Unison Restaurant and banquet — Restaurant in Maplewood

Shady business practices and terrible customer service.

The first incident happened over summer when me and two of my friends went there for dinner on a Friday night, around 8pm. They were very short staffed, I could only see one young man who was bussing tables and the hostess who we overheard was named Jenny. We asked for a table for 3, but Jenny responded that they were no longer seating tables. We clearly saw that there were several open tables including some empty rooms, some of them needed cleaning, but were not being used. We said we could sit and wait for one to get cleaned but Jenny said no and refused to seat us, she said they were no longer seating tables unless we bought a private room for $50 and then we could order food, otherwise the bar was open. If you've eaten there before, you'll know that these rooms are usually free-- however they refused to serve us unless we were willing to pay $50 up front for a room. We thought this was because they changed their policy or were no longer serving food except for private parties, so we just decided to get a drink at the bar before leaving to get food somewhere else. While at the bar, we saw them clean and seat the next three tables after us. We were very upset but decided to leave and take our business elsewhere as we didn't want to support a business that aimed to scam us.

We did not return to Unison again until several months later and only because a friend of ours convinced us to go to watch Thursday night football. We did return a few times with the same group over a few Thursdays and those times were fine in terms of service and our experience-- up until yesterday. During the game, our waitress, who was visibly intoxicated came into our room and started talking with one of the guys about how he should always book the room. We joked along and agreed with her for the first five minutes or so, then I left to the bathroom. When I returned and she was still there, keep in mind the bathroom had a line-- I was gone for almost 10 minutes, and she had moved on to lecturing him about how she was upset that he asked her to check if he had paid for something one of the prior weeks when we had visited. He was visibly annoyed, since he had only asked her to do something that is a part of her job description and he needed to know what he paid for within a larger group of people. One of the other staff members finally pulled her out of our room after about 15 minutes of her talking at him. She took two of our credit cards to check us out of our bill on the way out.

Around 11 pm, security and staff started ushering everyone to the banquet side of the building as they were closing the restaurant side. It had been approximately 30 minutes since our waitress had taken our cards and we couldn't leave because she hadn't brought them back. We could see her socializing with other people and asked another staff member to check on our cards. He came back shortly after and said she had lost them but would go find them for us. We asked to speak to a manager as we felt it was unacceptable for the establishment to have lost two of our credit cards and that they had been unaccounted for for nearly 30 minutes. They did eventually find them on the banquet side even though none of us stepped foot over there the whole night.

The manager, whose name was Lucky, then came over to our group and asked what happened since "this is a family establishment and I don't want there to be any talk". We told him what happened and his response was "but you all had fun, right?" And then told us that his employee did nothing wrong and dismissed us. This only upset us more as there was no accountability for the actions of their employee: She was visibly intoxicated She came into our room to complain and lecture us for 15 min She took our cards and Lost them.

There was no apology from any staff member that night regarding what happened. We left with the intention that we would...

We visited Unison Restaurant and Banquet quite randomly, though as we all know, nothing is entirely random. ☺️

We had been seeking a new dining experience here in the cities and found Unison on Google Maps, then decided to give it a try, and I must say, I am eternally grateful that we did.

The ambiance of Unison is very unique and almost a bit overwhelming at first, especially as we arrived after 7pm and security was present to ensure legal and safe alcohol consumption practices. The exterior of the building is somewhat nondescript and easy to miss, but that is honestly part of the charm, as once you walk in, you are welcomed to a delightfully tasteful, open/communal dining area with MN sports-team themed group rooms lining the edges. The air was filled with energy and the sounds of people enjoying the good, beverages, and company, and immediately, we knew we had arrived at the right place.

We ordered drinks, Thai Coffee and Thai Tea, Fresh Rolls for appetizers, then Pad Thai and Drunken Noodles for our meal.

The appetizers came quickly, and were well prepared, with fresh ingredients and plenty of flavor.

The drinks and food took a bit longer, but it was hardly noticeable, as we were lost in conversation and in the atmosphere of the restaurant. Once they did arrive, the drinks were near-perfect; my partner-in-crime commented that the coffee was, and I quote "the best Thai Coffee in the Twin Cities". I concur on the Thai Tea.

The staff were extremely polite, and very attentive, stopping by frequently to check on us and provide updates on our food situation.

The ONLY noticable downside to our experience was the bathrooms, which were not in great condition. Given the volume of people, there is likely an explanation for that, but just as candid feedback, both of us came out of them and agreed that the cleanliness could use improvement.

Overall, this was an excellent experience, and we would happily come here again any time...

Food taste amazing but the service is something else. What’s worse was having my child with me. We arrived around 7 pm and got seated right away. It was a very frustrating 1 hour experience: two of my meat dishes arrived before my appetizer and alcoholic beverage, we had to ask a different server about the alcoholic drink (where was it, others who arrived after us were being served their alcoholic beverages at their table and the bar side), our egg roll came 15 minutes after the first two dishes (one egg roll was smaller than the other 3, 😒 a $5 appetizer), we had to ask for the rice that were suppose to come w the meat dishes, we had to ask for silverware, our server didn’t come once to ask how we were doing or to let us know wait time on our food (even when we did ask he never returned to tell us so we waited and when we finally decided to leave he came with our 3rd platter), and our water was never refilled once. It got more frustrating seeing how fast the appetizers started coming out for those who arrived after us but yet our entrees were still not completed while we wait. Another thing too, their Facebook page mentions Saturday special for today (2/27/21).... well that wasn’t mentioned by the server nor written anywhere in the restaurant for customers to see, so is this just an online thing....?? I’ve waited on tables and cooked in kitchens before and the wait time I experienced is not okay. You know your rush hour time so shouldn’t staffs be on their a game? We have ordered pick up before and will prob plan to do that since it seems timing is more accurate. I would love to continue supporting my own people with their business, however I just hope they can learn to get the customer...