Kemuri — Restaurant in Little Rock

We normally love Kemuri and have long trusted it as a safe place to eat gluten- and dairy-free without incident, but today we had an uncharacteristic experience that I feel needs to be shared.

We had a reservation for 8:00, and when we arrived the restaurant was full except our table and very busy. We were seated on time for our reservation and our waiter quickly came to take our order, but everything after that went a bit sideways. We knew what we wanted when we sat down - edamame and a gluten- and dairy-free Kemuri Platter - and ordered when the waiter came by to get our drink order. He was up front with us about not knowing much about what ingredients are and aren’t gluten free but made sure to note it on our order and told us he would trust us to tell him if something wasn’t right.

It took over 30 minutes just to get our edamame, and around an hour to get the platter. When the platter arrived, there was tamago nigiri on the plate, and the two rolls had multiple ingredients containing gluten (tempura, eel sauce, and crabstick), which we did not catch until I took a bite of one. Our waiter didn’t come back for a while after, so eventually we each took a turn to try to go find him to no avail. When he did come back, we let him know about the rolls, and he immediately informed the manager. The manager came to our table and was very apologetic, pointed out that the tamago was also not gluten free, and said she would have the head sushi chef remake our rolls. The new rolls came out very quickly, but were obviously very hastily thrown together. One was filled with so much cucumber that it was comical - there were some pieces of the roll that had double the cucumber compared to the amount of fish. One of the rolls also came on a bed of seaweed salad, which is not gluten free. We were given two extra pieces of nigiri as well, which we appreciated, but my wife could only safely eat one of the rolls due to the cross contact with the seaweed salad. We had been there far over an hour by that point and just decided not to worry about it a second time, and I ate the roll she couldn’t eat.

At the end of the meal, we expected to maybe have something taken off the bill for the inconvenience, but ended up paying in full. It didn’t feel worth arguing over the price of the bill after everything. I also want to note that we noted on the reservation that it was our anniversary, and it was not acknowledged at all - no one asked if we were there for a special occasion or anything and did not mention the anniversary part of the reservation. We did not leave feeling good about our visit or future visits to the restaurant...

So we saw this place on the news and thought we'd give it a try...... first I want to say that we drove about an hour to get there. We arrived on time for our reservations 7:15 and we're seated immediately. We were first led to a table for a party that we didn't belong to, then we're seated at what appeared to be the same type of seating that you would find at a fast food restaurant the tables were not more then 14 or 15 inch apart with a shared bench on one side and chairs on the other. I would think that this seating would be for someone without reservations I asked the manager if he could find us a different place to sit he said that it was the day after Valentine's and they were booked. I understood and we went ahead and reluctantly sat at the fast food seating area due to the fact that we thought that we wouldn't have any luck going somewhere else last minute.(not in any way, private, cozy or romantic) manager said that he would do his best to make it right, and WAS doing his best to accommodate us. (Thanks) So we sat there and waited for someone to take our order, we waited for about 10 minutes before our waitress brought water and another 10 or so for our order to be taken. About 15 minutes after we ordered the people to the left and right of us finished there meal and new customers were seated, one couple decided that they didn't like the seating arrangements and they left and another couple were seated. They both placed their orders and within 30 minutes or so they had their food, while we were still waiting. We waited for about an hour more and during that time my wife had to go to the bathroom, she saw one person in the kitchen on their cell phone, we then decided to go somewhere else. (Thank goodness for Cajuns at 9:30 at night) I want to say the people at Kamuri were nice and had good attitudes. Just be prepared for horrible seating and to be forgotten in the kitchen. In other words don't depend on Kamuri to come through for your Valentine's dinner date with your wife. Sorry i can't do a review...

Terrible experience. I called our order in and literally had to give my credit card number 8 times before the person got the right number. We were told it would be ready in 35 minutes. We walked to the restaurant as we only live 2 blocks away. We called as instructed upon arrival and I gave my information. We waited. And waited. And waited. The girl came and went. After 15 minutes I asked the girl bringing out food if they had our order. I gave my first and last name again. Again we waited, we waited, and she came and went. Finally she said we do not have an order for you, I said I am positive that you do, I gave my card number literally 8 times and I specifically ordered the sushi without papaya due to food allergy. Girl then says oh yeah, at an hour and twenty minutes after order she comes with a bag that had been sitting on the counter visually for 50 minutes!!! We asked that our fried sushi and noodles be remade because they are not good once cold. She rudely slung the bag and disappeared inside. We waited almost ten minutes and we tried to talk with her and say we would be fine with the sashimi, when she said we felt of the bag and it still warm so here is your food. Keep in mind we had already been charged. This is greater than 1 1/2 hrs after our order and an hour after we could visibly see the bag sitting on the table. Girl said annoyed, only your first name was on the order, however my first and last name was given on 3 occasions. Given the length of wait and the rudeness, I feel we were very calm after paying $50.00 to receive food that we wouldn’t dare eat based on the staff behavior and to be treated horribly. As a neighborhood business owner I am appalled. I will never recommend and we will never be back. Covid is not an excuse to behave badly, nor is being busy, there are several businesses that would be happy to take care of their customers and people that would love the opportunity...