Teharu Sushi Mesa — Restaurant in Mesa

I need to start by saying I do love this place, I went all the time, and I guess maybe I went on days that were better than others because my last visit was awful.

I normally go alone and sit at the "bar" section since I just eat rolls and don't order anything or need a big table. So I went last week or so on a week day instead of the weekend. Normally I go and I ask can I sit at the bar and they go "oh sure" cause I'm a regular and am generally fast/easy eating there.

I go this one week day and I walk in and there's a brand new sign on a list right at the door saying along the lines of "we can add a gratuity on the check for however we feel". Okay I guess. I waited a few as the guy walking around (hadn't seen him before so maybe he's a week day employee) had seen me but didn't want to come over?? Like he stood over on the other side not doing anything, but maybe he was and I don't know. He finally comes over and I point and ask to sit at the empty end seat at the bar. He takes a deep sigh and says "I guess".

Just so you know now, the store has a speaker system where they play music. It's not too loud or soft or bad music. However on this day, there was a portable speaker on the cash out desk BLASTING bad new rap music. I'm young, I blast music in the car so loud music isn't crazy. But when I tell you this was so loud it hurt my ears (because we are in an enclosed space) and loud to rhe point you could hear the speaker doing that little fuzz noise.

So I sit, and he turns the music up higher??? He walked up to it and also put on some of the just... weirdest emo rap ive heard in a bit. I got about 5 min sitting before another employee walked though the side door in and walked up to the podium. So I got up, and foe the first time in my dumb little life, asked if they could turn down the speaker because its hurting me. She says yes and the guy is now up there too. She turned to turn it down and he did the biggest sigh and rolled his eyes. She got to turn it down a bit and you could see other people in the restaurant were also relieved.

I was then not spoken to or gone near for the remainder of my time, and had to hunt down someone to let me pay and leave. The guy would walk around and make under breathe comments about me complaining and how I was ruining the vibe. He'd also make sure to stare me down with dirty looks if I looked up from my spot. And wouldn't you know it, a gratuity had been added to my check. I always tip, and I don't tip poorly. But this one time out of the many ive been, I didn't tip. I paid and let and quite frankly don't wanna go back unless that dude is gone.

The sushi was okay that day. I didn't last more than 25min in there or more than 7...

We are regulars here and the reason we tried this place is because I had tried several in Japan and wanted my family to have a similar experience. This place is very similar to those in Japan with one single exception... the Japanese versions have call buttons on each table to summon the wait staff. Call buttons would greatly help the bad reviews this place is getting because the wait staff does not come around much. Other than that minor, fixable problem, I love this place but you have to come when it is busy and not right before closing to get a constant supply of fresh sushi and other items. Still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to eat a massive slice of cheesecake with chop sticks. :-)

We went there again last night and before leaving one of the waitresses who recognized us as regulars asked us about the music. Apparently she has had several complaints in the last three days about their mix and doesn't know what to do about it. The music is a nice mix of many genres. Unfortunately there are a bunch of liberal snobs out there who can't bear to listen to any other type of music other than what they like (so much for being inclusive). Anyway they need to stop whining about the music. I would prefer they not go at all so there is more sushi for me. This place has been getting busier and I'm worried that I will have to wait too long to get a table in the near future.

My favorites are the wide selection of nigiri, the Hawaiian and Naru rolls and the poppers and pot stickers (Gyoza). There is a good selection of Japanese beers and even Japanese sodas with the unusual opening method of pushing a glass bead down into the soda with a push rod from the lid.

BTW if you go there don't put your dirty plates back on the conveyor belt!!!! That is totally disgusting. Stack them up by color on your table so the wait staff can quickly determine your bill when you check out. You see the selections are color coded according to price. The yellow plates are $1.00, the green plates are $1.50 and the reddish plates are $2.00. There are some others like the plates with cheesecake but I don't remember the...

OMG!!!!! I'm so disgusted at how downhill this place went!!! I moved across the street two years ago and I have been enjoying coming here once in a while and the convenience of just immediately getting a spot to sit (it's usually just me), and I am so incredibly disappointed! First, the very last time I went in I went about a half hour before they closed and they literally had NOTHING! I was able to find one spicy tuna plate and I had one other thing and I wanted more but they didn't have the selection they usually do so I just paid and left, still totally hungry. Then, I just went there tonight and it was about 8:20 and I walked in completely in disgust! Not only did they already close off a large amount of tables, myself and another couple were completely ignored when we walked in and we were sitting waiting and I noticed that one whole row of seats, the ones closest to the door all had piled up dirty plates. EVERY SINGLE SEAT which was about 4-5 chairs. I immediately asked the young girl who was working there what in the world was going on and how long we had to wait and she looked at me like I had 10 heads! I'm amazed that places like this stay in business! It's called take literally TWO MINUTES and clean off the trashy disgustingness from the last people who were there so you can keep seating paying customers! The floor was trashed with garbage and there was not one single concern for myself and the couple waiting! I was so disgusted I walked out! I immediately came to Sakana which is around the corner and so much better quality! Do yourself a favor and come here. You can still taste about 3-4 different 5-piece rolls on their happy hour menu every night for under $15! The portions are bigger, the sushi is much better quality and made much better. I will NEVER step foot in this horrible excuse for a restaurant ever again and I'm calling the manager tomorrow to let them know. No guest should ever step foot into a restaurant with that level of poor service and looking at plates piled up on...