Samurai Sushi — Restaurant in Mission Viejo

Last night my wife, son, myself and our family friend sat down for dinner. We placed our order and although it came out in a reasonable amount of time and tasted good the service was terrible. Our server Amy was extremely rude, made us feel very rushed through the whole meal, didn't ask to refill our drinks. After multiple attempts we did finally get her attention but she seemed to get mad that we would dare to ask for extra wasabi / napkins, another glass of wine, etc. She even walked away in mid sentence while we were trying to order a california roll to go for our other friend who couldn't make it. We looked at eachother shocked and said did she get all that. When we tried getting her attention again to confirm the order / extras she shouted across the restaurant in a harsh tone "yes yes I got it". On our multiple visits in the past they would bring us our to go order when we had completed our meal and paid our check but that didn't happen this time. Instead when the roll was done being prepared Amy slammed the box down on our table with the check. Hello we didn't even ask for the check yet as we were all still eating / drinking. We waited off on paying the bill as we still wanted to order dessert. Amy kept looking over at us and walking the other way. Finanlly we gave up and just left cash, got no dessert and left a $2 tip which would have been our change we were owed. It just goes to show you can have a great location, good sushi chefs, amazing owner but if your servers are providing a bad experience then the customers won't feel valued at all. We were originally drawn to this place because of the owner Gina as she is very nice and goes out of her way to make you feel welcome. However Gina better reconsider who she hires to represent her restaurant. We understand that tips are probably shared which is a shame as Amy has lost them more then just a tip but our business as well. We were all made to feel very unwelcomed at Samurai Sushi but might try it again down the road after their servers have been better trained on how to handle the...

I had just picked up my son from his morning basketball camp...he said he wanted sushi for lunch. Since the kid worked hard, why not.

Right off the bat, the greetings were great, very welcoming, and we were sat at the bar in front of a guy with a shaved head. He was decently friendly and asked if we wanted an appetizer of edamame or miso soup. We chose the edamame...which was tasty and lightly salted.

We then ordered hamachi belly sushi...2 orders. He was quick with the order and sliced generous portions but he slapped them together and gave us quite a sloppy plate. The rice fell apart with even a gentle nudge and although the fish was good quality it was a mess to eat.

During this whole time, the shaved head guy is trimming and slicing up about a dozen salmon...whole filets. Fat, skin, discarded membranes...the whole lot. Not a big deal...but he’s just hacking and throwing bits and chunks left and right. Not a great visual as you’re dining.

My son, then requested some toro...which appeared to annoy the shaved head guy as it took him away from his salmon slicing. After a big delay, we received from the back kitchen some partially frozen toro of mediocre quality. Again the rice simply fell apart.

We were feeling a very icy vibe from the guy as he wasn’t engaging us at all and didn’t ask us if we wanted anything further. My son and I thought since we’re a few dishes in...let’s try to get one more thing and bail. He ordered an maguro cut roll with avocado. The guy barely acknowledged the order and proceeded to throw together a roll...and this is what gets me...he didn’t so much cut it but mash his knife down on it and handed us a mess.

We asked for the bill, paid and quietly went on our...

This place has problems. I go here sometimes and get the rainbow roll, i.e., a California roll with large sashimi slices on top. But they put too much rice in their rolls.

So, I asked for a cucumber wrap instead of rice. They said it costs $5 more, I said OK. Then they came back and said it costs $7 more, i said OK. Then they brought the roll after a while, but they put the sashimi inside the cucumber, putting in only a teaspoon of fish in each cucumber piece. When I asked why they don't put the normal amount of sashimi, they basically said it is what it is.

Then during checkout they did not offer the full 50% happy hour discount on the second roll, they said the modification is only $2 off, using some weasel logic to squeeze a few more bucks out of the customer. Whatever...

On a side note, at one point, they suddenly told a bunch of us at the bar to move over quickly to make room for another party, without offering any assistance, which was awkward.

And at another point, one of the sushi chefs dropped his roll pressing tool (small straw mat for pressing rolls into shape) over the edge onto the bar and into the lap of a customer who handed it back, and even though it had touched random surfaces, clothing and customer hands, the chef didn't bother cleaning it afterwards before he used it on the next rolls with raw fish.

So to review, they use any excuse to charge more money, cut the amount of fish, weasel out of their discounts, ignore basic customer service principles, and apply very questionable hygiene around raw...