Sushi Factory and Boba Tea — Restaurant in Melbourne

Waited 5 days before writing this....still can't believe it happened this way:

We walked in around 7 PM on a Tuesday night. There were about 3 tables with 2-3 diners each and about 6 Staff walking around & in kitchen.

The chef came out and seated us because it seemed like the others did not know what to do. He pre-qualified us before seating by saying that dinner would be $32 each including the included 18% tip and tax. When we said that was OK, he allowed us to sit down. He Asked for our drink order immediately.

When we wanted to look at the menu he started explaining their order by a number system. We figured it all out about 10 minutes later and handed our order over to a young woman who walked up to the computer system and seemed like she was inputting our orders. We ordered 3 appetizers & 3 sushi rolls as the dinner deal.

20 minutes later they brought us a salad of plain lettuce with ranch dressing along with questionable miso soup and 2 pieces of gyozo. We had to ask for the wine again we ordered with our meal order, as well as 2nd appetizer. Both were brought out 10 minutes later.

30 minutes after that we had not received the other half of the appetizer nor any sushi although the chefs were delivering plates to other tables who had come in after us. One girl was sitting in a booth across from us basically translating for others and sort of managing the floor. When we asked her for help with our order she said she was on break then told the chef. WHY WAS SHE TAKING A BREAK IN THE DINING ROOM?

Our chef/waiter came back and back to ask what was our order. he did not seem to understand that we wanted our little order slips back so we could remember and verify. We told him what we wanted again verbally. he didn't even write it down on paper and proceeded to make our sushi. We finally received everything around an hour after we ordered. The pictures attached show 2 sushi orders on full plate & 1/2 of 4 orders on the other plate. We were not impressed.

Just to be clear, 2 male chefs were in the kitchen with at least 3 young women on the floor and a total of 6 tables of guests, 3 of which came in after us and left before we finished.

We were so confused with ordering and their miscommunications that we don't even know if the food was right. OUR DINNER EXPERIENCE TOOK 2 HOURS. Upon leaving, my friend and I agreed that we would never be back because the whole experience was crass with incompetent staff. It was also no bargain at $32 (forced tip included) + $10 a glass of plum wine.

We go to a new restaurant almost every week. We only review the ones that stand out. This one...

update: went down to a one star, had lunch here the other day and while we had 5 adults at our table it was not packed for lunch time and the service was so bad, there was one server who was on top of everything but she was also running around making up for the others. we got all our food but half of our things must have been entered mutable times because they kept bring out things we know for a fact we only ordered one of, when we would say we didnt order two of this they would show us the print out but not our hand made ticket? seriously if your going to charge 18% for a tip you better actually hire good servers.

SO we have been here multiple times, and every time has been good for the most part but our lunch yesterday was just awful. we sat in the middle section of booths and this was a busy day, but out of every time we had gone in there was ever just one slow day. we ordered our drinks and put in our tickets and waited for our food... and waited..... and waited. everything is hand rolled so we know there is a wait time involved but it took for ever to get our first plates. my husband got his first three rolls, two he had ordered, one he did not, I got two of my rolls, but nothing else came out of the kitchen after that. 20 min pass and i finally got my other two rolls, but my husband was still waiting for the rest of his ticket to come out before putting in another one. we did ask what was going on and then we where told that they just got a shipment of food because they where out of a lot of things and they where making them now. we should have been told that things where not available so we could have pick other things, not wait almost an hour at this point without getting one refill on our drinks. so that sucked but then there was the quality of the food this trip, ugh. they used warm rice and it heated up the fish to a uncomfortable temp. this was just a bad trip and my husband spoke to the management and they offered to have us in there for free to make it up to us but i don't want to...

So this was our first visit to sushi factory. We were looking for sushi and every sushi restaurant was closed due to covid, or take-out only. It was Friday night and we were looking for sit down. We found sushi factory was dine in! Awesome! Unfortunately the awesome ends there. I am a foodie, caterer, and home chef so I know food and service. Premise is weird but we decided to give it a chance. When we arrived there, it seemed pretty quiet. We followed their ordering instruction and all three of us put in our order at the same time. About 20 min later, I receive mine. Only mine. The other two guests at my table received theirs about 20 mins after that, all staggered. So, if you order 6 items, you get 1 of them, then after the 2 quick bites, you get another about 10 mins later and so on, and so on.. Seemed very awkward as one person's eating and the others are watching you eat. Doesn't seem very organized if you ask me. If you are looking for a sit down where everything is timed out to eat together, then this is not the place for you. Menu was very confusing as well. It could definitely benefit from some photos to at least help visualize what you are ordering. You eat with your eyes first. Not the case here. Numbers and description are all you get. Sushi was OK, but raw menu was very lackluster. Literally just a cube of tuna, salmon, or whatever raw seafood you decide upon. Not very appetizing. No delicately sliced seafood here, just a hunk of fish. No decor, no finesse, just a cube. I had high hopes but was let down. Service was OK, our waiter did try to accommodate, but he was obviously overwhelmed. We asked for a 2nd beer and never got one, we marked off ginger and Wasabi on all of our sheets, but had to ask for it. Apparently gratuity is already added to the bill at the tune of 18 percent, which I don't mind because I usually leave 20 percent. I just felt bad for the waiter so I left him an additional 10 percent. 115 bucks for 3 people to eat seemed a bit much for what we got, but...