Red Ginger Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi — Restaurant in Charlotte

I am a long time, frequent customer of this establishment and tonight's visit was not only the worst experience I've ever had THERE but at any restaurant PERIOD. I had family visit from out of town and any time we had people visit, we would take them here because the food was excellent and the service was on point. Not tonight. We arrived at 8 PM and were told the wait was 45 minutes to an hour. By 9:30 the group of people beside us at the bar were furious as were we. They had been waiting since 7:30. We watched the bus boy clean and set the hibachi table and we waited 20 minutes to even be seated. Imagine waiting an hour and 45 minutes already and then staring at empty seats for another 20 minutes while staff walks back and forth aimlessly, oblivious to the two groups of patrons who are super hungry and irritable. The bartender was unpersonable and miserable. He took our drink order then proceeded to wait on a group of young girls TWICE before he got our first round. We get seated finally and our chef was subpar. You go to hibachi for the experience. The only thing we experienced was him flirting with the young lady at the corner. He decided to do the "saki squirt" for her and ignored everyone else at the table including my wife who voiced that she would like to try. He did that on 2 separate occasions saying that he wanted to help the young lady "get right" as in get her drunk. He gave that lady larger portions of food and even gave her MY order of chicken from my meal. I had to remind him that my order included chicken so I had to wait while mine was made in the back. By the time I got my order of chicken, my meal was already boxed up to go. The hostess with the face piercings was rude, the manager was clueless, my wife said there was vomit in the womens bathroom sink for like 2 hours, it was a complete disaster. I don't know WHAT happened because EVERY OTHER OCCASION at this establishment was ALWAYS pleasant and the staff was on point and personable. All of that was non existent and overall quality of experience took a complete nosedive. The only plus is the food was good, but we barely ate anything at the restaurant because by the time we waited and the food was cooked, it was after 11 PM and we were ready to box up and go. Whatever they were doing BEFORE, they need to go back to THAT because my family from out of town recieved the WORST first impression. Extremely...

Simply put, my first dining experience with Red Ginger was awful! I originally made a reservation for two on my birthday, which was yesterday (November 19, 2018), but I was running slightly late. When I gave the restaurant a courtesy call to make them aware of my delayed travels, I was only rushed off the phone and was told it would be 'okay' and they would see us when we arrived. I initially thought it was rude I was not given a chance to ask some questions about the dine-in experience, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they were possibly busy. When we get to the restaurant, they did NOT have a rush but they did have two full tables with two chefs. The hostess asked me if I would like to sit at the dining tables or if I would like to wait for another chef to become available for the sit-down experience. Of course, being that I was dining in for my birthday, I chose to wait 20 minutes for another chef and meanwhile ordered some drinks at the bar. My problem with Red Ginger was that when we were finally sat down and afterwards the chef arrived 20 minutes later, he asked us and the other couple, who joined us later, if there were any special occasions...again, I made them aware of my birthday a third time. After noticing they were celebrating other birthdays with nice music and a dessert with sparklers, I thought it would be nice to have the same done for me...however, my birthday was never recognized. Anyway, while the chef cooked, he rushed through the entire thing with little to no conversation and the food tasted horrible; it all had an awful burned aftertaste and the vegetables were all bitter to taste. Then after the chef departs, we all notice him right outside the windows of the restaurant on his phone and smoking a cigarette! (which is visible in the picture I took and attached) Mind you, this was not even 10 minutes after he left our table. I was not please and highly disappointed I wasted my time and my birthday evening at this Uptown Charlotte spot, where I had high expectations for...when I could have simply picked something more local and...

So this place has a great vibe and aesthetic. Also, our chef was amazing and interactive and even had some new stuff incorporated that I hadn't seen before at hibachi. We were there for a birthday dinner and had chosen to eat at the grill. Our server and the overall cleanliness and staff vibe was terrible though! Our waitress did not come once to refill our drinks. She did not introduce herself. She seated us and came right back for appetizer orders but then only took mine and told my sister in law she would be back for hers and to "Hang on". She never came for it and brought my app out without ever checking with the rest of the table. Then when she did come back she wanted to take entree orders. My sister in law asked if she could place her app order and the waitress said "I'm taking all orders for whatever you want and don't have right now so I'll get to you in a second". So rude! Then she refilled regular tea over my aunt's alcoholic beverage so it completely ruined it and when my aunt asked to have a fresh drink made she said "I can get yours in a little bit I have to go put in these other people's order right now and you're going to have to wait anyway because the bar is backed up". I mean I've never had a waitress that blunt and rude before. Like I said the look of the place is great and our chef and food was amazing but the waitress kind of ruined it for us. We had brought a cake for the birthday and she brought us out to go styrofoam for our celebration and said ok bye. They forgot my sister in laws filet for the grill and the chef is busy cooking the rest of our food in front of us and asked her to go get him our filet but she never did so he had to leave the grill and go get it himself. The worst part was that on the check they had the audacity to include automatic gratuity of TWENTY PERCENT after that terrible service! Honestly the food was good but the service so bad that I probably will not risk it and won't eat here again. Only gave 2 stars...