Yuimaru Kitchen — Restaurant in Johnson City

I am not one to leave reviews however in recent experience it had made me want to. I had a birthday dinner there with a large group of people and prior reservations. I had a few more show than was planned. We had to wait to be seated and did not mind doing so as long as we could sit together. Not a problem. To explain my group that I invited some did not know each other at all and some knew each other but did not have contact or even see one another daily (remember that). We had 2 waiters that split the group in half. 1 waiter was great and ontop of it. The other was horrible and incredibly slow. So slow that one half had their drinks and even had food cooking with the great waiter while the other half was still waiting to even place drink orders. So half the group was finished with their meal while the other half was just then getting theirs and that was disappointing when you want to eat as a group. I wanted a smooth dinner and also socialize I just let the issue go. The food was good so we could not complain, it wasnt cold, there was no hair in it, etc. After the dinner and we left I had plans to go out for drinks with some of those same friends. I began receiving cancellations, texts, and calls because more than half of my group became sick. The had diarrhea, they had to go several times, stomach cramps. I was fortunate enough to not experience this but I even received calls and texts the next few days from friends saying they had gotten sick after dinner. It made me feel bad for inviting them to a new place only to get sick. Today I left a review on their Facebook page and their manager contacted me personally wanting to know the details of the situation. I explained it to her however the entire conversation was probably the most unprofessional that I have ever experienced. One of the 1st messages that she sent me was sorry I am slow I am driving so my instant reaction is why are you even trying to handle a situation while you are driving not only for your safety but it's against the law and that is not how you handle the situation especially one that deals with business. She then lets me know that they were closed today but they have surveillance cameras to look back which I do not understand the purpose of looking at surveillance cameras. She then asked why did I not come to her over the situation and I let her know because there really was not anything that could be done the service was slow for half the table but the food was OK and all I wanted was a smooth birthday. She then is defensive and tells me that they are a very clean establishment and that the inspectors come in to check that there is no roaches or anything and I can speak to the inspector and that she eats their daily and does not get sick so that it is usually not the food. I had explain well alot of these people I invited were not close friends. No one showed up sick and passed a germ and suddenly everyone is sick like she seems to be claiming. I let her know that I left a review because it needed to be known and I did not leave a review expecting a refund but I do think that it needs to be publicly acknowledged that clearly the food makes people sick which is my main concern. Her entire response was useless and unprofessional and it wasn't until hours later that I received a response to my review from the business saying we are sorry and we hope that you come back. In my opinion she has only made the situation worse and she has lost a party of 25 from ever returning to that establishment. Once again I hate being that person that has to leave reviews are sound like the bad guy because that is not me but if the manager is going to contact me only to be defensive with the most ridiculous excuses ever then I think that it does need...

I never post negative reviews about anything. I usually just chalk it up to a rough day and move on. Or if it's really bad, we just never eat there again. However, I just couldn't this time. We've always treated this place as a once in a blue moon treat over the years, visiting every 2-3 months since opening, mainly because the price is a little steep for us. This time, I just don't know what's going on. There wasn't much business for it being a Saturday evening, which was a little odd but we didn't think anything of it. Our waitress was nice and everything. We did not have a bad experience with customer service. It was clean, even for us sitting outside. The food was another story. I have always ordered the same two dishes ever since we started coming here. One dish is my usual, which was what I ordered tonight, and the other dish is a little spicier so I don't order it as often. I fully know what the one I ordered this evening was supposed to look like and taste like. I ordered the Bulgogi with rice and Kimchi, no egg. However when it came to my table.. I have no idea what this was. It almost looked like ground beef, or maybe it was the ribeye sirloin that it was supposed to be but just minced into a mush or paste. The consistency was equivalent to very soggy Thanksgiving stuffing.. I just don't know how to explain it. The flavor was there, but not like it usually is. And it was lukewarm at best. Usually with this meal, I have to sit and wait a good 5 minutes to avoid scalding the roof of my mouth. I was only able to finish maybe half of it because I just couldn't get over the texture. I did express my concern with the waitress before I even took a bite of it, but she kind of gave me a look of "I don't know what you mean" which didn't sit right with me. Although she did ask if I wanted something else, I didn't want to be rude and send it back. In hindsight, I should have but I am a very awkward person who really doesn't like to inconvenience anyone. I have ordered this dish from this place at least 10 times in the past and have never seen it look like this or have this consistency or flavor. My husband said his order tasted like one of those grocery store Asian meals that you microwave, but just dressed up. He has been the biggest fan of this place since they opened, often recommending it to family and friends, so his remark really held a lot of weight in our conversation. For a nearly $55 meal, we expected the quality that we have had in the past here at Yuimaru. We wouldn't have even paid half of that for what we received tonight. I don't think we'll be...

This was a total let down. I researched this place and based on reviews and food pics I decided to take my daughter here for lunch on her birthday. Non hibachi. We are lively people and talk fairly loudly but still the music was so loud I could barely focus on the menu. It's lunch...on a Wednesday. The volume was appropriate for a Saturday night. The restaurant is large, modern and looked clean but the bathrooms were atrocious! Big puddles of water all over the counter and floor and stains on the door and toilet. So our service was mediocre at best. She didn't smile or introduce herself or make recommendations or give us appetizer plates or napkins. She didnt pre-bus ANY dishes off our table. When we left it was overflowing with dishes! She was also very slow. The food came out slowly too. There were zero other tables when we walked in and maybe 4 showed up total after us. There were 2 servers so this shouldnt have been an issue. At least 3 cooks in the front. All together we had green tea, bento box (with teriyaki chk lo mein, cali roll spring roll, ginger salad), the Hawaiian roll and the spider roll with miso soup. I also did a to-go to take to my husband later. Sesame chk, rice, spring rolls and crag rangoon. The tea was served in a beautiful teapot and cup but was boiling which made it bitter af. The sushi looked good too but tasted incredibly bland. The teriyaki chk was overcooked and bland also. The lo mein noodles, brown rice, spring rolls, salad, soup and crab rangoon were just okay. Later i tried some of my husbands sesame chk and it tasted terrible. Very spicy and no seseme seeds so maybe they gave us the wrong thing! I dont know because it was all so wrong. It all looked great but tasted awful. It also took so long to get our to-go and check even though i put the order in at the beginning. So a little background is that we are new to the area from metro Atlanta and sushi is our go to food. Ive known good and bad sushi and believe me when i say that you can go to kroger and get better sushi. Better sesame chk too. Don't waste your time or money here. It is a mirage to fool people into thinking they are getting...