Otto Izakaya — Restaurant in Greenville

Horrible experience. I have been to this exact restaurant about 4 times, the first 3 were over 1 year ago and I realize it would’ve changed so much. Me and my friends went yesterday around 7pm to grab dinner, first things first there was no AC. It was so hot i had to take my jacket off and was left with a bare tank top. Not their fault ofc on my dress options but any sushi place i have been to is typically on the colder side. We immediately asked the server if the air could possibly be turned up and she said it’s broke. Yesterday was one of the hotter days as we’re getting closer to july, high was 97. at 7 it was around 89. so imagine that in a building. stuffy and hotter than outside. There was no sign and the server didn’t say anything until we mentioned it. I’m not even sure if that’s safe to eat, i don’t think they keep their seafood out but where you can see them making it is seafood there. Gross and has to be against some kind of rules. My server seemed to be in a panic almost, and irritable. I’m assuming from the heat. We ordered and i got the roll i’ve gotten every time. the clemson roll, i get this roll at every sushi place no matter where. it’s fried and i don’t prefer raw sushi so it has sauces drizzled on top with cream cheese and crab. i get the sushi and immediately it looks old. and i know, it’s fried and has sauces? but i’ve gotten this as i said everywhere, the only one i eat. i’ve never seen it look like this, the sauces looked imbedded into the sushi as if it wasn’t fresh or has been sitting there. i’m assuming it was but because of the heat and my server’s speed it looked old and worn out. i tasted one and immediately knew u wouldn’t eat it. I tasted one last piece which happened to be the but piece. my friends asked why i didn’t eat it and i said i tried it, they said they couldn’t even tell. i asked the server if i could just have it taken off my bill as i only ate 2 pieces and wouldn’t eat it. she walked back his behind a wall and began talkin to the chef who got irate looked over at my table and threw his hands up saying it wasn’t old. he put his gloves on with an attitude. she came back and said he’ll remake it, i said no ma’am i just want it taken off. i didn’t eat much of it and i won’t eat it if it’s remade as im full. she stated she couldn’t take it off and began to argue with me that i ate 3 instead of 2. and that they already made it so it has to be paid for? but. ig instead of losing $12 they lost $24 being extra. she went back he continued to talk mess, i just told her id get something else for equal price. she said ok and came back once i was ready. she then told me i couldn’t get fried rice even tho they were both $12 because the substitute had to be sushi. i said ma’am it wasn’t even fresh here why would i take it home. she said she’s is severe not a manger. so now the other server is looking at me and keeps staring rudely talking to the chef as he remakes the roll i don’t want. i began to get angry because clearly they’re talking about me. after about 5 minutes of this i ask her and him if they were good cause what’s the issue? and she began to act startled as if she didn’t know she was acting rudely. she was playing in her hair the whole time and even had big headphones around her neck on the floor. while serving food. i didn’t appreciate how i was talked to or addressed as if i was trying to not pay for something i already ate. very rude. the sushi i took home smelled disgusting after 10 minutes. as if it was bad, i don’t think they should be open without ac. the host was rude and wouldn’t give my friends the corporate number and lied saying she could but then said she couldn’t. won’t be back, horrible food, quality, service and i’m sure they’re breaking dhec or osha...

I had a terrible experience at Otto Izakaya recently. I would give it zero stars if I could.

I called in a to-go order last Wednesday, May 13th, at 7:00 p.m. I was told that my food would be ready in 15 to 20 mins. Although the restaurant was open for indoor seating, I was not interested due to the ongoing pandemic. I arrived around 7:25 p.m. expecting to be able to go inside, pay, and leave. When I walked inside, there was a customer in front of me speaking to the hostess. The hostess told the customer that she hadn’t put in her order yet and asked if she could wait ten minutes. When it was my turn, the hostess said the same to me. She showed me her scribbled notepad with my order and asked if I could wait ten minutes. I sat down and waited. Ten minutes went by. Then thirty minutes went by. By 8:00 p.m., I was annoyed. More people had walked in for their orders, but the hostess gave everyone the same excuse. Eventually there were about six or seven people standing or sitting in the front of the restaurant. The customer who arrived before me stormed out of the restaurant at 8:00 p.m. My patience was also reaching its limit. Around 8:15 p.m., a waitress handed me a check for my order. I asked to speak to the manager. The manager was dressed in a normal t-shirt and jeans. No mask or gloves. I explained to him how long I had been waiting and that I had watched people come in, get seated and receive their meals before I did. I asked if there was anything he could do for me. He said that he could possibly take off a few dollars but nothing more. He also said that the owner of Otto Izakaya would laugh at the thought of doing anything more. So I asked, “the owner would laugh at a customer waiting on her order for over an hour and feeling inconvenienced? If I came in, sat down and ordered at 7:00 p.m., would you think it would be okay for me to just now at 8:15 p.m. be receiving my food?” The manager said no. He also said that the hostess could not have known how busy the kitchen was. I pointed out again that it didn’t matter how busy the kitchen was because when I walked in, she hadn’t even informed the kitchen of my order or anyone else’s. He said that he would see what he could do. A few minutes later, a waitress came back with a new check with $4.50 off. My order was $20. I was not spending a penny in there after the long wait and terrible conversation with the unprofessional manager. I left without my food after waiting over an hour.

I would also like to mention, I watched employees squirt hand sanitizer on their hands with gloves on. If the business can not afford for their employees to switch gloves when needed, they should not be open to the public. There was also no sanitizing of menus that waiters/waitresses brought back to the hostess.

I would strongly suggest not visiting...

I have come here for several years and always enjoyed the food and service, until recently. The last 3 times I’ve visited, I have had atrocious service to the point it’s ruined the experience. The first time the server was so inattentive we waited 15-20 minutes between each check in and had to go to the hostess to get napkins, sauce, etc. a few times. The most recent time, tonight, our waitress rushed us the entire meal (there were 5-6 other tables in the restaurant) and brought our checks while we were still eating and had almost full drinks without asking if we were ready for the check, then left us alone for 20 minutes. When we finally waived her down, she told us (at exactly 7pm) that we could not have another round on happy hour because she’d already closed our tabs. We explained to her we did not ask her to close our tabs and that she hadn’t been back to the table in almost 20 minutes. She told us we should have “waived her down” and that because we let her close our tabs, she wouldn’t reopen them and honor the happy hour pricing. We tried to explain we had tried multiple times to get her attention and had in fact gone to the hostess even, to which she still refused. She was so rude that we asked to speak to a manager. She told us, “he isn’t here.” So we asked to speak to someone, she walked off without responding and came back about a minute later and told us the bartender was “backed up and too busy” to come speak with us. We closed out and left. She was incredibly rude and dismissive and because of Kelly, I will no longer support Otto Izakaya or return there for business. As we left, there were two groups walking out in front of us, one of which literally stopped to tell the family that was waiting to be seated that the service was horrible and not to eat there. Once we got outside, us and the other two parties stopped to discuss what a bad experience it was. It’s sad to see this restaurant go downhill, it used to be great. Their kitchen is amazing and they have good food, but their front of house staff is going to drive them out of business. Very...