ZAAB Corner Bistro (Japanese Fusion) — Restaurant in Lake Geneva

I am all about posting positive reviews to assist growth of restaurants and businesses. And I really do not like to do this, but our experience was not very good. And the staff has much room for improvement. I was a professionally trained and schooled head chef and if my front of house staff did this I would re train all of them myself.

Let's start with positive. Food was good.

And some context. This is a 40 top room with 3 waiters and a bus person. Easily manageable by a single very competent waiter or two good waiters.

Now I will list some things about our experience that are not so good.

We had a dinner reservation. And a party of 4 without one walked in and got a table before us. They were served immediately.

We were not acknowledged for 5 minutes while we stood confused patiently.

We are finally sat. And we waited nearly 30 min before politely asking if we can have menus and water.

Another 15 min before our waitress arrives. We politely discuss that we are a little frustrated and ask why we have been treated this way. We are cut off twice when speaking and our concerns are basically ignored.

We see 2 parties of two walk in(separate over the course of an hour) and stand to be seated where they are not acknowledged for 10 min and eventually leave. We were near the door so I actually apologized to them and told them we had a similar experience and I'm not sure why the service is like this. It's quite simple. You see new customers. You make eye contact even if you are busy and say "hey thanks for coming in! We'll be right with ya!"

A couple next to us was served ice cream and not given spoons. They ate it with forks.

Our salad plates were very hot and caused the lettuce to wilt. Salad plates should be cold.

At this point we were joking about how bad the service was and kind of making it a game. It was funny to us that the absolute basic mechanics of running a restaurant in regards to service were so blatantly ignored.

We flagged down our waitress again to get the check and a box, which took 15 more min and the box was forgotten. We just wanted to leave at that point so we just left the leftovers we would have taken home. We wanted dessert but did not want to reward the restaurant with more money so we went elsewhere.

Please. Train your staff better. This experience was not okay. The ambiance and food is very good and this restaurant has incredible potential. But if the front of house can't perform. Then it's not going to work.

Some tips to improve.

The two top by the door should be removed and replaced with a hostbooth. Hire a hostand staff them during peak days only.

Have your best waiter train the rest of the staff. Use their strengths to allow the rest of the...

One word Love! From the moment you walk and sit in this place, you feel the love the owner and staff puts in this restaurant. The attention to detail and fresh ingredients are second to none. The concept of this restaurant is awesome. I'm a meditation and yoga teacher my partner mostly eats vegan/vegetarian and it's hard to find restaurants that can accommodate us both. because I like to eat meat every now and then. I had the ribs and chicken plate. The sauce will blow your mind, never had anything like this and have been in tons of barbecue and ethnic restaurants. I would save their sauce is one of my favorites if not my top favorite. The mashed potatoes that they served with my plate was also A class very garlicky and buttery, amazing. Not to mention the start with the soup that was chicken and wild rice I wanted like six bowls of the stuff. Then to top off, their carrot cake is a gift from Buddha himself. This time my girlfriend was interested in eating something different and had the shrimp poor boy sandwich and was probably also the best that we ever had. Lake Geneva is always a good time and this is now my favorite restaurant in the area. I'm giving only four stars for the atmosphere. Because I would love to see candles and flowers on the table, and maybe a Buddha or Quan Yin behind the bar. Great for a date night beautiful energy and music in the background. Everyone is smiling inside this place including the people making the food. So I conclude this review with one word LOVE or welcome to Flavor Town. Keep it up you're doing...

As lifelong Chicagoans who for the past forty years have vacationed in Lake Geneva Wisconsin multiple times annually and have literally dined at every restaurant in that town, my wife and I can authoritatively state that Zaab Corner Bistro is absolutely incomparable! Before even stepping inside, you are seduced by the tantalizing aromas emanating from Zaab, and beginning with the relaxed but thoroughly professional guest service from server Mai, diners are treated to a superb gastronomic experience. The creative libations are supremely flavorful and satisfying, and chef David Castro and his culinary team are nothing less than kitchen magicians! Indeed, the challenge for diners is trying to choose among the broad range of incredibly tempting dishes on Zaab's menu, compelling diners to both order multiple selections and to plan an immediate return visit, which we will be doing very soon. You are...