Bonsai — Restaurant in Florida

My wife and I had the Omakase menu without wine and saki pairing.

Horrible experience.

The ambiance and staff were great. While it's in an odd location within the Hilton the restaurant is beautifully designed with great views. Staff was highly attentive and knowledgeable, it felt upscale, and was great for a date.

The meal is where I have issues. The presentation and staff were great.

First course was a pork belly with caramelized sugar. This was prepared well and tasted great. Might be a little heavy to start in a tasting menu, but good nonetheless.

Second course was nigiri. All of it tasted a little off. We go to high end sushi restaurants a lot... The salmon and tuna they served here wasn't very flavorful at all and the snapper, trout, and local catches smelled and tasted off. Almost felt as if it was old, frozen too long, or not kept at correct temperatures.

Third course was some form of Sushi Roll. Same as the prior course. Taste was off so we refused to eat it and sent it back. The servers/staff were amazing and brought out another roll to replace but instantly had the same issue so we skipped it.

Fourth course was ramen. This was absolutely perfectly prepared and amazing.

Final course was desert. It was good, but we were pretty burned out by our experience with the fish.

My wife and I eat sushi/sashimi constantly, both in high end restaurants like Sushi Den (Denver), Kabooki (Orlando), Mizumi (vegas), etc... We also go to local places in strip malls for quick boring standards like tuna, salmon, and yellowtail sashimi. We're not amateurs or new to the game. Something was very wrong with the fish last night and in the end I paid a whole bunch of cash to sit on the toilet sick throughout the night.

Wouldn't recommend...

I'am a former Hotel Manager of a 4* Hotel in Switzerland with e 16 points Gault et Millaux restaurant.

What I lived today with Bonsai Restaurant is simply horrible and unexplainable!

At noon today I booked on the Phone number of the Bonsai Restaurant for two persons for 8pm today.

When we arrived somerhing befor 8pm the Guest Manager of the "empty" Restaurant explained me he has no reservation, the one I did was for the "normal" H2O Restaurant and that he can't offer us a table in the empty Restaurant... Unfortunately he was so clumsy to make me see on his reservation tablet...

Very upset I went down to the reception and gave my reclamation to the receptionist Jamie. He was so kind to give two complementary entries what I appriciated but this couldn't calm me. He explained me the phone of the Bonsai Restaurant was put on the normal H2O Restaurant and that I did no mistake! How can I guess?

So why the person on the phone who should know the detour of the phone doesn't ask "for what restaurant you want to book"?

And why happening all this we couldn't have the Bonsai Restaurant Menu in the H2O Restaurant?

And why the Guest Manager of the Bonsai Restaurant couldn't make e exception seeing that e reservation is existing especially when he has got an empty restaurant...tables were not occupied?

I will put this review everywhere I can. I'm so sorry!

The only positive thing the reception in the H2O Restaurant by Katie and her crew was top. THANK HER VERY MUCH,

Sincerely Alex Trinkler Hotelier...

While the service was good, i was immediately disappointed with the atmosphere, as i was expecting a place like this to make some attempt at a japanese restaurant's ambiance. It fell far short of my expectation there, but as they say, the proof is in the pudding, and this was incredibly disappointing.

There was little authenticity to their menu, but im not a stickler if the choices made make sense to the palate. Unfortunately, theirs didn't. The most incomprehensible decision they made was to plate their wagyu directly in their turnip puree, giving me no chance to savor the meats flavor separately. They might as well slather it in A1.

The lobster ramen wasn't as flavorless as suggested elsewhere, but the lobster was overcooked, and it was definitely not the quality one might expect at this price. Also the broth was not as hot as ramen should be.

The service was fine, nothing to applaud, but no real problems either. If you're looking for a fine dining option, i would give this a pass. There's much better food in pensacola and definitely much better prices.

My japanese wife was actually upset with me for rating the place higher than one star, but i feel my rating is fair. She's a bit more of a stickler for...