Zen Japanese fine cuisine — Restaurant in Germantown

Went here a couple of days ago. The service was extremely disappointing. First they did not even show up at our table for almost 15 minutes after we were seated. They were not even busy. 5 to 6 tables including us at the max. Then the server took our order and we asked her if she can make the noodles without the meat since we were vegetarians, so no fish sauce, no meat and she said they could. It took the order almost 30 mins to show up, god knows why. . She brings us the food and the noodles has dry flakes on it and we asked a different waiter what it was and she confirmed it was dry fish flakes and I was confused because I thought we were very clear. So she calls our waiter and our waiter apologizes taking the food to the back. Now it was almost 15 minutes to closing and only my husband has food and I am still waiting for them to make an alternate plate for me. The portion sizes are actually just about right for one person so there is no way I could have managed without food. After another 5 minutes she walks out and asks, do you want us to remake it? And Im just flabbergasted at her casual approach to someone who has been sitting for almost an hour for her food. To top it all off, they made no effort to compensate in any way. I did not bother asking to knock off any $$ either because I was just too tired by then. One of those experiences that you do not expect from a "fine dining" place.

The food itself was great though and the ratings are...

I recently celebrated my birthday here with a party of 11. Despite arriving during peak dinner hours on a Saturday, the restaurant was unusually quiet. We ordered a mix of hot entrees and sushi. While the hot entrees took around 45 minutes (fair for a large group), my sushi arrived 30 minutes after everyone else had finished eating.

When I brought this up with the manager, the response was a dismissive, “you get what you get," type of attitude, which was disappointing.

One guest received a crab cake burger that was frozen in the middle and had to be sent back. Another ordered the $40 lobster, but it was overcooked and rubbery. By then, we didn’t even bother raising the issue.

On the positive side, the decor is stylish, and the drinks were decent, though a bit pricey for what you get. The food was mostly good, but portions were small, and the value didn’t justify the service or quality issues. A simple heads-up and apology about delays or offering a small appetizer so that I could eat with the rest of my party would have made a big difference.

While the restaurant has potential, I wouldn’t return unless...

I went to this restaurant last night & I was not pleased with the service at all. Firstly, the hostess tried to seat us at a dirty table where there was food all over the floor. Then our waiter did not put our orders in correctly. It took my sushi very long to come. My sushi came long after my entree was brought out. The waiter told me that another waiter had entered my ticket in wrong and put it all in at once although we ordered appetizers and sushi before our entree. To put the icing on the cake, the waiter and sushi chef began arguing in front of the whole restaurant. I felt uneasy and unsafe. The sushi chef ended up walking out after they continually argued very aggressively in front of us. The only good part about this experience was receiving the driving directions to get to the restaurant after calling the hostess who was very friendly and welcoming. I don’t think I will return here in the future because this experience was very unprofessional to say the least and they offered no apologies or any compensations for the service we...