Banbu Sushi Bar & Grill — Restaurant in La Mesa

I had the option to give this establishment a 0 stars, trust me I would, but I cannot. Therefore, 1 star it is because the sake made up for the extremely poor experience I had here. First of all, the atmosphere inside feels cheap and they bought their ornaments from the clearance section of Living Spaces or furthermore Bed Bath and Beyond. They stuck my party in a bland dark corner with very uncomfortable wooden chairs. If I had a haemorrhoid, I would have to make an appointment the following day because of how uncomfortable and stiff the chairs were. The waitress immediately asked us if we want any appetisers. Ma’am, I didn’t even open the menu yet. Finally, when I could, I opened up the menu. I was baffled, stunned by the prices. Almost as shocked as the time my middle school teacher showed me raw 911 footage. Now I’m not going to beat around the bush, I am a frugal person. I’m not poor, but I am the person that finds it ridiculous to spend $20+ on an APPETISER with such little portions. We ordered calamari, and let me tell you this…I could’ve went to Target up the street and bought frozen calamari and made it myself and it still would’ve been on par or even better than what we were served. They not only overcooked it, but every time I took a bite, it felt as if I was a barbarian trying to chew and tear apart this ring of “calamari”. If I’m paying these high prices, I do not want to have to act like a neanderthal in trying to tear my food apart. I’ve went to other establishments with cheaper calamari, with better cooked and made. The miso soup that was $9 for such a small bowl and don’t get me on the salad. Gyoza that usually cost $8 or maybe even $10 at max was $20. I sure hope we came with golden chopsticks for the price I’m being charged. I didn’t order either, but wanted to use them as further examples because of how unreasonable and how much the owners are ‘ethnic’ money grubbers. Onto the main course, the food portions were a disaster and just all around a mind game on how much we are going to get for the ripe price of $30 and up. As an actual Japanese person from Japan, this food felt like wannabe mock Japanese food. The udon let alone was a let down. I wanted udon, and I got edged with this soggy noodle weird tasting fish cakes, and sliced carrots that were littered in the soup. This wasn’t udon, it was a dish that supposedly if I had a white friend, their mom named Barbara tried to make. It was overpriced white-washed asian food trying to hit it’s ethnic goals and representation, while gouging money out of the pockets of those who don’t know better. The fish cake felt like I was chewing on cellulite and was including lacking taste. This is not udon. The shiitaki mushrooms were probably added in there to real enhance the idea that it was asian based. The chicken katsu that was ordered was burnt and lacked presentation. I wanted my mother to try chicken katsu for the first time and enjoy, yet I’m afraid this ruined her interpretation on the dish. The presentation went about this: “throw on some sesame seeds and we have a well presented dish, the finest at that!”, absolutely not. The sushi roll that was also ordered looked as desolate and pathetic.The crunchy roll looked like someone scrapped artificial yellow #5 lemon zest onto the sad roll of rice. Afterwards, we tried to bring it up to the waitress about the calamari, only for her to blow it off and still get charged for something that tasted like rubber tar. I felt as if I was a dinosaur in a tar pit, trying to chew my way out of my inevitable doom. Certainly a jurassic victim or even a Pompei one at that. The waitress asked if I was still eating and working on my dish as I was mid bit eating my food. In the end, we spent $145+ no including tip, for food that claims to be Japanese and the horrendous cooking that followed it. The one star is here because the sake was really good. If you like spending money for the fun of it, wanting to try “authentic high end” Japanese food, and eating overcooked food…here is the place for...

Went here recently to celebrate a birthday.

We were seated quickly because it wasn't busy. The patio area outside is very pretty. Despite the lack of diners this night, all tables were in very close proximity to each other. This made the area feel claustrophobic and gave little privacy for conversations. Even though it was colder and in the evening, we needed to request that the outdoor heaters be setup.

We ordered four green teas, but only received three. Unlike traditional sushi restaurants, you will not receive a pot of hot tea to share. Only cups of hot water that you must steep yourself with a bag. Honey was provided as a sweetener. We waited a long time between refills of hot water, owing to the lack of a shared pot, and this made the dining experience a bit awkward.

We ordered one appetizer, which was the "toro" tartare. We were assured by our waitress that the portion would be big enough for our table of four. However, after a while of waiting, we were informed that this particular appetizer only has three small servings. We had already been waiting a while, and decided that one of our table would need to just split one of these servings.

When the "Toro" tartare arrived, I realized that it was actually ground up Maki tuna, like what you would find in a low grade tuna roll. This was not toro, as the name sake for this appetizer implies. It felt deceptive, especially considering the price point for this appetizer (three small morsels) was nearly $23.

We continued onto our mains. One of our party ordered a tempura plate, which I'll touch on more later. Another a dragon roll, and again another a crunchy roll. The last item we ordered was a sushi and sashimi combo. The combo itself was beautifully plated, with some quality cuts of fish. I have no complaints about the quality or portions. However, if you're paying nearly $60 for this combo, it seems rather insulting not to be given the choice between fresh and fake wasabi. In this case, the $60 combo is served with fake wasabi. I'm at a bit of a loss why the owners would try to serve food at this price point (in La Mesa of all places), while failing to execute on some really standard things.

Back to the tempura. Our sushi mains came out, but the fourth member in our party needed to wait an additional 20 minutes for their tempura course. We were informed that this was normal as they were all prepared in different kitchens. No, I'm sorry. Nothing about that is normal. It's literally standard business practice to bring mains out at the same time. Yet again, if you're going to charge $25 minimum per main, they better come out together. I can't over emphasize how disappointing this was.

Overall, the quality of the ingredients was good, except for the fake toro appetizer. However, the execution is just not there to warrant the astronomical prices. You're charging like this is a New York Michelin starred Sushi spot and still serving standard California sushi fare. Nothing is innovated on here. This wasn't a profound experience. Even the execution of standard things like fresh wasabi, tea, and mains coming out together is botched.

Justify your pricing or just stop being so pretentious. Any number of places within ten minutes drive of here will serve you similar quality, similar dishes, with better service at almost half the price point.

All in all,...

Restaurant owners - Retrain your Employees PLEASE!

Restaurant Manager - refrain giving discount and free foods without asking patrons if you can comp them first. Communicate before applying discount on a bill. Not everyone brings their attention to you of your employee’s incompetency to get a discount. Belittling!!!

New/Old Customers - set your expectations real LOW.

Immediately upon arrival, I was told “There’s no reservations!” by two employees. Appalled, I checked my email and noticed that I’ve got my confirmation email. Unbothered but a little irritated, I informed the Hostess that Ieven got an email. In return, they double checked and mentioned that they found it on opentable. Then they mentioned there would be a wait time of 10-15 minutes and asked if i would choose to sit at the bar. Which I refused, because the reservation states that I requested a table for 2. Not to mention, this place was not busy at all on this particular Thursday night 7:30-8PM. During the wait for a seating, asked to speak to the manager just for the simple fact that I had a bad experience the last time I was there. Randy who is probably a great manager came by apologized, heard me out and seated us right away. I find it a little frustrating that I had to escalate the situation to a manager just to get seated when i have reservation in advance. Nevertheless, food came and Brittney was our waitress who was phenomenal at what she does. It began to go downhill for me and my wife soon as the bill came. Noticed the 20 percent discount which i thought was a way to hush unhappy customers. Called the server and informed her about the discounts applied and told her to take off the discount off our bill. Brittney mentioned she didn’t realize and said she would go take care of it. Only to be seen by the Manager Randy again who is now trying to make the “experience better”. Informed the manager there’s no need to give us a discount and that I needed to get going right away; instead Randy went on to make things worse when he went on to offering us a free dinner. I refused!!! The offer made me irate because I felt misunderstood, belittled and discriminated against. Whether it was the scarf on the girl i was with or the simple fact that we were Black could have definitely been a factor. I personally find this place to be the 2nd most unforgettable worst experience I’ve ever experienced in my life after Angelino’s in...