Drunken Fish - Edwardsville — Restaurant in Edwardsville

Well, I won't be going back here ever again. As someone who has faithfully patronized the Drunken Fish brand at their many St. Louis locations, I was excited for them to open in Edwardsville. What an absolute disappointment!

First, the atmosphere is abysmal. Cheap finishes, fixtures, furniture. It was clear that everything was done in an inexpensive fashion and the only thing I could think was, "Wow, this is CHEAP." The "sushi bar" was pathetic. Plain wall on the back of the bar with papers taped up to the wall. Nothing fancy, nothing to at all demand the exorbitant prices they are charging. Is it really so difficult to put up a nice tile or wallpaper? To give the place some ambiance? The flooring was cheap, the decor was non-existent. Very disappointed.

The staff - whew. I don't even know where to begin. The most motley crew I've ever seen in a restaurant where you can't even begin to walk out for less than $100 for lunch for two people. I felt like I was part of a joke or a reality TV show where someone would walk out like Candid Camera and tell me I was being pranked. Waiters had face tattoos, the "sushi chefs" were very inappropriate - joking with each other and talking about how they were going to party later. Lots of yelling, screaming with workers in the back. It was like I was being fed by a frat house. Extremely inappropriate.

We ordered a shrimp tempura appetizer, a house salad, 3 sushi rolls, and 1 nigiri. The bill was over $90 not including tax or tip! For LUNCH! But, that's not all. Oh, no.

When we ordered the shrimp tempura appetizer we were asked what sauce we wanted. We didn't know and they said they would bring all three. Imagine my surprise when EACH SAUCE was an additional .75 on my bill. I was not told this would be a charge by the waiter. I guess charging $13.95 for 5 pieces of shrimp (which really was the equivalent of 2 pieces of shrimp as the shrimp was practically non-existent in the grossly overdone batter) just wasn't enough ROI for greedy Drunken Fish.

The waiter forgot to bring out my salad and they didn't come back to our table to check on us. When I finally flagged them down and asked about the salad they brought it out at the end of my meal and it was the most pathetic tiny bit of wilted lettuce with a glob of ginger dressing on top. For $7.95. I was shocked.

The sushi rolls were decent but had very little fish of any kind on them. Skimp, skimp, skimp is the motto here.

I am a healthy eater and eat 5x a day - so I don't need a ton of food at one sitting. However, I walked out of this $100+ lunch starving and went home and ate.

I will never, ever go back. Never. There is a reason why they don't list any of their prices on their website - because they are price gouging and cheap. As a customer, and a long-standing one of Drunken Fish, I won't ever be going to any of their locations again. It is clear their ownership only cares about one thing - and it's not their customers. It's the...

This restaurant had so much potential, and has the ability to be good, but is absolutely overpriced and the portions are abysmally small. The service is usually great. The wait-staff always smile and are very helpful. The food is good, but absolutely NOT worth the ridiculous prices that are charged for it. I had high hopes that the Edwardsville location would scale their pricing based on the local market, but that's clearly not the case here. Sushi was alright but the consistency between rolls has varied drastically between multiple visits. I can't bring myself to pay the ridiculous price of $24 for a fried piece of boneless chicken breast with bottled katsu sauce, a small pre-mixed salad with bottled dressing, a 50 cent bowl of miso paste soup, and a small serving of steamed white rice, no matter how good it may be. The restaurant itself is beautiful. One major complaint I have is the lack of consistency for the price of the food and drinks. I have come in 4 seperate times and ordered an Asian Mary, by name, and pointed to the menu to show the bartender exactly what I want, and 3 of 4 times, I was served a regular Bloody Mary with an olive instead of the specialty cocktail with specific liquor, house-made mix, and a cucumber garnish. I wouldn't have a problem with this, but when you're paying STL prices for food and drinks, you expect them to be correct, especially when the menu advertises a house-made Mary Mix and then the bartenders use Zing-Zang 😂 It's weird that the bathroom is shared with Kimchi Guys next door, but I get that they are owned by the same restaurant group. It just feels...cheap, since they try to present themselves as upscale, and Kimchi guys next door is more of a "fast-casual, to-go based eatery". I guess my point here is, there are much more reasonably priced, consistent options both locally and within a reasonable drive, and I'll always recommend going somewhere else, but if you're trying to impress someone with the atmosphere of an "upscale" sushi restaurant, I guess you could potentially show up here (but honestly, I'd only come back if someone else paid for my food, or if I could put it on a company card.) My takeaways (not that anyone asked): Provide more reasonable portion sizes, put an emphasis on consistency with food and drink quality, make sure the staff know the menu that they are serving. 4 visits and only 1 of them was semi-correct. Pricing...

This was a strange experience. The prices are extremely over-priced for the portion sizes, which are paltry, plus presentation was lacking. Like other reviewers have mentioned, the prices and portions are not competitive enough for our area and have raised considerably from what I remember over the years. For example, $17 for 6-7 appetizer of chicken wings dumped on a plate with no dipping sauce or crudités or extra embellishment. Inflation, I understand, but this is not on par to other local sushi joints. The server had an off-putting attitude and a large majority of her lower-back was not covered by her t-shirt, which was too small and pilled. All the sauces, extra salad dressing, and refills on drinks cost extra. The furniture appeared to not be new despite the brand new building, everything looked used - maybe taken from another of their chain’s location? Just odd. Decor and music was frankly dated. Again, for the price, the ambience and presentation was not there. A salad with a tablespoon of dressing was $8 for example. Sushi roll was good, but at almost $20 it did not fill me up. Sticky sweet potato fries were served in a bowl that was oversized for the pitiful amount presented. The inside of the fries were not cooked, they were crunchy not fluffy inside. My husband got a poke bowl and the server said it was not reported by patrons to be spicy. It was inedibly spicy and he got a Wendy’s burger on the way home. Just the worst dining experience I’ve had in years frankly. I probably won’t be back; such a shame I used to love going to the St. Louis locations for Happy...