Izakaya Kuroyama — Restaurant in Madison

Very weird interactions with the servers, and presumably, the managers. They asked us to leave a 5 star review for a free beer. Which we were all very inclined to do. We did that, showed the server, and he walked away for awhile. He came back and handed us 4 ginger beers. This was also very weird, can't imagine they'd taste good. We didn't open them and two of my party changed their reviews pretty much instantly.

After changing the reviews, we all laughed about it and thought that would be it. The owners are apparently stalking the Google reviews every second of the day and comparing photos to security camera footage to figure out what tables/guests are leaving what reviews. The server and a manager came to our table and pretty much interrogated us as to why we changed our reviews, as if promise of a beer and receiving a god-awful mixer wouldn't change anyone's review. This whole interaction making us extremely uncomfortable, awkward, and bothered. Finally, because they were not leaving us alone, we spoke up and explained how we were promised free beer and given it I guess. He then went on to talk about how they had given us free "beer" and how he didn't promise actual beer. We then told him how that was also, very weird. The manager then profusely apologized while the server continued to explain how it was beer. After even more time wasted on this torturous crackdown, they told us they would bring us a singular (1) beer and comp us another one. We agreed to it so they would finally leave us alone. We received the beer and lo-and-behold that was not the end of it. They forced the server to apologize, explaining that it was his third day, and very awkwardly putting him down to make us feel "better". We assured the server it was whatever, yet again to get out of an extremely uncomfortable situation, and he then pushed free dessert upon us (which we denied). We received our bills, alongside more blaming and stressful apologies, with a free and comped beer (which was kind of nice).

All-in-all, a very weird experience that I probably won't go back to unless I have the need for what a precincts interrogation room feels like. The food was pretty good, but yeah, the broccoli is served very cold.

Hope the server is having a fun time somewhere else!

#LoveCookie (maybe they'll give me more...

I only leave reviews if I’m so blown away by the service or extremely disappointed. Unfortunately, this review is because of how disappointed I was with my entire experience. My husband and I decided to check this place out because we wanted to try something new aside from our usual Japanese food run (Zen Ramen Lounge). That ended up being a huge mistake.

We walk in & immediately get to sit at a table of our choice, great. But quite literally, at least 15 minutes later we had to flag someone down to take our order. We tried to be patient but the wait was getting unbearable — considering it was a Wednesday night with less than 10 other people in the restaurant. To add to that, I’m pretty sure the owner saw me wave at him, but he ignored me & later sent one of the servers to take our order. That was the first red flag.

Between my husband & I, we ordered two main dishes (gyudon & omurice), one beef tongue soup, three yakitori things (wagyu, shiitake mushrooms & bacon wrapped tomatoes), and a dessert. The gyudon came out first & was just warm. The three mushrooms & bacon wrapped tomatoes came out next, with the bacon looking so raw I didn’t even eat it. Then the wagyu came out. Again, it was just warm & honestly really chewy. The charcoal wasn’t even hot enough to warm the wagyu. The beef tongue soup was served at some point while we were eating the yakitori & my husband said the soup was served cold with a “weird sweet flavor”. Finally, my husband’s dish (omurice) came last after we had already eaten most of our other food & he said the dish was just ok. We debated on getting dessert because everything had been subpar so far. We ultimately decided who knows, maybe the dessert will turn out good. Another mistake on our part. We got the taiyaki with matcha icecream. The icecream was good, but the taiyaki was DRENCHED in oil, it didn’t even seem fried. It was filled with a red bean filling which you couldn’t really taste because the oil was so overwhelming.

All in all, $70 later & not only were we unsatisfied with the experience, but we were...

We were very excited to finally try this place but unfortunately, our first experience was not great. We walk in, immediately sat down with the choice to sit anywhere. We were without menus at our table, but luckily we know how to use the internet and looked it up. As we explored trusty-google, another couple would come in after us and to be quickly given menus and waters even though we had sat first… but I guess it was a different person who greeted them, while the girl who sat us kind of just disappeared? It took around 15 minutes for a server to notice us, (also a different staff member). There were maybe 5 tables in the restaurant at the time we came in, already eating and taken care of, and it seemed like the service was slow and messy. My partner ordered the Gyudon, and coming out, the beef was chewy and like room-temp first bites in. Like, not hot at all. The guy argued that it’s supposed to taste that way but offered to take it back to “ask the chef”? He returns and tells us that the beef for the Gyudon is pre-prepared, and the reason for its texture is because they re-cook it and serve it. Like, it’s not crazy restaurant news to us or anything, but he also said the chef would remake it “fresh this time” for us and so we decided to wait… and the wait was LONG. Couldn’t wait anymore since we were already there for a little over an hour. We canceled the Gyudon order in the end. Anyways, I ordered the Chicken Katsu Don and it was okay. The chicken was crispy but bland. The curry was hot and had flavor but also because it’s curry. Due to the whole Gyudon thing, my food went cold and it was hard for me to finish, like I was basically just eating alone 😭. When we were checking out, the server apologized (not really their fault), we paid and left. While, the service was slow, they were still nice. I wanna applaud the great presentation. It’s...