MOUSAI — Restaurant in McAllen

My husband and I went for a dinner date on Sunday, and unfortunately, the experience was extremely disappointing. The service was subpar; our server seemed completely unknowledgeable about the menu. When I asked for recommendations, she couldn’t offer any helpful suggestions. The appetizer was fine, but things went downhill from there.

I ordered a $210 Waygu ribeye steak with a side of bok choy ($12), and my husband had two rolls. When my steak arrived, I was shocked by the presentation. For a high-end restaurant, it looked more like something you'd expect at a buffet, not a fine dining experience. To make matters worse, the steak came with salsa and Sriracha—no A1 sauce or even Tabasco! The steak itself was over-salted, cold, and tasted like it had been marinated for far too long. The bok choy was so tough it was practically inedible, and when I tried to cut it, the plate kept shifting around.

As for my husband’s sushi, they didn’t bring any ginger, wasabi, or sauce until he specifically asked for them. It was baffling that they didn’t provide these essentials without being prompted.

To top it off, we were automatically charged an 18% gratuity for a party of two without being shown the bill. Instead, they just handed us the payment terminal ready for a swipe. My husband ended up tipping extra, so we ended up paying nearly $100 in tips alone. The total for the meal, which was almost $500, felt like a complete rip-off given the poor food and service. I’ve never encountered such a practice, even in Vegas.

What made the experience even worse was that our server mostly disappeared after bringing the food. We’ve never been ones to complain, but we really felt taken advantage of here, and this is definitely a place we won’t be...

This place was incredibly underwhelming. The atmosphere felt chaotic—they crammed the space with bright red Amazon chairs and so many waiters they were running into eachother. On top of that, they have these obnoxious LED lights overhead that start flashing at 8 PM. It’s potentially dangerous for anyone with epilepsy.

We started with the Wagyu dumplings, and honestly, I was appalled. They tasted more like chorizo than anything remotely close to Wagyu, and the batter was greasy and overwhelmingly fatty. Extremely disappointing.

Next, we ordered the Lychee martinis. I'd give them a 3/10 at best. The drinks were warm, had no lychee fruit in them—just decorative flowers—and lacked flavor. You’d expect a lychee martini to actually have lychees. I had to specifically ask for them. If you do order one, ask for a chilled glass or extra ice, or you’ll be stuck with a lukewarm cocktail.

For mains, we had the salmon and the Mousai bowl. Let’s just say I could make a better version at home. Honestly, we’ve had tastier meals at places that charge half the price.

The most bizarre part of the evening? After we paid the bill and were still sipping our drinks, our server came over and began wiping down the table—while we were still sitting there, mid-conversation. He moved our drinks to the edge of the table and sprayed cleaning solution all around us. Then he just left it wet and smelling like a janitor’s closet. Totally unprofessional and...

I gave it one star because out of all we ordered my roll was decent, but this restaurant left very much to be desired. The server took our drink order and never told us her name. My husband ordered a whiskey sour and it came with no egg white. We ordered nigiris and the server said they had limited fish. Why offer all these fish on the menu and not carry them. All they had was shrimp tuna and salmon. My husband is not a big sushi person (I am) so he asked the server's recommendation on another entree and she suggested a steak that came with fries and then added another side of fries. She never specified the steak already came with fries. She didn't seem like she really cared to offer input or upsell anything throughout the entire night except the fries. She hardly came around, when I got my roll I had to ask another server for sauces because she just put it down and walked away before I could ask for anything. Then we had multiple different people ask if we wanted dessert. We asked for the check and the tip was included on a party of 2. Then it asks to add more tip! After that it made sense why our server disappeared, the tip is included so they really don't have to worry about the level of service they provide. I was expecting a level of service compared to fine dining establishments we have visited elsewhere based on their social media and what they are trying to put out. All around it was a very disappointing...