Juno Japanese Restaurant - Preston — Restaurant in Louisville

The moment I walked into the foyer, the impression I got was exceptional. I had studied all available classes on Japanese at WKU and studied some about Zen for my arts degree when writing essays. The decor seemed rather authentic from my perspective. What really stood out to me was the ceramic vase with a good amount of incense ash inside. From my experience, few outside Japanese culture are familiar with the concept of keeping incense ashes to stand up more incense sticks in. I wondered how long it took to build up that much ash. I came out to Louisville for an appointment and was a mite late to it because I had to stop and compliment the food before I hurried out the door. I really hope I wasn't rude. The man at the sushi preparation area was really fixated on scrolling through something on his phone. I actually don't mind it, it doesn't impact his work. He could just be a scatterbrained creative, which I know very well about. However it did lead to a misunderstanding, I thought maybe he didn't understand English very well. The "Adam's specials" or something like that on the menu should have clued me in that it's a native language. Whoops! Where I come from, Bowling Green, most of the sushi places have staff first generation immigrating from Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, maybe Korea, et cetera, and I have experienced such language barriers in the past. I hope my assumption wasn't hurtful. I did hear him on the way out the door! But really, it was the best sushi I've ever had, as I had said. I was taken aback to find that the chef actually did put a layer of wasabi in between the rice and the nigiri. I'd never found a place in this country before that practices this tradition of preparation without the customer specifically asking for it. The seaweed was not shy about its presence, in a manner of speaking, which I seriously appreciate. The quality of the fatty tuna blew me away. I have no idea how these simple ingredients were so flavorful. I'm no sushi chef. Maybe they are simply very fresh. That is hard to find in a landlocked state. The rice, at the least, was perfect, and cooking rice to the ideal consistency and maintaining it is more difficult than one may think. My brother in law offered me to try what I believe was calamari in a fried yakisoba, and it was also great. A satisfying consistency and a more complex flavor palette in the sauce than I'd come to expect. I also had really hoped they would use that mustard horseradish kind of dressing on my side salad that I really like, and I was not disappointed. There is at least one professor at WKU right now who really heartaches for some authentic sushi since he last was able to visit Japan. I could try referring him to make the trip, and hope it may match his standards. I'll probably be on the lookout for excuses to make the trip up to Louisville in the future. Oh, and I did have to take a photo. That's uncommon...

I start by saying, I LOVE Japanese Hibachi. I have been wanting to try this place for a while but the price tag has put me off from trying it until today. The following are "my" opinions - try them for yourself and formulate your own opinion. Let's start with the positives: The dressing on the salad is delicious. I could drink this stuff. The presentation was on point for everything. Now for the not so great: ordered take out and the order was not checked before being handed to me, tied up tight. I get home only to discover that only half of the entrees are there (we ordered combos and only got one of the meats in both). I had to drive back and ask for the other part of the entrees. They were very apologetic. That isn't the end of the world, whatever, it happens. Now the entrees were... lackluster and definitely not worth the ~$27 each. The steak and veggies were extremely bland. Veggies were over-charred leading them to be bitter. The teriyaki chicken was pleasant and flavorful, however. They didn't give us any yum yum sauce with the entrees - that could have fixed some of the underwhelming-ness of the meal but by the time I noticed that I was already back home from the second trip and it wasn't worth the effort. The sushi roll we got was the "Easy on Me" roll (which sounds amazing on paper). It didn't really taste like much of anything. I was surprised at how little flavor it had. It was very pretty but that's where it ended. No spice, no flavor. Tasted like plain white rice and nothing else. Overall, I probably won't return. For 2 combo entrees and a roll, the total came out to just shy of $90. In my opinion, there are better (and cheaper) options in the city. I am not sure where the high ratings on here are coming from but maybe they don't have functional taste-buds? It's just not for me. You be the judge. They obviously do something right as they were pretty busy. I just don't...

I was really disappointed by my visit tonight (Valentine’s day 2023). Anytime I am in Hillview, I stop by Juno and have sushi. I usually have a nice experience but tonight will be my final visit at this location. I ordered a roll I always get and one I had never had before. It look about 45 minutes to get my rolls (which is understandable for the holiday). However, when I tried the roll that I had never had, I really hated it. I asked the waitress if there was anyway I could have it taken off of my bill because of how much I disliked it. After she talked with the manager, she told me that she could take 15% off since the restaurant still had to make the roll. I may have misunderstood, but she also said something about how she would have to pay for what I do not pay for….. I asked for her manager directly. The manager proceeds to tells me that I (The customer) have to consider the business because they had to make the roll and if they take it off the check, the business loses money. She tells me the most she is willing to take off is 50%, for a roll I took one bite out of and sent back. I have never worked at a restaurant or even ate at a restaurant that had a practice of “The customer should consider the conglomerate.” I paid the 50% of the roll and they lost a customer. HOWEVER, my biggest concern is what the server told me. If I misheard then I apologize but if they have the practice of making their SERVERS pay for a customer’s discount or the restaurant’s mess up, I am appalled and I hope that upper management either looks into it or is held...