Maguro Sushi & Steak House — Restaurant in Florida

Not one star. I made a reservation at Maguro for Valentine's Day a week in advance because it had amazing 4-5 star reviews. My boyfriend and I arrived at 7:15PM for our reservation at 8:00PM. We figured we would check in and grab a drink at the bar prior to our reservation. Upon arrival, the waiting area was completely FULL. I'm talking shoulder to shoulder of people. The hostess would come say "who's next" (NOT EVEN BY RESERVATIONS) and leave for long periods of time. People were waiting for HOURS-no exaggeration. However, being Valentine's Day, your options are limited as every restaurant is full. We finally get to the counter to check in at 7:50PM. As I tell the hostess my name and time she gives me a funny face and says "Your reservation is at 8:00PM. I am not seating you for ten more minutes" Very rude. So I step aside and wait for 8:00PM to roll around. At 8:15PM we FINALLY get seated with another family who had reservations at 7:00PM! Can you believe that!? They had reservations at 7:00PM and were not seated until 8:15PM. We finally got our drink orders in then they came to take our actual dinner order. From 8:15PM-8:45PM was how long it took to get drinks and put our order in. We then notice other parties that were seated after us get their food BEFORE US. We asked to speak to a manager at 9:00PM and it was the hostess! We were requesting food and she said the next chef will be our chef. 9:30PM rolls around and we see a chef come from the kitchen and go to a different table. My boyfriend and I were just so fed up that we got up and walked out. On our way out we found that same hostess and told her we've been waiting too long and another table got a chef before us again so we're leaving. We walked out and the family from our table follows us out. The hostess then walks out to the parking lot to us and tells us the chef is now at our table that he got the table wrong. We said we're done, we drove 30 minutes to your restaurant and have to wait almost three hours for food and DECENT service. She offered us a 50% discount but we declined and went home. No manager could be found. No one was apologizing until we left the restaurant. This was literally the absolute worst dining experience I...

I’ve been coming here for several years and have always enjoyed the food and the hibachi chefs — the service has typically been very good, if not excellent. However, my last three visits have been disappointing, and after this most recent experience, I felt it necessary to share.

Our hibachi chef (Ari) rushed through the entire meal, put in the bare minimum effort with the performance, and barely seasoned the food. I’ve been here enough times to know what to expect, and while the entertainment is a nice touch, I’m usually happy just enjoying the food and time with the group. Unfortunately, even the cooking itself fell short this time.

What really ruined the experience was when he attempted to split the steak I ordered with another guest at the table and claimed, “We split steaks now.” When I questioned whether we were also paying half the price, he went silent. I asked him to give the entire steak to the other guest and to bring me the one I ordered — which he eventually did — but he purposely chose the smallest steak he could find, which felt spiteful and unprofessional.

It’s frustrating because the rest of the staff here is usually wonderful and works hard to ensure guests have a great meal. We bring large groups — 20–30 people — several times each year and always look forward to returning. After this experience, though, I can confidently say this will be my last visit. It’s disappointing to see behavior like this tolerated, especially when loyal customers are the reason any restaurant remains in business.

They lost a...

Staff was great, food was phenomenal, and the atmosphere was a+. From reading the other reviews, I must have gone when the main manager was not there. My friends and I, all of whom are 26 years old or more, were cut off after only 1 drink each. If it weren’t for the table of people next to us (appeared to be younger) passing around Saki and Champaign bottles I normally wouldn’t have been so offended. The only logical explanation we could think of for why this happened is that my wife looks significantly younger than her age, and they could have just asked to see our ID’s, but neglected to go this far.

When we asked for an explanation as to why this decision was made, we were told it was because of our consumption prior to arriving at dinner - funny as I don’t remember drinking before nor do I recall their manager being with us that day for him to have known this. I understand the responsibility a restaurant has to it’s guests and the implication this will have on our manners, but I assure you we were all quiet, respectful, courteous, and most of all sober.

Furthermore this restaurant is great for families, kids, and events. We did not short the staff tip as a result of the managers inexperience, I only hope he will understand his mistake moving forward. From a high level I feel sorry for the staff who has lost future business, needless to say we will not...