Sea40 Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Lewiston

Service: Arrived at noon, stood around waiting to be seated for over 5 minutes and the place was empty.. no customers. The waitress that served us was nice and provided good service.

Food: The food though, has really gone down hill; the food was good years ago but today, it’s truly not worth it. My mother and I ordered the same item from the menu, something we both love.. Chicken Katsu. We’ve eaten it in Hawai’i and in Maine.. so we know what it’s supposed to taste like, I even know how to cook it myself. Sea40’s current (May 17, 2024) Katsu tasted like ordinary fried chicken.. I don’t know if it’s because the breadcrumbs aren’t Panko or the batter they used was bland as hell or the type of chicken they used.. but It made me regret coming to this restaurant on my birthday! The waitress also asked us if we wanted the katsu in a nugget form or the flat form.. we chose the original flat form and yet it still came out in nuggets. We weren’t about to send it back though, because we were too hungry to care in what form the katsu arrived in. The miso was good though, probably the only thing we ate that tasted how it was supposed to taste, although it was lukewarm.

At the end, my mother chose to take her left-overs home and that’s when the other staff disappointed us; My mother asked for a ramekin of katsu sauce (a ramekin: is a small container for sauces) to take home with her left over katsu. There was a massive language barrier between my mother and two different staff members who we were asking for a ramekin of katsu sauce from. Both staff members didn’t understand what we were asking for.. One said ketchup in broken English and we kept saying katsu sauce.. I found it best to just point at what we were asking for. In the end, my mother had to ask the waitress for a ramekin of katsu sauce, because even though we pointed out to the other staff members what we were asking for, it never came.

Atmosphere: The place is really worn down. A lot of things need renovations. Many areas looked shabby.

In the end, we’re never going back. And to other patrons, I don’t recommend this place at all. It’s a shame really, my mother and I both enjoy Asian cuisine.

EDIT: (We later found out.. after going over receipts for the day, that Sea40 CHARGES for a ramekin of sauce to take home!!! Are you serious!? You...

Explanation of my mixed rating:

Food 5 stars: I love their food, and they are accommodating of making sauces with gluten free ingredients. I give this a five despite them ending the deluxe veggie roll they had which was my favorite thing of theirs and most unique roll they had compared to other restaurants with sushi, including the ones I've been to in Portland. It's really too bad they stopped carrying it, and the amount of times a takeout order has had a mistake.

Service 3 stars: they are extremely friendly inside, but I'm giving this a three because of how "tell me you don't want people to order takeout without telling me you don't want people to order takeout" it is.

They don't have an online user interface for ordering. Neither does Lotus, but both Pure Thai and Thai Dish do, and it makes it a lot easier to order from there. Lotus doesn't have online order form either, but they do allow you to pay with a card for carry out. Sea 40 only accepts cash for takeout orders, so this can create an accessibility barrier.

The environment inside is frequently so loud that people have a hard time hearing you over the phone and it leads them to coming across as irritable (when they are actually very nice people) and have a hard time understanding what you're saying.

I love the food from here and the staff is great, but the big picture experience of ordering takeout from here has been so unpleasant as a whole and over time that we have just stopped doing that entirely ever since they stopped carrying their deluxe veggie roll because it's avoidable stress, as much as I like them otherwise.

Atmosphere: this is four stars because the staff can be very friendly, but the environment especially in the hibachi area can be extremely loud. If you or whoever you're going with - adults or children - is easily overstimulated and stressed out by too much sound, I highly suggest taking ear protection that reduces sound while still allowing you to hear clearly.

I do love going here, but we will absolutely bring...

Truly conflicted on how to rate this place. The sushi is great, but at what cost? I don’t mean the price of the food, if you want to eat AND have a show, a horror show, than this is your place! You get to watch the owners wife humiliate and yell at the 2 girls that work there, over what seems like something that is not that serious, even tho their service towards the customers is 100x more friendly & welcoming than hers.Every single time I have gone there she is yelling & very angry. I used to go & dine in more often but now I just sit at the bar to avoid having to deal with that woman. There’s one girl that has a cast on her hand & has had it for what she says years, she’s nothing but great at her job, she will sometimes be doing bar &waitressing tables, I hope her hand heals soon because it looks so painful. And there’s one girl with a bunch of tattoos that’s often joking &laughing with customers, there’s a man that works there also but haven’t seen him in a long time. I overheard from another person sitting at the bar saying that he quit because of TAKE A GUESS..the owners wife but that’s speculation, It doesn’t surprise me there’s so few people working there with the bosses wife being that way to them. I would never allow someone to treat me that way let alone work for someone who does that. I would rate this place much higher &go more often if that woman wasn’t there. As I’m sure many other people would. Over all, the food is good but the way people are treated in there just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Also very dark and VERY hot in there in the summer, do with this information...