Mahzu Japanese Restaurant East Windsor — Restaurant in East Windsor Township

Before I begin writing, I would like to share that the owner of this restaurant told me that if I write a bad review that he has the power to remove it, so it will be interesting to see how long this stays up. Anyway, I made a reservation two months in advance at this restaurant for 30 people to celebrate my graduation. The day before, I called to confirm my reservation for 30. I requested that there be 3 highchairs within that 30. All they had to say in response was: "yea yea yea, just be on time, that is a lot of people and we have other reservations." Appaled, but really left with no other choice but to have the party there, I tried to accommodate THE RESTAURANT to avoid any drama, and I reached out to everyone in my party and asked that they arrive 15 minutes early, and the next day we did just that. Upon my arrival, my party was NOT set up. I said I had the reservation for 30 and I needed three high chairs. It seemed as though one server was going to try and help me get it set up, but didn't even bring over three highchairs and disappeared. Then a woman server came over and started asking how many adults we had and I couldn't remember the exact number with the amount of children, but my question is why was I being asked that in the first place?! I said 30 with three highchairs like 10 times already, why couldnt that just get set up?! I tried to remeber the exact number of adults, still not understanding why it was still not just getting set up for 30 with three of those being highchairs. I said I wasn't a hundred percent sure, I have it for 30 because I want there to be room for people to sit where they want. She started getting nasty with me in front of my whole family telling me I was messing up 'HER SEATING' and even snapped at my Uncle for wanting to sit with his wife after this obnoxious server started dictating exactly what chairs needed to get sat in. (I understand Hibachi seating is specific, but with 30 people, it takes up pretty much exactly two tables, so people should be able to sit wherever they want to at the two designated tables). Needless to say, I got one of the other servers to switch with her and got rid of her for the rest our time there, but I was so embarrassed and emotional about the way my family and I had been spoken to on my special day, that I couldn't enjoy it in the slightest. I had a speech planned and everything, but everyone in my party was so irritated that I just decided to not even share it in order to speed things along. Upon OFFFICIALLY complaining, the first thing I was offered was dessert (a single scoop of ice cream), which was downright insulting given the amount I was about to spend in this restaurant. After I, as well as a member of my party, complained to the owner, we had a percentage taken off the bill. (During the time in which I was complaining about my experience was when he had the audacity to tell me that even if I gave them a bad review he could just take it down.) However, this place absolutely ruined my graduation party, something that I planned months a head. The people that work here are rude, nasty, and only concerned with getting as many people in and out of the restaurant as fast as possible, regardless of what is being celebrated. I would never reccomend this place to anyone for even a dinner, and even less so for any kind of special event. Thank you, Mahzu for completely ruining my party, and upsetting and embarrassing me on a day that I had looked forward to for years. Every time I think about my experience, it makes me sick...

Mahzu tried but we won't be back anytime soon. They were busy, we didn't have a reservation so we sat in the dining room rather than a hibachi table. (No issues with that, great to see a busy restaurant.) Upon being seated another couple was sat at a booth across from us, and they had a screaming toddler. We patiently waited for the waiter to come take our drink order, as the toddler kept screaming out in bursts. Eventually the waiter took our drink order, and a few minutes later dropped off our drinks. We tried to be patient but the child continued to scream so my husband asked if we could be moved. The host stated they had a no show at a hibachi table and would seat us there. We gladly accepted. We sat at the table at 6:25. Another family was already seated. They had been there since 6pm. At 6:40 no one had been by to take a drink order, greet us, etc. There were only two chefs cooking and is was apparent they were really short staffed. The other family went to the host to see if someone would be tending to our table as they had already been sitting for 40 minutes. The manager paid a visit to our table apologized, said drinks would be right out someone would take our order, and offered a 10% discount. True to his word service picked up from then on. Throughout dinner we could still hear the toddler in the other dinning room, crying and throwing tantrums. (Not the restaurants fault, shame on the parents for not taking the child outside). There are 16 hibachi tables and to have only 2 or 3 chefs simply is not enough. Hopefully they can get more staff. We tipped our chef separate from the tip left at the table b/c we felt the person cooking should have gotten a better portion of the tip that was left. On the menu it states, parties of 2 (yes two) or more will automatically be charged a 20% tip and that the tip is shared equally among all the staff. We always leave 20% or more, but found it very odd to see an automatic charge of parties of 2 or more. Food was good, portion was plentiful. We didn't get 10% off our bill, but we weren't...

Full disclosure, we showed up late, but not THAT late. We even called ahead to make sure. The woman on the phone confirmed that they are open until 930 but their last seating is at 9. We got there around 840. The restaurant was empty, the cooks were eating, and they were clearly getting ready to close as soon as possible. We understood and were willing to tip accordingly. First, our waitress was very kind and the gentleman that took our order was OK, too. But our chef? He might as well have spit in our food in front of our eyes! Part of hibachi is the show and we got none of that. Nothing. We would've been fine with this considering the time, but the food! He seasoned nothing. He made basically zero effort to cut my steak. He spent so little time cooking the vegetables that our onions were raw. He quickly cooked the rice and noodles without salting anything but absolutely DROWNED them in sauce. I couldn't even finish my portion. When we saw that he didn't use seasoning on the starches, my wife asked if I could request some extra garlic on our protein. He just snickered and he put a HUGE heap of chopped garlic on my steak as if to punish us for asking for it. It was ridiculous. And to add more insult to injury, he was so haphazardly throwing the food when he was putting it on our plates that he ended up flinging rice and noodles everywhere. This was our one night out and while we get that we were there kind of late, we asked ahead! And I think 50 minutes before closing is not in any way unreasonable. But even so, do your job! Seriously. We paid our hard earned money for an experience we didn't get and a meal that was so poorly prepared, we couldn't even finish it. If you were going to do that, why not just ask us to not come in? Needless to say, we will never ever be returning and we would highly recommend another place unless you show up several hours before they close so that you don't annoy the chefs and incur their wrath. Try elsewhere... For...