Trapper's Sushi — Restaurant in Federal Way

We went to Trapper's Sushi in Federal Way Washington for dinner... We recently started going to Trapper's again, we stopped when all the COVID-19 commotion was going on in 2020, 2021, and part of 2022... We were able to pick up where we left off when we used to go to Trapper's. There have been some new changes, for the good i.e. Happy Hour hours and days, on Mondays Happy Hour is all day (the other days Happy Hour is only 3pm - 6pm. Another change is the all-you-can-eat (lunch and dinner) time... on all-you-can-eat Tuesdays, the price is $3 less all day, otherwise the price turns out to be a good deal. Tonight we dined on 4 sushi rolls, edamame, and drinks. One of the sushi rolls was the September Sushi Roll of the month. The other sushi rolls were favorites we've had before, and they were still just as tasty. We were taken to a table really quickly, and the Server (Lexi) was outstanding in every way. She took the time to get us caught up on the new things at Trapper's and got some of our order started (we knew what we wanted for starters). With Lexi's help we decided on what we wanted for the rest of our order. The food was out to us quickly, which was nice because we were really hungry. After wrestling my chop sticks for a few bites of sushi, I asked for a fork. Lexi brought me my fork and offered to help me tame my chop sticks. I accepted, so she showed us that rolling chop sticks (the non-pointy ends needed to be end-to-end) in a napkin, that way when the chop sticks were brought together, the napkin became a hinge to hang on to the food firmly and allowed my fingers to keep my chop sticks in place without falling apart. The napkin also added some resistance when the eating tips were squeezed together to hang onto your food, so once the food went into your mouth all you had to do was relax your grip and the eating tips parted easily. Very ingenious of Lexi and fun to use. Lexi had a very friendly attitude with us but was able to handle other guests just as graciously. I wanted to put in a good comment, so I asked the manager (Laura) to come over, and Laura also had a very gracious attitude and listened to my commendations about Lexi. I want you all to know that while I mentioned Laura (the manager) in my comments here, there was NO cheating on Laura's part to have me mention her here...I only give credit where credit is earned, and Laura earned her part of the credit, just as Lexi earned her part of the credit. I felt like we were treated as part of the Trapper's family by the way both Lexi and Laura treated us. We both felt very comfortable with our table service...and as I mentioned above, the food...

The only constants at Trappers are great sushi and abysmal service.

I've been a Washington resident for 8 years now. I lived between the Kent Station and the Covington location and for the first year I lived there, it was an almost weekly occurrence that I would eat lunch or dinner at one of the locations.

Even 7 years ago, Trappers struggled with service regardless of location. Food is great. Sushi chefs are great. Whenever someone would come visit me out of town, Trappers was something I was proud of as a local and show off to them. It never let me down in the food department, never got sick even 8 years later and probably 100 times enjoying their food.

Where they fall down, every time, regardless of location, and I've eaten at Kent Station, Covington, Bonney Lake, Lacey, and Southcenter is the service. I would say 9 out of every 10 times, it's either non-existent or subpar at best. In a restaurant of their size with the staff they had, there should be no reason to ignore customers who are intending to tip their service staff.

Now let's talk about this location and this specific experience. I went there today to order takeout since I was out running errands. I ordered at 11:54am. I messaged my room mate to see what he wanted, and I messaged him back a minute after the order with their estimate of 10-15 minutes for 3 rolls. It seemed reasonable, so I went over to the pet store and did some shopping. I returned 25 minutes later, and my takeout was still not ready. The restaurant was NOT busy. There were 6 employees behind the line, and 6-10 customers in the restaurant, with only about half those at the sushi bar.

5 minutes later the server said that the food was coming up now and that they were busy. Cue my Ron Burgundy "I don't believe you" face. When I complained about this, the server just stood there with the bag defeated. Even a "Hey, let me get the manager, I sympathize with you and want to make this right" would have helped.

I want this place to be good so bad. I want the level of service to match the level of food quality here, and this is not a knock on the people behind the line, just the service staff.

It should not take 30 minutes for 3 takeout sushi rolls to be completed and given to a customer that's waiting in the store. It just shouldn't. I now find myself in search of another place with equally high quality sushi with 3 star staff. It hurts to write this review, but it's just a fact at this point that I'm going to be left disappointed when I visit. I'm not sure I'll be back to any of the locations from this...

NEW REVIEW: 1 STAR

3 years since we've been here. Decided to give the place another go. Well.... this time was even worse than the first 😂😂 we were meeting here with my husband. I come in first and ask for a table. Was told 40 minutes. Ok. Husband comes apparently he called ahead and made a reservation. No wait. They seat us right away instead of the 40 min I was told. As we walk in there are three open tables big enough to seat us. One of which still hasn't been cleaned. Why 40 min. Anyways the dirty table stood dirty for the 40 or 50 min we ate. Maybe if y'all clean your tables quicker you won't have to tell people 40 min wait? Anyways. We sit down. We were given one chopstick for a group of 5. One napkin also. We order miso, sushi, and kids meals. Kids kept saying thier chicken tastes disgusting. Didn't want to eat it. The sushi we ordered was good. Miso soup........ ohhh the miso soup lol. We were brought one out right away. Then waitress kept apologizing that she can't bring us the others because they have no clean plates. BECAUSE THE PLATES ARE DIRTY 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ when we were done eating she finally brings soup out in paper cups with regular spoon. Because 40 min later.... the dishes are still not washed. The poor waitress bless her heart was running around like a mouse in a wheel. I felt bad for her. The place didn't look so full or crazy busy. Yet she kept saying they are slammed. Looked like she wasn't getting much help from anyone else. Oh and the miso was as watery as it was 3 years ago. Anyways probably won't be back for another 3 years or ever again. Get it together Trappers.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: 2 STARS We tried Bonney Lake Trappers for the first time few weeks ago and really loved everything about our evening. We were excited to see federal way location close to us was now open. Everything is new which ofcourse is nice. The waitress was kind but it seemed like she was lost. We ordered sushi and meals with chicken and steak. We recieved the sushi and our meals. We were not fans of the sushi. Ordered California rolls for kids and those barely had anything other than rice. When we were almost done eating waitress runs out bringing us salad and miso soup that apparently came with our meals that she forgot to bring out earlier. Miso soup tasted very watered down. For the money we spent here I would have rather went across the parking lot to Tokyo. Their sushi and food is much better. We wont be...