Inyo Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Ferndale

I have never felt so incredibly misled, or been so disappointed by a restaurant, that I felt compelled to leave a review. I came here with my sibling yesterday evening for a sort of celebration as they will soon be heading off to college. We were both incredibly excited by the menu we saw online and intended to order and share a large selection of appetizers and sushi. Waitstaff seemed stressed or inexperienced, but the place didn't seem that busy. As someone who has worked in the service industry, I understand that the capacity of the restaurant isn't always the whole story so I let it go, and proceeded with understanding and kindness. I ordered hot green tea, and this should've been my first warning, as it came cold - not even luke-warm. Again, having worked in the industry I let it go, thinking maybe they're busier than they look, and I know how poor those hot water dispensers can be. Cold tea is still tea. Now I wish I'd taken that as a sign of what was to come. We started with appetizers. The ahi tuna tacos were a nice portion, but they were virtually flavorless and I had a hard time finding much besides unseasoned ahi in the tacos. We ordered the ebi shu mai. Again, lackluster and flavorless and tiny; though the broth was okay, the dumpling seemed like something you'd get out of a freezer at GFS. The kaiso salad and the age dashi tofu were fine, though I have had better at other restaurants. At this point, I'm pretty disappointed, but we proceed to order and I am trying to be optimistic. It was our mistake to order one of the most expensive sushi rolls on the menu - the Inyo 2.0. I guess, at $25 and having been to many a sushi restaurant, I expected something somewhat substantial and if nothing else visually appealing, but this was neither of those things. These were 6 or 8 quarter sized, bland looking pieces of sushi - I regret not taking pictures to attach to this review. They were said to contain king crab, if they did it was very hard to find, as was the mango. I should have dissected it but by this point I am just trying to enjoy my sibling's company and our celebration and forget my increasing dissatisfaction and disappointment. My sibling was still pretty hungry after all of this, so they ordered an entree - the ginger chicken which was a decent serving and the taste was fine. I, not wanting to spend any more money than I already was, ordered a cup of hot and sour and some veggie rolls, they were both incredibly mediocre, as I expected by this point. All in all, this was a terrible experience. I genuinely feel scammed, or at the very least incredibly misled and overcharged. In the end, it is my mistake for not having left sooner and proceeding to order and eat every underwhelming item we received. I cannot understand how it has so many wonderful reviews - Are Monday's just a bad day? Did COVID destroy what this restaurant once was? I paid my sizable bill and still left a 20% tip and walked away with much regret, wishing I were a more confrontational person. I hope my review leads some to proceed...

My family and I absolutely love this place, We frequently purchase take out however this time we decided to dine in.

We order the hot sour soup, lettuce wrap, 2 sushi rolls, Singapore noodles, 2 walnut lobster plates.

Here’s the thing. The walnut lobster is all I get when I come here it’s amazing! Except for last night, There were literally 3-4 pieces of lobster and all the rest wal nuts.lol

When I realized it after the third bite, I realized it was all seeet sauce over rice and walnuts.

The second plate had a plethora of lobster in it, more than usual actually…. So I put myself in their shoes and realized they cooked our meals together and did not plate it correctly. In fact it looks like they just played the first plate and then the rest went onto mine lol

I was nervous, cause I rather review than complain, but My dad did mention something when she did a check in after 15 minutes or so. I said to her I think they may have cooked our food together and pilates it incorrectly as I only had literally 3 pieces. The server girl was super cool about it and said she’ll grab some on the side.

Returns not even 2 minutes later and said “you will have to talk to my manager because My manager said that they weigh out the lobster and they just had different sizes.”

Basically, They didn’t do anything wrong. Lol nor did she investigate ie: look at the uneaten plate.

Most of all she didn’t listen. Sure you weighed the lobster but once cooked together it was not portion correctly. Not only that when did 3 pieces of lobster equate to 8oz? I definitely didn’t want to waste my time convincing a manger of my experience lol waste of $40 and unfortunately I won’t be taking that chance again.

Lastly, the way the girl would set the food down, made it look unappetizing. I eat with my eyes and when people treat food like it’s just any old plate, it makes me feel like that’s how they prepare it as well ;)

Cleanliness was great, overall great service from the man who was our...

I understand about being understaffed (if they were, we couldn’t tell) and trying to get back to normal. We ate there a few days ago with my sisters outside and the food was excellent and we had a great time. They were pretty busy too.

My family loved going to this restaurant, but their customer service, prices and food has changed. If you plan to go during lunch, plan to pay “dinner prices”.

Services: Pretty slow both visits. I do have mixed feelings about my recent visits (within a few days). This visit, we had no customer service. No one greeted us. They forgot to ask if we wanted a drink, etc.

Food: I am pretty upset with how much they charged us - By adding ONE EXTRA EGG to two of our meals. It cost us $4.00 per EGG!! Basically, we paid an extra 40% more for two of our meals, by adding one egg to it.

Adding tofu cost an additional $3.00 per meal!

Note to Inyo: please add the extra prices to your menu. If it is there, please make sure we can see it.

This visit: Some of the Tempura Platter was over cooked or tasted raw. A few days ago: it was very good. Perfect temperature and cooked perfectly.

If you plan to go: Before adding to what you picked on the menu, ask if it is okay to add something and how much extra it will cost. We spent (of course we left a nice tip) over $80.00.

Overall: it is still a friendly, nice place. Perhaps this visit was poor because of staffing or they raised their prices and we didn’t know. I always looked forward to Inyo and I considered it as a treat when we did go. I was just shocked with the “sticker price” more so than the...