Joe's Steam Rice Roll — Restaurant in New York

Was super excited about finally trying this famous spot and walked away completely disappointed. To start off, the restaurant opened late simply because worker show up to work late. After the restaurant opened, I placed an order and inquire after about an hour wait why my order is not done yet despite orders that were placed after me complete already. Staffs seemed confused and although they apologize about my order being late, they state that it was my fault for ordering item that takes different machine to make which is not logical reason since any food establishment will sequence making order though in this case, they chose to skip my order completely (My order was #2 and #6 was done already). After further debate, staff said it was also because I chose a vegetable that they dont have in-stock. This is scallion, a common garnish in most orders, and again is not a legit reason as they could’ve simply inform me vs waiting for me to complain after an hour wait. I also was awed that they blame me for ordering specific item eventhough it is on their menu.

At the end, they said they will make my order “now” or can give a refund which I chose to take. Any other restaurant would’ve made more effort to compensate and demonstrate sincerity though it appears to me that it was not the case. To close off, their ticket machine was broken so they said they cannot give me prove of refund for my order and if I have an issue, can call the restaurant back at later date.

Overall, unprofessional staff and operation that dont know how to handle order or customer relation. Compare to the experience I encounter, no matter how good the food is, it is not worth it as I walked out after 1+ hour empty handed, starving, and TBD on...

Food was very solid and was prepared in a timely manner. 1) I was not impressed with the overall cleanliness of the tables. Staff should have wiped down tables throughout the shift and apparently had many opportunities to this as they were laughing and giggling behind the counter my entire meal. Someone's soy sauce was literally dried onto the table when I arrived and this was the cleanest table. 2) The servers were also not professional as they drag their feet when they walk like a chid walking to school on a Monday morning - seriously I've heard people walking on crunchy snow quieter than that. 3) Ambiance could also be better, if there was light music and a decent playlist set on repeat. You could also see the menu on the wall from the previous business that was poorly wiped off. Small attention to cleanliness, professionalism, and details really make a difference. When I see lack of attention to detail and cutting corners in a business, how do confident are you about their product? Otherwise I would give this...

During the pandemic, we used to walk from the UWS all the way to the Canal St location, so we were really excited when this location opened. Today, we went back for the first time in a while, and were disappointed. The food is still really good, and we tried the chili oil wontons, which hit the spot; BUT the state of the shop was not great. To start, the screen on the ordering kiosk was FILTHY. Sticky, streaky, gross. Mind you, there's no sink where you can now wash your hands after having to use the nasty order screen. The available tables were not in the worst state, but none of them completely clean. To be fair, they also weren't so dirty that we couldn't wipe them off ourselves, which we did. Lastly, we asked for some tap water to have with our meal, and were told that we couldn't have any - is that even allowed? I was under the impression that food establishments needed to have water available. Overall, although the food was good, the whole experience was disappointing and left us a bit...