A Tan Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in New Braunfels

Meh. On the way to somewhere else in NB, we were hungry and my guy likes sushi, I have no experience with Japanese food but am adventurous, and his other go to was BBQ which I don’t prefer, so we randomly looked this place up saw the star rating and went. That said, I wish I could’ve seen how many one star reviews were in the mix, and I can see why this place has them; from the signs posted walking in to the sign demanding one peppermint per person upon leaving, whoever runs this place seems to put food cost and profit over satisfaction of the customer when push comes to shove.

Our server was nice enough tho quite inattentive once our order was in, tho she was more than happy to linger at our table and push for ordering more than one app while me and my guy discussed prices and dishes and etc. (He’s kind of a pushover but also wants to be a leader so of course he took both apps vs one, at her insistence, but that’s a personal annoyance; that said, the price in the menu and what we got charged for one of the apps was a $3 difference. Not a big deal but in the grand scheme of things when our check totaled out at $53/2 people? They could stand to advertise right…)

Our apps were the crab Rangoon and friend calamari. It seems the flavors would be there (no experience with Japanese but I do know flavors as I’ve dated a culinary artist and have had both these particular dishes elsewhere) as they try to make things very upscale, but the calamari was overly cooked so it was chewy, and the Rangoon was either filled with precious little filling or the oil was too hot because while not burnt, the wontons were “blown out” and hollow inside.

We also ordered a total of three rolls; California, shrimp tempura, and I’d asked for a custom roll of jalapeño, avocado, cream cheese and crab. Disappointing, I get more on the rolls at HEB for less or equal money - the rolls came plain on top compared to the eel/spicy mayo and crunchies I’m used to seeing decorate the tops of the rolls, and each of the rolls was skimpy on having all ingredients included in every bite. IE even tho I was charged extra for custom roll adding in jalepeno, the tiny sliver of it didn’t extend fully thru the roll when they made it so some bites had it and others didn’t. Same for the other rolls - my first bite of Cali was all crab and cuke only, and the end of tempura roll I guess they figured the shrimp flavored mayo was enough of a taste of the shrimp over adding another half a piece so we’d get the (delicious) batter in every bite. Very little ginger on the plate which I was sad about because I like a LOT of ginger.

We also ordered fried rice and tho this is America and I assume the profiteer of this place wants to make money off more than the traditionally raised Asian, no forks were on the table or offered at all, so my guy and I wound up sharing the serving spoon to eat the rice, which was a good portion size and tasty but served with the tiniest of plates on top of no proper silverware.

At the end of the meal when she finally brought us our check, she gave us Chinese-takeout fortune cookies.

All in all, I would find another place to try Japanese food tho I don’t know that I’ll ever LOVE it - before I read some of the reviews while waiting on my apps, I was browsing the entree menu and while it was a messy read and I didn’t want noodle or teriyaki anything which was a LOT of the lunch and dinner menu, there were a few things I would have tried over just ordering a roll, but I’m glad I read reviews and did NOT wait to pay $17-25 for a lunch plate.

I would not return here; I would not recommend mostly due to serving portion and price as well as the general “stingy” feel both in previous reviews and food quality...

"We basically paid you to eat here. The next trip will have a 20% gratuity."

I've eaten here three times in the last week. My poor review is based on the last one.

My first visit was wonderful. A young college student was my waitress and she provided excellent service, so left a 15-20 dollar tip.

The second time I visited, I was seated and one of the owners/managers serviced me. It was great, so another 15-20 dollar tip.

The third time I return, I bring a friend. This is the first time I'm not here by myself, and I'm looking forward to showing off a new favorite restaurant of mine. We are waited on by the other owner/manager. This service is the reason for my response.

Fast forward. We recieved lack luster service throughout the meal. Drink glasses were empty until a different waitress came by and refilled them. It took forever to order another bottle of sake. Then another completely different waitress bussed our table in between taking care of her tables. Considering others we weren't blown away with the service I only left a 7-8 dollar tip. ONLY...a 7-8 dollar tip. This was on a 106 dollar tab. What I didnt realize at the time was that my friend didnt leave a tip; considering the service and their response, I cant help but not feel bad.

We pay, walk out, and as we're waiting for a Lyft, a gentleman (perhaps the son of one of the owners) comes out to talk to us. I'm expecting that we forgot something, but this is what the gentleman told us:

"You only left a 4 dollar tip on a hundred dollar tab"

"We basically paid for you to eat here."

"Next time there will be a 20% gratuity built in."

Ok. I left a 7 dollar tip, but let's divide that between two people. If this was brought to my attention in a noncondescending fashion, I would have righted our wrong (if you can consider not leaving a large tip for poor service a wrong.)

Now how the hell can I spend over a hundred dollars for my personal meal and then be told that I was, "basically paid...to eat here for free". The entitlement. I've never wished I could take a tip back before but I wish I could. The cognitive dissonance required to say I ate for free because I spent a hundred dollars on food but didnt spend enough on a tip, is astounding.

Then there's the true entitlement and the reason I'd recommend avoiding this place: the expected additional 20% on top of any order. Now, I can understand a party of over 5+ requiring a bare minimum for a tip, but a party of two? No. This is ridiculous. Put it on the menu if that's what you expect. That way your patrons aren't blindsided after the fact. If your business can't function without patrons paying an additional 20% fixed cost, build it into the menu. Don't harang your patrons outside your restaurant after the fact.

I think this happened because I had left gratuitous tips earlier in the week and the owners were looking to take them in for themselves instead of having a regular waitress get them and it ended in me recieving poor service and one of them, a poor tip.

The sushi was the best that could be expected for being in bfe and the restaurant is a 4 out of 5 overall, but I certainly will wait to go to a major city where I can pay a similar price for a better product, only because of...

I want to rate this place 5 stars, or maybe I should say, I so badly want to have a sushi/Japanese food place nearby that I really like. Since there are no really good sushi places around here that I am aware of I am rating these guys on a curve. I love Texas and Texans seems to give Mexican food and Japanese food a lot of leeway when it comes to reviews. I have spent years in Japan and have eaten at hundreds of Japanese restaurants, mostly in Japan and NYC. Anyways...

The sushi is fine. The sushi rice seems slightly sweet but it's fine. I believe the sushi fish arrived at the restaurant pre-cut, but I'm not 100% sure. I sat at the sushi bar and didn't see anyone cutting the salmon I ordered. The fish pieces on the sushi were rather small and generally unimpressive, but...it fills a void if you have a hankering for sushi. One order of sushi is only one piece.

I ordered the pork katsu. If you are not familiar with Japanese food then just skip this part because it won't matter. The katsu sauce came in a tiny little cup they was very inadequate for the portion of pork cutlet. The pork cutlet was a standard size and very thin. The pork was dry because it was so thin and I couldn't finish it because there was only enough sauce for about half of the pork.

The rice... The rice was good but was also a tiny portion and wasn't even served in a bowl like it should be - it was molded in the tiny little bowl the sauce came in and flipped upside down onto the dinner plate. This is not how rice is served in Japan and makes it more difficult to eat. I asked for more rice right away and I was told most people don't eat all their rice but that she would put an order in for me if I wanted her to. I told her I'm spending $80 by myself and you can't get me a little more rice? Literally about 1/5 cup of rice came with my food. She said if I finished it she would get me more. Right about then I was becoming foul. She did realize she was being silly and brought me a proper portion of rice in a bowl.

Being a klutz I accidentally dropped my cloth napkin on the floor. A worker came by and put it back on the sushi counter next to me.

Honestly, these guys really didn't have to do very much to make this a much better experience. Don't be so stingy on rice and katsu sauce and for Pete's sake bring a clean napkin if a customer drops theirs on the floor.

The sushi was fine, just kind of small protein pieces and I can't attest to it's relatively straight from the fish market freshness.

And if you know what "service" is at the sushi counter, (small samples of free food served by the chef) that apparently doesn't happen here either.

You may love this place, The food is all around good and they have a fun menu. I don't feel I'm rating them meanly - just wanted to...