Daiwa Sushi Bar & Japanese Cuisine - Metairie — Restaurant in Louisiana

I have been a die hard Daiwa fan since 2013. I used to go to their location in the Westbank until they opened up the one in Metairie. I have recommend this place to countless people. Even after moving away, I still always make a stop here!

I am disgusted now by their service. I order the same thing every time- a crunchy roll with soy paper and seafood kimichi yaki udon. I’ve always been presented my roll as 8 pieces. As a consumer, receiving a to go box with 6 pieces, I’m going to feel like I’ve received less. It was squished with two other rolls (spicy tuna and a spicy salmon). When I called to ask about it, instead of the hostess explaining to me that it’s the same amount, just cut up into 6… she caught an attitude with me and said I didn’t specify for it to be cut into 8 pieces. Never in my life, have I ever had to tell a chef to cut my sushi up into 8 pieces. It’s just a weird request? And then she went on to claim that the crunchy roll has always been cut into 6 pieces.

I’ve attached 2 images (both from 2023) with pictures of my roll being 6+ pieces. The attitude and the claim that it’s always been 6… making me feel like I’m stupid and have never eaten this before… was baffling. The hostess Tiffany B. needs to work on her customer service skills.

I normally have Richard as my waiter and he is the one who rectified the situation. He’s always been a delight. He deserves a raise honestly. He’s always been polite and attentive.

It’s really sad for me to let go of such a staple place. However, making me feel like I’m imagining things is crazy! It’s never been 6 pieces. Had she just said from the get go, it’s the same amount… I would’ve left it as is. They wanted to take my roll back and cut it up into 8. How are you gonna cut 6 pieces up into lol?! It’s fine if you change things, but don’t make the customer think they’re crazy and this is the way it’s always been. She made me feel like it was my fault. Lost my appetite after...

After being put off when this place first opened I finally got a chance to try it. The layout of the place is awkward and wide open. It's decorated like an upscale place but they left most of the TV's from when the place was a beer bar. So there is a bit of a decorative identity crisis going on within the space, with smooth pop jazz music and sports on the TV. Odd.

Regarding the food. It's just average if not slightly below average. Except the prices here for everything are 30-40% higher than other places in the area. I do not get all the 5 star reviews here. Unless either these people going ve five stars to everybody or they are shills or people reviewing this haven't tried any of the other Superior and affordable sushi places within a mile or two. it is too competitive market here for a new sushi place to not step up their game and these people have not stepped up their game. There are more than a dozen better places within a mile. I don't predict this place to be around in 18 months.

As we were leaving we passed by a family struggling to find items on the menu. Let me talk about this menu and whoever designed it. It is unnecessarily stylized to the point that it is largely unusable. Fancy fonts for headings that are difficult to read, especially in the low light of the restaurant proper, very little contrast and just a general lack of organization makes it incredibly difficult to find what it is you're looking for, and ironically everything on their menu is basically standard sushi restaurant fair, so there's really nothing that stands out or is unique yet you have to go on a scavenger hunt in the menu to figure out where the salads are, where the rolls are, if there are any specialties, etc. It's just horribly poorly organized and difficult to read. My guess is maybe one of the owners children designed this menu because I can't imagine anybody who is professionally in the business would produce...

Twice so far, we have had TERRIBLE service from our hostess. To the point where we will not be returning.

The first time was in the middle of winter, we were sat at a table next to an exterior door leading to the patio seating. Everytime the door was opened, we were hit with a huge gust of cold air. We asked to be moved, but they didn't have any tables available - I understand that there wasn't much they could do, but the problem comes in when I asked about getting a later reservation. The hostess told me that she could book me for a later reservation but that I'd still get the exact same table!

The second time, in May I took my mom there for an early mother's day celebration. It was around 5p on a Saturday, the restaurant was mostly empty. When we asked for a three top, the hostess said she wasn't sure if she could seat us, because there were reservations booked later in the night. After some back and forth, she said we could sit but had to be finished in 90min. I didn't really know how to respond because I've never heard of a restaurant needing an hour and a half buffer inbetween turning tables. It was very off putting and made us feel rushed, especially given that we spend around $350 for the three of us (we order heavy).

The food has gone way downhill with the new ownership too, I didn't feel like I got my money's worth, quality wise. Unfortunately, the host issue has existed since before the change in management. I don't know if I dealt with the same person twice or if they are doing a poor job training, but they need to learn better customer service skills.

On the plus side, our servers have always...