Sake House Japanese Sushi & Hibachi Restaurant — Restaurant in North Charleston

It had been a while since we had last been here. There was no wait, there were 7 seated at our table. After the waitress brought the soup, salad and drinks we never saw her again until she brought the checks even though the whole table asked for her and had requested refills on our drinks which we never got. The cook came out and immediately started cooking never spoke to anyone other than to verify the order The food was horrible! The scallops were literally blackened and burned, the salmon was burned and unedible the steak was bloody raw and barely medium rare when we'd asked for medium well The shrimp were rubber because they were so overcooked as was the lobster tail The only thing that was edible was the chicken and it was still overcooked and rubbery. We asked to speak to the manager we all waited more than 15 minutes the manager never came so we finally paid the bill and went up front to request the manager who again never came after another 15 to 20 minutes. We had a gratuity of 18% plus a food tax of 5% added to our bill automatically, whoever heard of a food tax. We're told we could not refuse to pay it which added another $27 to our bill which was over $89 for 2 people. 2 entrees, lobster shrimp and steak and steak and chicken, 2 drinks as in water and diet Coke and a large sake was ordered.The whole table was absolutely disgusted with the lack of service and the terrible food.. All the food was left on table and wasted because it was so inedible. The whole table went up front and requested the hostess have the manager come speak with us again we waited for 15 or 20 minutes and he never came. All seven people which was 3 different parties left stating that none of us will ever go back again due to the poor quality food and service we received. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this place! UPDATE BOTH MY HUSBAND AND MYSELF HAD TO GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM DUE TO FOOD POISONING FROM DINNER LAST NIGHT. STRANGELY ENOUGH MY HUSBAND HAD HIS YEARLY CHECK UP YESTERDAY MORNING AND WAS IN PERFECT HEALTH UNTIL WE WENT TO DINNER CALLED THE RESTAURANT TO SPEAK TO THE MANAGER WAS TOLD SHE WOULDN'T BE IN UNTIL AFTER 5:00 SPOKE WIT A MAN WHO IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AS BUDDY THE ASSISTANT MANAGER ONLY TO FIND THAT HE IS A SERVER AT THE RESTAURANT NOT A MANAGER. COLLEEN THE MANAGER WAS VERY RUDE AND SAID SHE WAS TOO BUSY TO DEAL WITH THIS AT THIS TIME I TOLD HER SHE NEEDED TO SPEAK WITH ME OR I WOULD BE CONTACTING DHEC AND AN ATTORNEY FIRST THING MONDAY MORNING AND WOULD PROCEED AS NEEDED WITH THE DOCUMENTATION FROM THE ER AS WELL AS THE MEDICATIONS THAT WE WERE PROVIDED. THE CALLS AT THE RESTAURANT WERE ALSO RECORDED AND THEY WERE ADVISED OF THIS PRIOR TO SPEAKING WITH ME. COLLEEN STATED TO BUSY AND HUNG UP I CALLED BACK AND SHE STATED THERE WAS A LANGUAGE BARRIER ASKED TO SPEAK TO THE OWNER AND HAVE THEM CONTACT ME ANS SHE STATED THEN THAT HER ENGLISH WAS GOOD THERE WAS NO LANGUAGE ISSUE I REMINDED HER THE CALLS WERE BEING RECORDED AND SHE THEN STATED THAT SHE WAS THE MANAGER BUT SHE COULD DO NOTHING SHE WOULD HAVE TO CALL ME BACK TOMORROW, I EXPLAINED THIS WAS UNACCEPTABLE SHE BECAME EVEN RUDER. THIS IS POOR MANAGEMENT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE AT ITS VERY WORST. THERE ARE NUMEROUS REVIEWS ON THE WEBSITE STATING THE SAME THING OF THE POOR SERVICE THE POOR FOOD QUALITY AND ALSO OF DOCUMENTED CASES OF FOOD POISONING FROM OTHERS. I ONLY WISH THAT I HAD READ THE REVIEWS...

So as i sat down with my son and my buddy, we were only given one menu. I asked the server for another menu and she told us to share. lol. Then we proceed to order saki and drinks. Once the chef began cooking our food, i began some friendly small talk and asked him where he was from and if he liked working here in my hometown. Instead of answering my question he waved to the server to come over and speak to me. (I guess he didn't know too much English....he seemed to speak pretty fluently other then that though) We end up eating the meal, which was decent- no complaints about the food, and then we sat and were finishing our large carafe of saki when the server came over to our table and starting pouring us shots, one after another, from our saki carafe. It seemed as if she were rushing us to finish up and leave but she had not even brought us our check yet. There was literally 10 people in the building with nobody in the front waiting to be seated so im not sure what the big rush was. We had been there maybe 35 minutes. We were not too pleased with her service so we ended up tipping her $20.00 on a $105.00 tab. Not too shabby considering her poor service she had given us. We get up and walk outside to leave and the server then runs outside asking us why we did not tip her more then 19%!!! It was surreal so i asked her what and why she was asking us that. She basically yelled at us telling us that we should tip more then that and that she has to tip out her cook and blah blah blah. I literally looked at her and started laughing. First of all, we are in North Charleston (where my fiancée works as a server) and people barely even tip 5% a lot of the time!!! second of all, i have been in food and bev for over 15 years (along with my friend who manages a restaurant) and if my sevice is poor- the tip reflects that. That lady must be new to the game or something because i have never seen such a thing. When i asked her name, she lied at first then i told her to spell it and she spelled it wigo. Not sure if it was really her name or not but We will not...

We made advance reservations for 7:30p. We arrived early and the place was packed full shoulder to shoulder, including the lobby (COVID city). After waiting over 15 minutes, a man finally weeded his way to the front of the restaurant. He randomly started inquiring to customers who needs to be sat, who was here for hibachi, and never once asked who was here first. It's a madhouse. After telling him that we had reservations for 7:30, he asked for how many? There was clearly no management, and no reservation list. My wife inquired with a waitress asking who was working reception and who the manager was. She claimed she had absolutely no idea and stated she only waited tables. This is the same woman who ended up being our waitress.

Another 20 minutes passed by and the man kept confirming that we had 2 people. Not that we had reservations, and not that we were about to be sat. Just running aimlessly through the restaurant with no idea what he was doing.

We finally got sat just after 8p and didn't hesitate to place our order to ensure the wait wasn't prolonged even further. 8:35 the sushi is finally served. 8:55, we finally get the ball rolling, and the hibachi cart comes rolling out. Surprisingly, the sushi is great, but the hibachi and table service was terrible. Now it's time for the check two hours later. The waitress forced an 18% tip on the check when she brought it. Upon inquiry, she stated it was standard. I told her I wasn't going to pay a rewarding tip for sub-par service. My wife asked her to speak to the manager. She told us SHE WAS the manager!?! Now remember who told my wife she didn't know who the manager was?!? I have never once in my life left a $0.00 tip. Never. Until today. I found the cook who served us, and gave him a substantial cash tip for doing an excellent job. Despite the sushi and the hibachi chef.....I'll never return to this mismanaged...