Genius Lounge – Japanese Sake Bar & Restaurant - — Restaurant in Honolulu

Part 1.

In Honolulu for my brother's wedding. We made dinner reservations at 8:15pm for a party of 20. Yes, this is a large party, but it's not an unmanageable amount of people. Few hours before, someone from the restaurant called me to confirm that we were coming. At no point did they say that they couldn't handle our party or that they were short-staffed. We arrived at 8:15pm. Appetizers and drinks were fine, although the server became visibly annoyed because a few of us changed our minds while ordering drinks. Seriously dude? That bothered you? It's not that hard to cross out an order and write another. Anyways...my mom ordered a Hawaiian dish, a few of my siblings ordered sushi, my dad pointed at a picture of the ribeye steak on the menu and said "I want this steak please." Some of my brother's in-laws ordered pasta dishes with shrimp. I was never asked for my order, neither were 2 of my siblings, nor one of my brother's in-laws. He never asked us what we wanted and he didn't come by later to ask. An hour goes by. No food. No one comes by to tell us what's going on, to apologize, etc. Finally our server comes by to refill water. Those who weren't asked for our order didn't even bother to tell him, as an hour has gone by and the others don't have their food. He doesn't say anything, doesn't ask if we want more drinks, doesn't apologize for the wait. I start to see that many in our party are becoming frustrated. The children are all asleep. Another hour goes by. Three in our party who hadn't ordered because they had been overlooked decided to leave, taking some of the sleeping children with them. You'd think that if you see people leaving your restaurant before the food or the check come, you'd come over and ask if everything is OK. Nope. Nada.It's now 10:30pm. 2.25 hours after our arrival. Some of my bro's in-laws and some of my sibs start to explore the option of leaving without paying due to poor service. It took all my persuasive lawyering skills to get them to stay in their seats and not abandon the meal.. At 10:40pm, my bro's father in law tells the server "if the food doesn't come out in 5 minutes, we're leaving." no apologies from the server. My dad gets up a few minutes later and asks what's going on, very nicely. The server tells him he's short-staffed in the kitchen. No apology, just indignation and attitude. Finally the food starts to come out, one dish at a time with long pauses in between so that people are forced to eat alone. My mother's loko moko was inedible, the hamburger was raw. The surf and turf was meh, edible but not worth $45. The sushi was, as my gen z siblings put it, mid. No cap. My dad didn't get his steak. It simply didn't come out. A few minutes later, the server brings a plate of ahi. No one ordered it. He throws a fit, "no one ordered this?" he says sarcastically, "great now I get to pay for this, this is ridiculous" no sir, you are the ridiculous one, you got the order wrong. He comes back and my dad says very patiently "yes sir, I haven't received my steak." The server exclaims "ugh THAT WAS THE AHÍ STEAK I BROUGHT Out! " What?? ? Buddy, I watched my father point at the photo of the BEEF / BOVINE / COW meat you had on the menu, where it says RIBEYE steak. You don't get ribeye from a fish. You got the order wrong. My dad says "OK just bring me the ahí, I'll pay for it, but can I get it to go?" the server brings a box and the ahí and throws the box at our table and says "here you can box it up yourselves.. Rumblings continued among half of our party about leaving without paying. My mom goes to the register where the server and another employee are and asks if we can get the bill split so that she pays for our family's side of everything. They make a huge fuss about it, as if the computer can't automatically sort everything in the year of...

Part 2.

My mom mentions "you know what, I'm trying to pay you and make sure you get paid for my family's side of things, you're lucky because many here were going to just leave without paying because this is the worst dining experience we've ever had." The server says "oh yeah we know we were ready to call the police." At this point my sister goes over to deescalate the situation and persuades them to split the bill. It took all of FIFTEEN SECONDS to do the thing they insisted that they couldn't do because it was "way too complicated.' My mom pays, and the server turns to her and says "you know, it's people like you who are the reason that I'm quitting this job." I was going to go punch him in the face for being such a douche bag but forced myself to stop, reminding myself that my bar license could be at risk if I get charged with assault and battery.. My dude, the reason you are quitting is because you aren't cut out to be a cordial/polite writer down of things and bringer of things to a table. My mom was just trying to pay you to not get stuck with the bill of those who were ready to walk out. As we prepare to leave, he says "I'm assuming you don't want dessert." someone in our party retorts "when will it get here, tomorrow morning?" homeboy was not amused, but I laughed out loud, very loudly, and got another dirty look and lots of mutterings under the breath. All in all, I do not recommend this restaurant. If you're looking to overpay to get eyerolls and snide comments every couple of hours while you wait for your food, go here. PS. My mom paid for that ahí even though we didn't order it. My dad tried it on the walk back to our air bnb. It was not good. He gave it to a homeless person, warning him "if you want this food, you can have it, but it's really not good." The homeless dude took a bite, and told us "you're right, I can't finish this" and he...

After service experience here on a Saturday night, I would avoid place during busy days. Party of 12 seated on lanai so table was 6 people deep & waitress could not access from sides. Orders had to be yelled out & food & drinks passed down. Of course, there’s going to be chaos. It wasn’t as if place had a queue for tables either. Kitchen was also inadequate at handling such big parties. Service straggled. By the time the last person got served, we were informed of a 2 hour table limit. Fortunately, next reservation canceled. Place is small & can’t put food out like a Chinese kitchen serving mass quantities of people. Commend them on strained effort but they’re seriously going to need a drink when the night is over. Menu is large. Offerings are fused takes on tradition which is trendy now. Had the ahi poke chirashi bowl. Such a great fusion but I believe I should have ordered the spicy version since I am a fan of the HI’an version of ahi poke. For me, the umami didn’t kick in til the ahi encountered the onion slivers. I didn’t really notice the sushi rice. Presentation was good. Restrooms here are good & clean. Like the fact that either bathroom is available to either gender. Makes bathrooms...