Hakuchō — Restaurant in Lakeland

Hakucho was very disappointing to me. We arrived early for a 630 reservation and were warmly greeted by the multiple hosts up front. I personally found the seating a little cramped but they are just getting started and it was packed so I'm sure that contributed to it. We ordered a beer, a plate of Gohan to share with yolk, an order of pork belly skewers (2), 2 orders of dumplings, an order of Korean Chicken wings, and an order of sautéed mushrooms.

The beer was excellent; it was a draft pilsner. The Gohan was quite good but awkward to share. The pork belly was very very good, it had the consistency and tenderness of scallops, incredibly good char. I had an order of dumplings to myself, the menu says it is 6 to an order, we only received 5 per order, they were very milky in a positive way, it helped balance the chili crisps but I would have loved more heat. The wings, also short one, menu says 5 and we got 4. The wings had a delicious taste that I would describe as definitely leaving me wanting more, twisting the knife of the missing wing. The sauteed mushrooms were delicious, the rice cake it came on was equally delicious and paired very well and the mushroom medley used was very diverse, which is much appreciated as a fungus lover. We did not order dessert.

When we asked about the wings and the dumplings, the server said there was a misprint on the menus (which are new since they just opened) and the quantities on some things were less than advertised, but that the prices were correct. She said this was a result of it being a soft launch of the restaurant and that when fully launched, the quantities advertised would then be reflected on the plate. This was explained very casually to us and at the time it did not sit right, but I didn't want to make things awkward.

By my count we were missing about $7 in food, multiply that by 20 tables and that's $140 on just that round of tables. And that's assuming 2 people per table ordering. Potentially this could be hundreds of dollars a night being skimmed. Chalk it up to the soft launch and check it out but please, keep a running tally of what you were promised and what you received.

Now, several hours later it sits worse. I dislike the feeling of having to look over my shoulder and having to make sure I'm not being cheated out of what I've been promised. This gives me that feeling and to the max. It makes me wonder what other things the restaurant might be doing to my detriment that I haven't noticed; Was my beer actually 12oz? Or draft? Is it actually Wagyu? These questions never existed in my mind when I was sitting there ordering, but now...

Unfortunately, I just don't trust Hakucho and I don't think I could comfortably eat someplace I don't trust. Could you?

I am sorry because the atmosphere felt energetic, trendy and just really happy. The employees looked happy to be there and ready to try and make things work but like I said before, I walked away feeling like they were cheating me, and from now on I'm going to have to point to Hakucho and tell people, hey, watch out, they like to charge for 5 and give you 4.

To anyone from Hakucho reading this and fuming because it was just a typo in the menu: In your meeting before opening for the day, you should go over details of the menu that have been changed because of XYZ reason, like if your serving 4 but the menu says 5. You should instruct your servers to repeat it like it's the special of the day to customers when they're introducing themselves and the restaurant. If this is just a blip, then my review won't even stand out and that's awesome because it means my experience was the exception not the norm; I hope...

My fiancée and I went here for our anniversary last week. We love food and I had heard about Hakucho's soft opening, so we decided to give it a shot. I'm glad we did!

Everything was just fantastic! The interior was really cool, from the woodwork, to the host station, the material selections, the music selection and volume. It all works together so well!

Every person we interacted with was so kind and genuine! Big shout out to Malik, the front of house manager. He was so friendly and genuinely wanted us to have a nice time. When he found out it was our anniversary he had two complimentary glasses of sparking wine sent over. It was so thoughtful!

Our server was phenomenal! Super attentive without being pushy. Really friendly and down to earth, not fake at all. Always ready to put in another round of drinks or food for us, but happy to let us do our own thing too.

Now for the food and drinks! They were superb. Every single thing we had was incredible. We started with shishito peppers and Kaisen-Don, both of which were excellent. If you like sushi, I definitely recommend the Kaisen-Don.

Then we ordered both the Chicken and Mushroom Karaage -- they were incredible! It's hard to say which was better since they were both stellar, but I think we liked the mushrooms slightly more thanks to the black garlic mayo that comes with them.

We ended the night with Chicken Thigh Skewers which were just mind blowing. Truly fantastic and if we hadn't already eaten a ton I would have ordered another round of them.

The cocktail menu is thoughtful and creative. Every drink we had was excellent! The bar manager Joey really knows his stuff and has a true passion for what he does. I had a Remon Sour, Poka Poka Margarita, and an Ichi-Go Big or Ichi-Go Home, which is a riff on a Negroni. I think my favorite was the margarita, but they were all terrific. My partner had a KoDomine with alcoholic boba balls, and the Old Fashioned, both of which were really impressive!

Don't miss out on Hakucho, you won't be...

The atmosphere of this restaurant was gorgeous, it felt very clean and open even though it was in such a small space. Upon entering, you could get a sense that this place was going to be interesting. The food was good for the most part, my wife and I had the Korean Wings, the Dumplings and the Seafood Udon, my wife also tried the "brothless ramen" I can't remember the exact name but it was very salty and she asked to return it aside from that I enjoyed the food, my wife thought it was good but not great.

With that being said... OUR service itself left much to be desired, when I say our service I mean ours specifically. Our server was also the bartender, who also had customers at the bar to assist, while the tables to our immediate left and our immediate right had dedicated servers who were there to assist them.

There were times where we had completely empty plates and water and were just sitting at the table waiting while our customer counterparts were being checked on constantly. We also did not get our food at the same time. So eating as a couple on date night was a challenge but at the risk of looking silly we filled the time with some photo ops as well as loving conversation.

When our server did come by he was extremely pleasant and more than helpful but his visits were few and far between.

A gentleman who introduced himself as the managing partner checked in on us was very pleasant and did his best to make sure we had a pleasant experience, and for the most part it wasn't exactly negative, but my wife and I felt that we were the odd couple out and that is enough to make it not worth the trip back. I don't doubt that other's may have a...