Haii Keii — Restaurant in Houston

Extremely Disappointed – Not the Experience We Were Promised

I went to Haii Keii for my husband’s birthday on May 5th, expecting a special evening based on a personal invitation from the owner, Jamie Allen. He had recently visited my showroom and we had a friendly conversation about his business ventures. I shared a previous poor experience at his Juliet location, and he assured me that Haii Keii would be a completely different experience—better food, better service, and a much more refined operation. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and booked a birthday dinner for 13 guests.

The evening started off well—we were impressed by the décor and ambiance upon entering. However, things quickly went downhill. Despite the restaurant being relatively empty, we were asked to wait at the bar until more guests arrived. Service at the bar was painfully slow and disorganized. The staff lacked menu knowledge, and nearly every question was met with “I’ll go check.” Once our party was seated, it took over 25 minutes just to place drink orders—and nearly 50 minutes before my husband (the birthday guest) received his.

During the evening, I was texting Jamie to let him know we were having a poor experience. Our server was unfamiliar with the menu, wrote orders on paper, and frequently disappeared into the kitchen to get answers. When I asked for appetizers to keep the group content, they arrived at the same time as the entrées. My Wagyu plate arrived cold, and when I asked Jamie to have it reheated, he took it back without any real concern.

Multiple guests complained about the food—poor flavor, small portions, and overall lackluster quality. No effort was made to resolve the situation, offer a discount, or make things right. We paid the bill and left disappointed.

Even worse, by the next morning, six guests from our party reported symptoms of food poisoning, with two confirmed hospital visits. My husband reached out to Jamie about the health concerns and received no response.

Jamie told us the poor service was due to it being a Monday and that we had his “B team” working. He said we should have come on a weekend to experience his “A team.” Frankly, that kind of comment is unacceptable. Every guest, on any day, deserves quality service—there shouldn’t be an A or B team.

Final thoughts: This experience was unacceptable on all levels—poor service, disappointing food, and serious health concerns. As a business owner myself, I understand growing pains, but blaming your team and ignoring food safety concerns is not how you build trust.

Protect your wallet—and your stomach. I do not recommend Haii Keii based on...

I guess you could consider this luxury/fine dining if you didn’t know what that was.

The Wagyu and drinks were good, everything else was awful.

Reservation at 9:30. Our group had just gotten back from our Japan trip and we wanted sushi, so we decided to try out this restaurant since we live nearby and have been waiting over a year for them to open their doors.

When we walked through the entrance the hosts gave us a judgmental look and told one of us he didn’t pass the dress code - no problem. He just changed shoes and came back, but the website doesn’t mention a dress code. We didn't like the up and down look either.

The issues only piled on from there. I ask for a View of Shangri-La and then they tell me they don’t have the bottle it’s supposed to come in, so I ask for sake. They serve the sake in a wine glass. I ask for a sake cup. They don’t have sake cups. The cocktails and sake tasted great.

We ordered a bit of everything on the menu. The sushi is okay, we tried about 5 different rolls, but if you want sushi you’re better off walking down the street and going to Kata Robata. You can slap a gold leaf on sushi but it’s still the same fish. The ube appetizer was okay but Money Cat did it better. The lobster dumplings were good but not served with dumpling spoons and were served in tiny quantities. If you want fried rice just go to MaKiin, they are far less pretentious and with much better portions. The oyster was ambitious considering the other options nearby. The ceviche was bad. The pork belly was good. The Wagyu was their saving grace.

Regarding the atmosphere it was hard to hear each other over the music without yelling. They had some screens on the wall displaying a samurai animation. It was cool but then there was an ugly upside down tree chandelier above the bar that didn’t really match the rest of the decor. There was a drunk guest that cat-called at the two ladies at the table next to us. My guess is that they are going for the same vibe as TAO in New York (targeting the influencer crowd) but instead of feeling like I was eating while at a club it felt like I was eating while uncomfortable.

It’s all unfortunate since I was hoping to become a regular ever since I saw them move in. Our server was attentive and had great energy but it would be nice to feel welcome when I walk in and to be able to drink my sake in a sake cup.

We left and headed to another restaurant to finish up the night. Not to mention it felt like a caricature of Asian...

I was excited to try Haii Keii, but my experience was completely ruined by the terrible customer service. I had a reservation and arrived early, only to be told my table wasn't ready. I was directed to the bar, where I sat at a dirty high-top table for 20 minutes. The bartender didn't clean it, even after I asked-- and didn’t offer water. He also asked what I wanted to drink without offering a drink menu, so i had to ask another staff member for one. After ordering, my drink never arrived before I was finally seated.

Once at our table, my friend and I inquired about moving to one of the available booths to the side of the restaurant, and our server said that she would check. She later returned, saying the table was "reserved by the owners," so we let it go. However, minutes later, a hostess (Hispanic lady with straight hair) approached our table and, in a rude tone, and said "What's the problem?" Taken aback, we asked her to clarify, and she repeated, "Whats the problem? You guys wanted to move to that table over there?" Her tone and body language were completely inappropriate.

When we confirmed that we had asked about moving, she suddenly said, "Yeah, it's available." By this time, our appetizers and drinks had already arrived at our table. Since she said we could move, we picked up our drinks and relocated. However, the hostess made no effort to transfer our food. When I asked her if someone could bring our plates, she responded, "Do you still want it?" Shocked, I asked why she would even ask that, and she replied, "Oh, well, you didn’t pick up your own plate, so thats why i'm asking."

At this point, I was done. I asked to speak to the manager ( I believe his name was Hector), who tried to address the situation, but the damage was done. The whole experience was off-putting, and we left, still hungry, to eat elsewhere. On top of that, Paying 9$ for valet parking made the night even more frustrating.

The only good thing? The lobster dumplings and cold plate were actually nice. But no food is worth that kind of treatment. Until they fix their customer service, I won't be back-- and I wouldn't recommend this...