Okura Robata Grill & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in La Quinta

I have been coming to Okura for more than a decade. The sushi is always phenomenal. We don't live in the area, but we have family out here so we like to stop by when we're here. We also used to visit their Laguna Beach sister store before it closed down. Last night was pretty disappointing. We had not been to the new location yet and decided to come see it and eat some great sushi.

We had a reservation at 5pm and we were seated within about 5 to 10 minutes of checking in. No problem, they were clearly busy.

For ordering... First off, no more all you can eat sushi. A little disappointing, but given the environment and the closing of the other location, I get it. The per roll pricing also looks like it went up a few bucks a roll since we came here last. Again no prob, still more than happy to buy a few $20 rolls. You only live once, so spend the $100 on great sushi. We ordered about 10 minutes after being seated (maybe 5:25), 4 rolls and carpaccio. Our two family members ordered tempura and skewers as meals. The tempura was brought out immediately, like less than ten minutes after ordering. Great, weird that that family member had to basically eat dinner alone but okay. 5-10 minutes later the skewers came out. Now that family member was eating alone. Then nothing came out for a long time. Finally the server noticed and went back to at least grab our carpaccio. He brought that out at maybe 6pm and said the sushi would be right out. At this point, we're starving and frustrated. We asked any busser walking by if they knew where our food was and finally asked about cancelling it. Then it all of a sudden showed up at 6:12, more than 45 minutes after ordering it. Honestly, other two tables seated after us got their sushi well before us.

I have no idea what the issue was. So when we asked what the heck was going on, the gentleman that brought the sushi said they'd grab a manager and very sincerely apologized. It should be noted the bussers/expediters were great and very efficient. Manager never came though. Asked another busser about 15min later (because our server was pretty absent most the meal), and that was when we learned our server WAS the manager. Throughout the night we watched the server/manager wander back and forth staring his tablet in our area. He didn't check on tables unless we flagged him down which was easier said than done. Literally every table was throwing a hand in the air every so often trying to get his attention because he was not checking in with tables. Beyond the fact that his service was deplorable, you should not have managers waiting tables for this exact reason (not his skill set and now no one is managing).

When he finally brought us the bill, we asked has anyone told you that we've had an issue with service tonight. He said yes, but then didn't really provide an answer as to the issues they were facing or why after being notified he never came over. He did end up comping a percentage of our meal, which was nice but not necessary as again we were fully prepared to pay for our food. It would have just been nice to understand what the problem was. I understand restaurants are facing staffing problems, but at least in this case that didn't seem to be an issue. There were tons of employees. We all clearly ordered our food as meals and yet all had to eat separately over the span of an hour.

Will I come back? Yes, but literally only because the food is amazing. Honestly next time maybe we'll just get it to go and bypass the service all together. Hopefully they can get it together and bring it back to the level of service it had in the...

A wonderful use of the space. The decor is modern and upscale with interesting details. Would be nicer if the entrance was cleaned a little more regularly since my mom pointed out some cigarette butts messily stubbed out in the plants. The food was great! There's the expected sushi, sashimi, and grilled robata fare, but they also have a variety of starters and entrees that could be described more like fusion, since they're catering to a clientele that is not entirely used to Asian food (heard a guy at the next table asking if they had fried rice, which they accommodated) My only complaint is that there are very few vegetarian options. I found 4 on the menu, and thankfully the 3 I ordered were all tasty. However, it does make me a bit sad to watch others devour amazing looking rolls while I munch on my plain one. As the Japanese say, you eat first with your eyes. We had some cocktails with our meal and they were good. Strong enough without knocking you out. Also, we got there early, just after they opened at 4, and although it wasn't packed, the restaurant did have a steady stream of guests coming in. I know there was a tournament nearby, but i was surprised that there were already several tables seated even 15 mins after opening. Service was also great. There is staff for each level of the meal: ordering, serving, water, bussing, all different people. This meant food came out at a good pace and my water glass was never empty (and I tried!) I mentioned we were celebrating a birthday and asked for a candle with the ice cream (yelp had an offer) and we were pleased not just because they gave us a bit extra, but because they did not bring out a billion people to sing to us. Last, cost was significant. Not including tip, our meal cost me just around $50 a head. To be fair, I was treating my parents and encouraged getting whatever they wanted, but a single specialty roll was about $20. I would say the food and service is worth the cost, however, so maybe come with the treat-yo-self mindset. Overall a great dinner with delicious food and good service that put smiles on our faces. If you're in the valley and have an occasion to celebrate or just want a really nice meal out, consider...

Went for a birthday. We had a 7:45 reservations for a party of 6 with a 9 month pregnant woman and a member of our party had a broken leg. We requested inside and we were taken outside, down stairs (not great for a person on crutches in a full leg cast) and once I explained that this wouldn’t work for our party, we were led back to the front to continue waiting. The hostesses were very busy but audibly said “We need to get this 6 top seated so they can get out of here” in a pretty rude fashion. Another hostess was sprinting through the restaurant… we watched her take a used dirty, wet rag to clean our table and when we were sat the smell was palpable. We agreed we would try to put in our orders quickly since the place was so busy and to capacity and obviously understaffed. There was no silverware at our table by the time our Edamame came out - we ordered a regular and a garlic, the regular was extremely dry and had no salt. I requested napkins and we were given paper to-go napkins instead of silverware. Only two of the six people at our table ordered cocktails and the rest drank tea or water. When the non-alcoholic drinks came out the server was carrying the glasses against his chest and not on a tray. It was gross (again) but we shrugged it off. You could get a sense that the waitstaff was visibly stressed and walking extremely quickly to run food, check on tables and bus tables. I ordered a refill of the raspberry iced tea and it came out in a coffee mug. Sign that the kitchen was working over time as well. Each person at the table ordered 1 roll and they all came out plated differently even though some people ordered the same thing. I was pretty over it by this point so just ordered a basic Rainbow Roll which fell apart as I ate it. Beyond that, it tasted normal. We didn’t receive our food until nearly 10:00 p.m. which was not great considering 1 roll each for 6 people could have been a similar amount to how I’d typically order sushi with a party...