely confusing for the entire staff on an extremely busy evening.

It was actually suggested by other staff members that Ken should have called the police, but he had things under control and it was Ken was nice enough to decide not to contact law enforcement so that it would not make other guests feel even more uncomfortable. Ken and Sarah handled the situation as well as possible and we appreciate their dedication from the heart to offer the best service and hospitality possible under such circumstances. Despite the rude party that was here, I definately recommend everyone to visit GOJI BISTRO that has never been here before because the staff goes way above and beyond to serve their guests. Furthermore, the level of quality of food and drinks is top notch. Golji Bistro is...

Goji Bistro - now Goji y Agave - has been one of our favorite Asian/Vietnamese restaurants in Cary for a while. It’s 30 minutes from our home and always a treat when we make the drive into Cary to dine with them. They have some of the best Pho in the Triangle, and we have enjoyed their creative spin on Asian entrees. However…The rebranding and addition of a Mexican Menu is a mistake in my opinion - and it’s left a very poor taste in my mouth, pun intended.

I took a chance and ordered from the Mexican menu and was very disappointed. I ordered what I think is their signature Mexican dish, the Don Leo Special - listed as a “showstopper dish featuring grilled ribeye steak, topped with zesty lemon pepper shrimp, served with our house-made Aztec Cake - Layers of corn, roasted poblanos, onion, with grilled asparagus and corn tortilla.”

My first concern was the Aztec Cake - it was tasty but lukewarm at best. I don’t carry a food thermometer with me but I would guess it was about 115-120 degrees F. I asked the server if it was supposed to be served cold and he didn’t know, which was a problem all by itself. He said he would ask Chef. A nice gentleman came out and he was very vague about what the temperature was supposed to be, noting that it shouldn’t be steaming hot and gave me the impression that it was properly served. He did offer to replace it and I declined. I thought I could eat it - and I want to enjoy it as it’s intended to be served. It was tasty, but in my opinion a layered potato dish with melted cheese on top should be hot - at least 150-165 degrees or so. I took a few more bites and gave up on it.

My second concern was the steak, which I ordered medium-rare, and specifically asked the server if they could cook it medium-rare. The steak I got was medium-well at the thickest part, but mostly well-done. I thought I could power through it but gave up and left a third of the steak uneaten. It was dry and tough.

The shrimps were good, although not particularly lemony or zesty. I finished them.

I could have done more to bring my dissatisfaction to the attention of the staff on hand, I will admit. However I was just not in a mood to send my entire plate back, wait for a replacement while my family was eating, and have additional discussions about the quality of the meal, especially after already having discussed part of it with the staff. That’s on me.

My daughter did confirm that her Pho was as excellent as usual.

In my opinion the addition of a Mexican menu and spin to an otherwise historically excellent Asian fusion bistro is a mistake. I think they should do what they do best. I am not enthusiastic about returning now, and will stick to Mezcalito for my...

Edit: The response from the owner is absolutely appalling, I did not claim there was a gas leak in this review. Like I said before the food was good. Yes we did stay after the building was aired out by FD, and ordered takeout as that was our original plan. I've never claimed that there was anything wrong with the food. I have audio proof of fire fighters confirming the smell of gas as well. This review is 100% real and has unfortunately shown the true colors of the man we've been supporting.

Guests BEWARE! We are long time patrons of GOJI BISTRO, coming up on 2 years. Goji has been incredible on dealing with our allergies and has always been very consistent.

Our visit today left a sour taste on our love for Goji, upon entering the building we could smell a strong gas odor throughout. Other guests also stated they could smell it as well, this was reported to the manager on duty and quickly brushed off. Even our server stated he could smell gas. Since management refused to call the fire department to make sure everything was safe I decided to call them myself. FD quickly responded and did note that there was lingering gas, they quickly proceeded to air out the building with a fan. Every firefighter that came up to us said we did the right thing and there was gas lingering in the building, Dominion Gas also showed up to confirm.

Management refused and still refuses to acknowledge the incident, this is absurd and concerning. There was a much better way to handle this situation and Goji failed to do so in the correct manner. I also attempted to post this on the Gluten Free Gang of Raleigh NC & Surrounding Areas but the post was not approved stating management said there was no gas leak.

The food is great, hopefully management will learn from this situation and create/revise their handling...