Izakaya Hi — Restaurant in Houston

TL:DR – Food was good and reasonably priced. Service started meh and ended up a mild disaster.

Went here Saturday night for birthday dinner with my parents with reservations for 7PM. The restaurant shares a private lot accessible only from Westheimer (despite what google might tell you.) The restaurant was probably 25% full and there were plenty of tables. Despite the low occupancy multiple hands were on deck to bus and put together tables for a party of 8 with only two guests present. Not a huge deal but odd you couldn’t spare your hostess, to seat us at the many four tops available throughout the restaurant.

Once we were seated it was a short wait when a nice waitress introduced herself and took our drink orders. She seemed somewhat knowledgeable with the menu and pleasant to interact with. However, everything else was absolutely atrocious. My wife and I were sharing three different items and asked that they be fired/spaced out so we get the appetizer type dish, the lighter roll and the heavier roll in that order especially since the table was on the smaller side for four people. That didn’t happen but the food did come out quickly.

According to my parents the Chicken Katsu and Salmon Poke bowl were both excellent and were big portions. My wife and I shared the fried brussels sprouts, fried okra skewers, avocado roll and the vegetarian rainbow roll. Overall, everything was decent with the rainbow roll and brussels sprouts as the highlights. If you do order the sprouts make sure to get to the bottom of the brussels sprouts bowl to get all the sauce that sits down there.

By the point where we had finished eating, we were out of water at the table and now the theme was a long wait for our waitress for the remainder of the evening. We eventually were able to order dessert but then another long wait awaited us and by this point we were already around the hour and a half mark. Our party noticed that all of the tables around us were getting these fried spaghetti noodles but we never got that. So we inquired and our waitress admitted she forgot to give us those at the start of the meal. While waiting for dessert two of us almost went through all of the noodles due to the wait.

The fried pancake with ice cream did eventually make it out and was delicious so try to save room for that. The green tea ice cream did not have much green tea flavor but that worked in my favor since I didn’t like green tea much anyway.

It kept getting more and more unbelievable as we waited on our waitress for the check and to return with our card. Then once we got the bill we were double charged for an item. My table was getting ancy and annoyed so instead of waiting I just stood around the server station trying to get help. A manager came by and looked into the issue. SO…stand around and wait some more for the manager to fix this issue. This was corrected but by this time the issues had piled on and put a sour taste for the experience and evening. I would consider giving them another try but they or maybe just this waitress really needs to get their...

*EDITED after their trite response"

The delusional management there is going to spin it as expected but the reality is: AS soon as we came in we were told that there were no spots available at the bar (when 2 different people had already paid out). We waited anyway for those people to leave. Once we sat down they asked us what we would like to drink. My guest DID not order an alcoholic drink, was asked for their ID and told they can't be served there if they're not 21 or older. Why did you ask her what she wanted to drink before IDing her? Obviously discrimination because she didn't want to drink. We left but not before SHE SHOWED HER ID TO PROVE SHE WAS OLDER THAN 21! By the way we spoke to some guys in the parking lot who just drank in the private room. Not a single one was asked for their ID well after they were already served copious amounts of alcohol. So screw your discriminatory "pick and choose" policies. You're pathetic. Obviously other people have been discriminated before for how they looked at this establishment as evident from the poor reviews, and some restaurants simply aren't worth saving from inevitably going under.

The hostess and bartender who worked on 8/24 Saturday night should be fired. I've been there many times before, and yesterday was the first time I have never felt more unwelcome by those 2 clueless, zero-personality individuals. I promptly left, went straight to Toukei, and had a great time. There are way too many Japanese restaurants with impeccable service and food to return...

Quick Summary - excellent food and service as well as pricing.

Long Review - I went on a weekend close to midnight. There were others in the restaurant but it wasn't crowded. Summary of majo things below.

Food - it was my first time going. I ordered a range of things to try. I had the carb puffs and chicken gizzards for appetizers. They were great and came with flavorful dipping sauces that were excellent. I also ordered a map soup which as solid. Next I got a California roll and tuna, smoke salmon, salmon, unagi, and yellowtail sushi pieces. All were fresh well made generously sliced as well. The cost per piece was 1.50 area and well worth it. Everything I had was great!

Drinks - they offer a large sake selection and drink specials. Loved the nigori sake I had!

Atmosphere - theu had some techno music playing when I came in which gave it a late night after hourish feel. It was not to loud and I like this kind of music so was quite happy with it. The restaurant itself is clean and cleanly decorated giving a sleek modern feel to it.

Pricing - the prices overall were lower then I expected. Especially after enjoying the varied foods. Good solid value.

Staff - they were professional and friendly without being obtrusive.

Final thoughts - can't say it's a romantic spot but a good place to take friends or a date before going out for fun or keeping it going. For all of this they get my humble opinion of 5 stars for great food and service at a amazing price point in a...