Uni Japanese Steak House — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Here’s the 411 if you’re considering going to this restaurant: Uni Japanese Steakhouse has been in my monthly rotation of restaurants since it opened. I’ve seen many things, heard many things, and here is my honest review of the restaurant itself and the staff: There are 3 servers: Hammily, Bella, and Katie. Hammily: sometimes pleasant but if she’s not having a good day or she doesn’t think you’ll tip very well, she very much shows it. Most of the time, unless she knows you personally, she is rude, disrespectful, and lazy. She will check on you once during your whole dining experience, doesn’t care to refill your drink, and will sit behind the bar or up in the front and play on her tablet completely ignoring your existence. She is rude to other servers most of the time, and yells at them for no reason. In front of customers at that. Bella: everytime i’ve had her as my server she has been very cold and unpleasant. She will walk away from the table to gossip to one of the men behind the sushi bar and Hammily if she doesn’t think you will tip well. She sets down the food so fast she practically throws it at you and she doesn’t care to refill drinks most of the time. The last couple times i have been here i’ve had to get another staff member to help me because she sits up front and plays on her tablet or phone. She has added a mandatory tip to our bill before and then gets angry when she doesn’t get an additional tip. She will say that there are 7 people at our table when most of the time it is just myself and my wife. Katie: everytime we have had her as our server she has been delightful. She is always cheerful and caring. She checks on us multiple times throughout our dining time to make sure the food and atmosphere are both up to par with our standards. She refills our drinks before they get less than half and always makes a point to inform us that things are hot. If things are taking a long time she repeatedly apologizes and gets the food out as promptly as she can. I can confidently say that she is the best server employed there, and that she is one of the best servers i’ve had at any restaurant. Food: hit or miss. Sometimes the food is delicious, sometimes it’s sub-par. Food has been brought out cold before, my wife has gotten raw chicken in her hibachi, and all in all it’s not the best. For the price we pay for the two of us, it could be better. We understand that sometimes restaurants make mistakes, but at this point it seems deliberate. In conclusion, most of the staff are rude and unpleasant, the price we pay for 2 is absurd for the quality of the food, and we’re not sure we will be back. We were very big fans of Uni, but not so much anymore. The work atmosphere doesn’t seem the greatest, the management seems a bit unfair and rude, and I could easily spend 20 dollars at Mcdonald’s for two and get the same quality food. This review is not meant to waver you from dining here, it is just meant to inform you of the unfair staff and unpleasant...

Last night was going to be my first time dining here. The hostesses were nice they explained that it was going to be about 10-15 minutes to get our table together for a party of 7. The waiting was no problem! The problem came while waiting. As my family and I are sitting there the server comes around the corner and asks if we were another servers party. The hostess says no because the other server had 2 tables. The server who has my family leans against the wall and heavily sighs and rolls her eyes. Now at first I didn’t worry about it because I’m a server and I understand being tired. Well she then asks if someone else can take us, but the server explains that’s not possible. Well she then does it again, leans against the wall and sighs again and starts complaining. This is now a problem! I get angry and gather my family and tell them never mind! As I’m walking out the door the hostess is saying that the server is just overwhelmed and hopefully we come back! NO MAAM, as I explained to her it’s ok to be frustrated but what isn’t ok is to stand in front of your guests and openly complain as if we weren’t sitting there. Now in my experience of going out to eat, servers act this way with guests of color because they assume they won’t get tipped. The problem with that is NOT ALL PEOPLE OF COLOR DONT TIP WELL! I ALWAYS tip 20% and if the service is great it’s more because I know what it means to survive or support on a tipped wage! I never even made it to a table and I WILL NOT...

For our first time at Uni, there were both great and bad things to recognize.

For a party of two, on Valentine’s Day, we had a short 10 minute wait, and then were promptly seated and able to order our drinks. The service up until this point was superb; however, after ordering our food, our fairly young male waiter proceeded to give us our food a bit later and then check-in on us only once 30 minutes later. Our house salads and soups were nearly thrown on the table without a word (we overheard there was a problem with another’s order, so he rushed away to figure that out). Personally, my hibachi steak was cooked well, but brought out lukewarm at best. My significant other chose the dinner combo, and the sushi rolls from this were much better. This then led to a 30 minute period of no check-in from our waiter (I truly believe he forgot he had our table, we were right by the kitchen and impossible to miss) and eventually when he did, only said “I’m sorry… would you like a box and the ticket?”. Also to mention, we had both finished our drinks throughout dinner, but we were never offered refills at any point.

Overall thoughts: food was not terrible, but could’ve been better. Our server himself, although not rude, was very unprofessional in his behavior. I do not believe that this reflects all of the waiters/waitresses and the entire staff, however. Will be going back eventually and hoping for a much different experience, especially for the price we paid.

Included is pictures...