Momiji | Sushi • Bento • Teriyaki — Restaurant in McMinnville

I want to start off by saying that this post is meant for the owner of the place not meant for anybody trying to eat there. Regardless of my experience tonight which was absolutely terrible fortunately the food was still absolutely amazing when I finally did get it. That being said I've been serving tables for 15 years im what you call a lifer in the industry. I absolutely love being in the restaurant business and every chance I get, I take my fiance out to have a really nice dinner. Tonight was not one of the nights that I can say we had a nice dinner, this was the second time that we had been here and yes it was a Friday night and no I don't care that they were busy what had happened never should have happened. I sat at the bar and two separate parties sat after us one on our right and one on our left. Both of those parties had their drinks before we were ever greeted (which I had to make happen by pulling somebody aside because nobody was coming over) and everybody had their food before we had our drinks. I have no idea how we were missed we were sitting right in front of everybody's faces but anyways we finally put our order in eventually got our drinks and then we got one of our entrees 15 minutes later(awesome) and when I asked where the other one was at the gentleman went and asked and I watched the guy he asked shrug his shoulders carelessly then the guy came back to me and said that "the way it works here is that everything comes out staggered so when it's ready it will be here" so I said okay and I waited... And waited... And then we waited some more and my food never came and I was super pissed and then after I asked about it again, for the next 20 minutes I had three different people come up to me and asked me how my dinner was and if I ever got my other entree. I clearly hadn't got my second entree and I clearly was as upset as anybody can be and then I asked who I think might have been my server (remarkably I had no idea who my server was because nobody was in fact taking care of us) to ask the head sushi chef where my order was at and she shockingly looked up at us and she laughed. I remind you that I was sitting maybe 2 ft from her when she laughed at us and I told my fiance to forget dinner I want to leave and she begged me to stay because she really wanted her entree so I said fine and I decided to wait... And the food never came. By this point I told the guy that if it's ever going to come it needs to go in a box and I want my check and to my disbelief I was charged in full for everything. In my 15 years of serving tables never once have I treated anybody like this if there was ever a problem, problems much smaller than this, I have always grabbed a manager or the owner and let them know what was going on so they can take care of it and make sure that there was in fact some sort of guest satisfaction. That being said I went to pay my bill and I was going to tip 20%because I believe in karma and things do happen but then my fiance's smacked my hand and said are you crazy? And then I realized you know what she's right this time so I said screw it and for the first time in my life I stiffed my server because I just could not believe how terrible of a time we just had. I would suggest to you that for being the newest restaurant in town that you take more pride in training your staff and make sure they know how to properly handle situations like this because I should not have to beg for a discount or ask to see a manager when this many things go wrong. Yes I'll be back because the food is great but if this ever happens again you've just lost some loyal customers and our favorite food just so happens to be Sushi and we were so excited to have you in...

Momiji's is nearly the best sushi in the area ( Cherry's Nagiri, in Keizer, is best ). I ordered the Caterpillar (unagi sushi with avocado strips on top). Also, tamago and tempura Salem roll with real crab. The tempura was great, though i did wasted some money getting real crab, tempura overpowers it. The miso was strong, a plus for those of us who like it like that. Their mochi ice cream is really good. Their staff is nice and patient ( my family is great at overcomplicating things ).

Only complaint is the acacado was browning and didnt taste too fresh and you lose the caterpiller look when not served in a row. I'd complain about the amount of crab in the salem roll, but i know that's just Cherry's rolls trying to make me forget that 2 inch wide rolls with thin rice walls and tons of fill arent normal. Lol

Seriously, this place is great! Except for Cherry's, you'd have a hard time finding better.

Edit: Just had to comment on takeout sushi, whoever you get it from, you want to wait. Sushi is not as good when it has sat around even for a few minutes before you get there. Good things come to those...

I would give far more than 5 stars to these guys if I could. Sushi is BOMB. Service is amazing, and they do their best to be as fast as possible, even when slammed (as they have been at times during the COVID era). They make a mistake? They're right on it, and WILL make it right for you, unlike some other restaurants that try and fight you tooth and nail for it. Best of all, prices are fairly reasonable (though it can get spendy fast, especially depending on the items - luckily, they have all sorts of specials if you want to save a bit of cash!)

They have a few more items as well, like chicken. Their chicken's fine, I personally think you can get better at an actual Chinese place, but it hasn't poisoned me yet (maybe I'm just picky). Portions on those are great, even for the kid's meal (which if you're eating sushi too, is personally the way to go, saves quite a bit of money and it still comes with the soup, which, by the way, the miso here is tiiiight). They have a few great appetizers as well! All in all, there's something for everyone, and McMinnville Momijis, by all...