Takara 88 — Restaurant in Middleton

I will start by saying the sushi has always been 4-stars, but service is why this is 1-star review. Take into account COVID-19 and New Year's Eve, but regardless of being NYE, it should NOT take over 3 1/2 hours to get sushi.

I ordered online around 5:45 PM. Takara 88 uses a third-party site called Beyond Menu. Takara has a note on their site stating to contact the restaurant to confirm wait time and that they'll call you when your order is ready. There is a drop-down to select pick-up time...so I guess completely ignore this and call?! Okay...(FYI - I selected 6:30 PM)

I completed my order, over $65 worth of rolls around 5:50 PM. At 6 PM, I called the restaurant to confirm that they had my order, and confirm pick-up time. First, the line was busy. I called back 5 minutes later and was on the phone for the next 10 minutes. They asked for first name, put the phone down, came back and asked for my name again. She couldn't find the order. I stated I could provide my last name and Order #, but apparently they are setup to go by first name (this is what she had told me). She then tells me that she can't find it and wants to hang up. I let her know I paid $65 via their online site, how can you not find my order?! The phone gets put down again for another 5 minutes, and she returns, apparently found my order, and said that since I ordered at 5:55 PM that they are running over an hour and a half behind. 7:30 PM is your pickup time...

I drive over at around 7:20 PM and see about 20 people standing outside of T88. Great. I parked in the lot to see about another 6 people waiting in their cars due to it being about 20 degrees outside. I call, busy. I call again, busy. Third time, get through, and we go through the same thing...first name, puts phone down...5 minutes goes by...this time however someone must've seen the phone on the counter or something and hung it up. Call back, busy. Call back again, talk to the lady from earlier, and SAME. EXACT. THING. Can't find order, put phone down, wait 5 minutes, tells me can't find it, wait 5 minutes, finds it and repeats order back, tells me it will be 25-30 minutes. I asked if they would call me like their website says, or if I have to call back...she said that I had to call back...and I assume this means because my order won't be ready?

I waited 30 minutes, called back. I was told that it would be 25-30 minutes. I was not happy, so I called back to cancel. So when this happened, they put the phone down and I was then hung up on again. I left. I was there for over an hour and a half waiting in my car, and during this time, I saw about 6-7 people walking out with food, and many others walking up...waiting...and walking back to their cars empty handed.

I get a phone call at 9:20 PM stating that my food was ready, hooray, only 3 1/2 hours after I ordered it and was told different times, and apparently they didn't cancel my order.

I am not sure what was happening, if it was just so disorganized being COVID-19 and NYE or what, but this was completely unacceptable. It seemed like the entire experience no one knew what was going on, how to handle the amount of orders/pick-ups, and for a place where I love the sushi it was disappointing to have...

I have been here a bunch of times. Today, I decided to treat myself. I read the Special menu near the front entrance thoroughly and settled on an interesting item. When I sat down I ordered warm water and went to the wash room.

When I returned, another server walked by and asked whether I had ordered something to drink yet. I said, yes, warm water and thanked him. My order of ice water came out a few minutes later. Took awhile. Also, iced?

No matter. I ordered a special item, thinking I didn't have to worry to much. After all it was one of The Luxury Plates.

It came out. It was just a sushi roll. No miso soup. No salad. No even edamame, which is complimentary elsewhere. Just a roll that didn't fill me up. For $16.

Afterwards, I had to order a second item to feel satisfied. That was when I noticed they had a combination meals for $11 that had three rolls, with soup or salad. Or just below on the menu, there was a lunch special that offered a sushi roll with soup or salad for $11. Mine cost $16 and it didn't have as much food as the first combo ...

I ordered a basic roll. The server who was taking my order pointed out that unless I'm ordering it as part of a combination, she must charge me full price. Didn't the fact that I ordered a roll earlier make it a combination? Never mind. Full price for a very basic roll was $7. I've seen these sold in Asian supermarkets for around $3-4.

After I finished, I asked for the bill. She showed it to me, hesitant and constantly asking whether I was comfortable with it. $24! for less than a combination I could have gotten for $11 on their own menu. Their Special was not very special. It should have been on the Awful Deals menu or Rip-Off.

She sensed it was wrong, and it was very wrong.

I paid anyway.

The restaurant put something on the menu that really was a rip-off. Lesson: only put things on the menu that you want.

But it was obvious it was wrong. The server knew it was wrong and let it happen. The restaurant knew it was wrong and made it happen.

The behavior was like the restaurant knew it was doing something wrong and kept looking at me funny to see if I will call them out on it.

I'm doing that right here!

Don't visit these guys just on such disrespect. On principle. They have to learn a...

Worst dining experience in recent memory. Poor/non-existent service and bland, overpriced sushi to match. Save your time and money and pick up sushi from any grocery store for a better experience.

My wife and I arrived to the restaurant a bit before 7pm and there were only 3 other tables sat. 15 minutes before a server came over. We ordered drinks, an app and 4 rolls - 2 specialty and 2 regular rolls.

Wife’s wine comes out several minutes later, but missing the beer I ordered. No big deal.

App comes out 20 minutes after we order. Fried spring roll was solid. Still no beer. Reminded the server about it, they’re out of it. Would have been nice to know sooner after I ordered. Decided to stick with water the rest of the night at this point.

We continued to wait. And wait. And wait. We made a decision we were just going to leave if the sushi didn’t arrive by 8:15. Server comes back for the first time since the app with the sushi with 5 minutes to spare.

I wish we set an earlier time limit for ourselves. What we got was the 2nd worst sushi either of us have ever had (first was in Sandusky Ohio if you’re curious). Incredibly bland and somehow all 4 different rolls managed to taste about the same. Roll sizes were also small (5-6 pieces each) imo for the price, but that turned out to be a silver lining so I wouldn’t have been compelled to eat as much of their sushi.

Overall this place left a bad taste in our mouths both figuratively and literally and won’t...