Kanki Japanese House of Steaks & Sushi - Durham — Restaurant in Durham

I'm not sure where to begin, honestly. I have been coming to Kanki since I was 4 years old. I brag everywhere I go about how Kanki is my favorite restaurant in all the world. I go to Kanki for every birthday and every special occasion.

Tonight was hands down my worst experience ever at Kanki, and it came from this location in Durham. We put our names down for a party of 3 plus a baby, but were only listed as a party of 3. When it came time to be seated 30 minutes later, we had to wait an additional 15 minutes because there wasn't room for our baby at our assigned table. The host was extremely kind and apologetic and offered to repay our inconvenience. I declined and told him he was extremely kind and that mistakes happen.

The real problem was with the service provided to us by our waitress. When we finally had someone come to wait on us, we gave her our drink orders and received our drinks. We ordered our food and got our soup and salad in a timely manner. There are no issues there. Then, we rarely saw her again. No one in my family ever got a refill on drinks the entire night. We even requested twice for refills and never got any. We were never asked how our food was, if there was anything more we needed, nothing. I rarely saw our waitress anywhere in the dining room the entire night. We got our soup and salad, and the next thing we received from her was our check.

Another major issue was that when we were asked if we had any food allergies, my wife explicitly stated that she had a salmon allergy and that her food could not even come into contact with salmon or she would have a miserable time with swelling and itching later on. Well, her food was cooked with the same utensils, on the same surface, and even touching many times a piece of salmon ordered by another customer. While it is not a deadly allergy, it was a request made and expected to be honored.

The last thing I want to have happen is to come across as a male Karen here, but when I spend $100 on dinner for my wife and kids and myself to have a special family dinner, there are certain baseline expectations of service and care. We felt entirely neglected as customers for much of the night.

Shout out to the host for being so kind and accommodating and shout out to the cook for cooking great food! But I can not continue to patronize Kanki if this is how it's going to be...

If I could have given this place a half of a star, I would have. And the only reason I would give that half is because the cook was great! From the start, the customer service was terrible. We arrived, party of 9, we were told that we would be seated within in 10 mins. At the time we arrived, it was still lunchtime. A young guy came over to us about 20 mins after we got there and asked if we planned to order from the dinner menu because lunch would be ending in 10 mins. I asked him, " If we are gonna be seated within 10 mins, then we should be able to order from that menu." He said well the kitchen has switched over to dinner now and walked away. We were under the assumption that he was going to get what he needed to seat us, but that wasn't the case. We were talking to each other, and I realized he didn't come back. I went to the reception desk to ask when we would be seated. One of the 2 females said we were 45 mins into our hour and fifteen min wait. I explained to her that we were told about being seated within 10 mins. She said well a reservation came in. I was like," wait, my sister tried to make a reservation and was told you didn't accept reservations!" She said "well we don't do same day reservations." I explained to her it wasn't the same day but she tried Friday. She then said "well we must not had any available." My issue with this is instead of apologizing for the mixup and mishap, she wanted to make excuses on why we weren't seated and why the reservation wasn't taken. Especially without the smugness. We were finally seated in about 15 mins later. Our waitress was not friendly at all. She appeared to not really want to be serving us. She didn't come back to check to see if we needed anything but once and as soon as one person asked from something she would turn to go get it without seeing if anyone needed anything, which was the case. Everyone's glasses stayed empty throughout the meal, and we didn't get one until we were ready to pay. Like I said earlier, the cook was nice and friendly, which is the only reason for the half star I wanted to give. We were there to celebrate my niece being baptized, and it was her first time going to Kanki, but she said she never wants to go back again. And neither do...

So I have been going to Kanki Durham for close to six years or more. Fridays I get sushi for lunch and never have a problem. Well December 27 was a birthday dinner idea we had and we decided to go to Kanki Durham. We sat at the bar area where it was only about 4 people at the bar and 2 tables with people sitting at them. My table consisted of 3 people. The waiter who was usually a bartender took our drink orders and we didn’t see them until 20 minutes afterwards. He then came and took our order and we ordered a dinner for 2 and some sushi rolls. Dinner for 2 comes with soup and salad. 45 minutes into our dinning a couple came and sat down. The waiter took their order and then came to our table to apologize for the wait on our salad and soup. Told us they were having difficulties and that he had called for help due to he was overwhelmed. We were cool and not but 5 minutes after that the table that arrived 45 minutes after us had their soup and salads. I asked where ours were he said he would go back and check. 5 minutes after that he just brought us the sushi. No salad or soup. We are now in the restaurant for 1hr and also no refills on our drinks. As we waited for our dinner for 2 to come out we couldn’t help but notice he was bringing the other tables dinner for 2 out to their table. I was so disappointed I just walked up to the bar and asked to cancel our dinner for 2. We paid our check and as I was leaving I asked to talk to a manager. The woman that approached us as the manager heard my complaint and simply answered “well that table had a food allergy and they had to clean the grill and that’s why you didn’t get your food” she offered no apologies or understanding. She was very rude and basically stared us out the door. Well after 6 years I have to find another establishment. The lady was completely rude and unhelpful. The bartender I could understand the reasons. So to the rude manager lady with glasses….You made me feel like I was a stupid fool for even asking for your help. Also it was my birthday and I was looking forward to kanki. So if this helps anybody avoid the same feeling I had I’m...