Nagomi Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Novi

If I could give it -5 stars, I would do it in a heartbeat. All +5-star reviews are a joke and should NOT be trusted, they are NOT being honest. See my review below for more info.

Came to this place today (10/05/2016) @ around 8:20PM with my wife. It was customer-empty except 1 group of Chinese folk who happen to be friends with the employees/owner, so I wouldn't count them as honest customers. I used to go to this place for lunch on quite a few occasions when I was working for a company nearby, and I haven't had any problems. Ever since moving to my new job, I haven't gotten the chance to eat here in a long time....so I decided to take my wife and I here for dinner. We both ordered the katsu curry ramen. I shouldn't have tipped since it's a self serving place and you pay upfront upon making an order, but I did anyway. We got our food and there were 3 things that completely ruined our visit.

There was a huge paper brew tea bag with basil and/or other leaf spice inside the bag. There was an orange/red rubber band that was wrapped around it (for whatever reason). Now, this huge bag was inside my wife's bowl of katsu curry ramen. We complained about it and the cook (who barely spoke english, only Chinese) said it was ok and that its part of the curry seasoning. Well, DUHHHH i know that much and did he really imply that it was intentional?! what the heck is it doing in my wife's bowl?! It looked dirty and no restaurant that I know of does this!!! But it doesn't end there...

Piece of the cook's hair was in my wife's bowl of broth. It couldn't have been my wife's because she has long hair and the cook had short hair. So, it was easy to pin point the culprit (especially when there was only 1 cook in the kitchen at the time). So, I pointed at his lingering hair with my finger in the bowl after he gave a sorry for an excuse for my point #1 above and I asked "what's this hair doing here?!" and THAT, he couldn't come up with excuse and he had a silent reaction, nothing to say. My wife, benevolent as she was, said "I know you're closing soon so I'll just eat it instead of having you make another batch..." and I immediately responded with anger "no you're not eating this, you (cook) remake this" which shortly after turned to "cancel the order and give me my refund" which they respected, but they kept my 18% tip (my fault for being generous?)

I'm the kind of person who doesn't even care about how food tastes, but THIS curry ramen was very under quality and under quantity for being priced at about 13 bucks a piece. No flavor, only something you'd eat if you were literally LITERALLY dying of starvation.

Conclusion: We will never come to this place EVER again and am advising others to stay the F away from this place as well to avoid getting ripped off.

Bonus Info: Just to give all you a small history lesson on this place...several years ago, Nagomi used to be Japanese owned. Now it's Chinese owned via $$$ acquisition. So, if you think you're getting good Japanese food, you're in for a treat... "made in China" is...

I feel like there’s always a trade off somewhere. If you find a place that’s got great atmosphere and amazing service, the food is going to cost an astronomical amount.

This is definitely a special hole in the wall kind of dining experience.

At Nagomi, you get great food, at a solid price, but it costs you in the way of health & safety.

We try to go at least once a month, but every time I find myself hesitant to return. Darn it if the food is too fantastic to outweigh the bad.

The heat ducts have large hunks of paint peeling away. Tables are always sticky. There’s benches and chairs with ripped or completely missing cushions. One section of the dining area has been blocked off because of a ceiling leak (my last trip, I spotted they’d added a large oven pan to try and contain the leak). Dust covers most of the wall art and there seems to be a dark mold or stain growing on certain parts.

There’s not much for noise, though, so that’s fantastic for those with sound related sensory issues. Orders are done self serv, where you fill out sheets of paper to hand to the person at the register. Then you’re given a number rather than them taking your name, which is great for those who aren’t in a talking mood. Sometimes it’s hard to hear the numbers being called, but if I go by myself, I just tell the lady I’m hard of hearing and they’ll wave...

I eat here all the time, but it is kind of a strange place. The food is great with huge portions and a reasonable price. You order by taking a sheet of paper from their menu board with the name of the dish you want, and then bring it to the cashier. They give you a number and then you have to pick up your food when they call it out. It's confusing the first time you try it, but it probably makes communication better for the staff who might be a little hard to understand behind the accent.

The interior seems like it used to be two different businesses that they never really finished putting together. One area is a typical dining area with booths and tables, the other is open with just tables like a cafeteria. There are TVs playing Japanese television shows that are pretty fun to watch if you don't speak Japanese.

As for the food itself: it's great! I have enjoyed every meal I've had here, and I will surely continue to eat here for the near future. The menu consists almost entirely of soup (the board with the sheets of paper does anyways; they have sushi on a different menu, but I never tried it), but there are other Japanese dishes available too. There's almost nothing for a vegetarian to eat here, and absolutely nothing if you happen to be Jane vegetarian.

My usual order is...