Syringa — Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene

I have always enjoyed going to Syringa. My husband and our families have been going to Syringa since it was in the original building, but the last few times I have gone to their new location, I have been extremely upset with how I was treated. This last time my sister and I called ahead and ordered. My sister had a scheduled appointment that she needed to make. When we left to head to Syringa, my sister informed me her appointment had been cancelled. When we got there our food was ready, but we had asked the hostess if it was alright if we ate at either a table inside or on the patio since we no longer needed it to go. The hostess told us that we could eat there, but we had to sit on the patio. We did not have an issue with sitting on the patio, I also realized that we forgot to add drinks to our order; I asked if they could ring up a separate ticket for our drinks, since I had already paid for our food. The girl looked like she was irritated that I was asking afterwards. (I understand I should have asked when she rang up the first order, but I had forgotten to)

We got our food and drinks and proceeded to head out to the patio where there were two tables available. We sat at the table off to the side near the bushes. The table had old food bits on it and soy sauce that had dried. We figured it would be best to sit there since it was not clean anyways. Also, we figured that way we would be out of the way of anyone needing a table. 30 minutes into our meal, a different hostess comes out and tells us "Ladies, this time we will let you sit out here, but not next time" I informed her that I had asked if it would be alright if we sat out there and that the other hostess said yes. She continued to tell us we would not be allowed to do this again. She went back inside and did not come back out.

I understand that she may not have spoken with the other hostess who said we could sit outside, but I think the way that she treated us was very rude. She acted as if we had brought in outside food to their restaurant and decided to sit at one of their tables, what that was not the case. We had ASKED to sit there, and we were told YES.

I have worked in the restaurant business before and understand that we were probably sitting in someone's section and taking away a table from them, but I think the way that it was handled was rude and unprofessional. I believe that this is the last time I will be...

Please use this review with a grain of salt. This is just my experience.

Syringa has a comfortable atmosphere and attentive staff. They are very enviornmentally conscientious, using biodegradable to go boxes and straws.

They seem to be aiming for high quality, but maybe it is the wrong source. Let me expand on that. This is based solely on the rolls as I am not a big fan of flat out raw fish. My biggest complaint is they list snow crab as an ingredient and yet it has no flavor. Admittedly, I'm used to fresh Dungeness from the sound, but my biggest pet peeve is frozen and thawed crab. It has a woody texture and all the flavor goes with the water when you drain it. The alternate of canned has a better flavor, but then you battle the salty. I completely understand the trials of this particular ingredient. In all honesty, Krab works just fine intead so that the flavor is better. (Hurts me to recommend imitation as I am normally all for real ingredients.) Unfortunately, woody and flavorless is how my roll was.

I'm a big believer in sushi being simple and just flat out good. Simple ingredients put together in a way you can appreciate the flavors you experience. Based on this theory, it is understandable to use the most common roll; and the basis of many more complex and expensive rolls, be my measure. The California roll. In addition to the snow crab issue, the masago that was in the roll was so slight, it was not able to be tasted. That slight pop I was expecting was not there. I understand that not everybody enjoys this ingredient and you can put too much, but either use it and have the taste or exclude it and have the customer request it added. Not so little you cant detect. And last but not least, there was a massive amount of rice on the outside compared to volume of ingredients.

I also like to be fair. I tried a total of 4 rolls and none of them stood out. This is my first time here and I hope you experience is better than mine. Solid food to scratch that sushi roll itch, but would...

We arrived right at their opening time of 11:30am today (Friday). We sat in a section toward the back and were greeted with menus pretty promptly. The server took our orders in the order of which we sat ourselves, with the two booths behind us ordering first. We didn’t order anything to drink and were ready with our menu selections on the first time she came around. We placed our order at 11:36. We chose one of our usual Syringa favorites (Spicy Tuna Sashimi), one Steak bento and one Syringa bento. A table of 8 ladies came and sat down next to us after we had put our order in. Our sashimi and soup came out shortly after we ordered. And then we sat and sat and sat with empty plates and empty waters. The two booths behind us got multiple orders of sushi and entrees delivered to their table shortly after they ordered and THEN, she delivered the ENTIRE tables worth of food to the 8 top that ordered well after us (including some bento boxes) and repeatedly walked past our table without saying a word. Forty five minutes into waiting, she came over and refilled our waters but offered no explanation as to where our food was or why is was taking so long. Our bento boxes were delivered to our table, exactly ONE full ticket time hour, after we placed our order. Zero apology, no acknowledgment that clearly a mistake had been made along the way. Nothing. She avoided us. My husband and I were just starting to eat, as every single table around us, including the 8 top that came after us were paying and leaving. Not to mention that the food was blah and underwhelming. We expect that mistakes can and will happen. That’s okay. What’s not okay, is the way the entire situation was, or rather was not handled. Communication is appreciated. We tipped her the 10% that she deserved and are providing the earned review for...