The Venue Sushi & Spirits Redefined — Restaurant in Palm Desert

I would like to be empathetic towards the staff at The Venue, but I can't. First, it took 20 minutes to order a drink and then another 10 minutes to get a glass of water. I ordered hot tea. I would have liked a refill but was never asked or given the opportunity. We were also seated and shorted 2 serving settings and had to ask several staff for chopsticks and napkins. Then it took another 2 hours for our party of 8 to receive food. The staff should have been transparent about the fact they had 1 chef rolling sushi for the whole restaurant at the beginningof service- not 90 minutes after being seated. The staff were clearly stressed out, but they didn't handle the situation well and eventually they all seemed to disappear to the kitchen. One of the people in my party ordered the cucumber salad. This was one of the last items we received. I'm not sure why a cucumber salad required 2.5 hours of waiting. I eventually went in search of water to fill our empty glasses and then just ended up asking for a pitcher of water for the table to avoid needing staff to provide water refills. 6 people eventually received 1/2 their order, while 2 people sat with nothing to eat. It was awkward not knowing if we should wait or eat. We decided to eat, and 6 were done eating by the time the other two were finally served. The staff should have been honest from the start and explained they were down a chef, and dinner service would require extensive waiting. Granted, we received a discount on our bill, and they also provided a few appetizers while we waited. The flavor and freshness of the sushi was decent. However, for the $$$$$- ($20+ per roll for 2 maybe 8 pieces) YIKES... and consumer beware, they are small rolls. It was underwhelming after waiting and expressing how hungry we were.... ugh. After spending over 3- hours not eating sushi, we all went home still hungry and we all ate another dinner. I'm extremely disappointed. I do...

January 8, 2024

My daughter and I came here as a last night's dinner in Palm Springs. We had just came from a full body scrub and massage and were looking forward to a nice sushi dinner.

We found this place advertised in a local magazine and thought we'd give it a shot.

Love the location and atmosphere.

However, the service was subpar and the sushi seemed like it was taken out from the refrigerator or freezer, like it was still defrosting.

We ordered cocktails, scallops sushi, tuna hand rolls (which was more like a cold shaved piece of tuna), a selection of nigiris and the large sashimi platter. I think it had 16 or 32 pieces. I forget. It was the largest one. My daughter and I literally ate about 6 pieces and gave up on the rest.

As previously mentioned, the sushi didn't seem fresh. It tasted like it was still defrosting. Some pieces were still really firm from it being so cold.

We let our waitress know, who was apparently new and nervous on what to do. She said she would speak to someone but when she came back said she couldn't do anything. I asked to speak to the manager who said the most she could do was give us a discount on the sashimi because it's an expensive order. All the more I would expect it to taste good and fresh but to her logic since it was expensive she couldn't take it off the bill.

While this was all going on, we noticed the couple next to us just paid their bill and left half their food on the table.

We ended up doing the same and decided to go to Kitchen in the Desert in twentynine palms for dinner, steering away from sushi for the rest of the evening, since we were...

Omakase Cocktails 12/10 Service We reserved the Omakase experience for 5:30 on a Friday evening. The restaurant was just opening and we were met at the front by John who was a hilarious and very welcoming host. As the restaurant was fairly empty, he gave us our pick of table and recommended a nice, quiet, romantic spot outside. Once seated, Mila, our server brought us cocktails which were amazing. We started with the Kyoto Sour and the Flor Picante both of which were refreshing. Mila explained that if you make reservations for omakase, the chefs will shop for fresh ingredients that day and create new special dishes for the dinner service. The omakase is constantly changing as well which makes every experience unique. Over the next three and half hours we had a magical experience with delicious small plates and the best service I’ve had at any restaurant. Mila brought us each course and then described everything we were about to try. She was never far away and often would stop to chat with us and answer questions about the dishes. The highlights were the toro, scallop crudo, truffle pasta and escolar sashimi. We ended the night with a raspberry sorbet and a chocolate truffle ice cream. Mila also brought us champagne as we were celebrating my birthday. Overall, the three and a half hour omakase was perfect and the service was the best we’ve had. Big shout out to Mila & John for making the night one to remember! I would 100%...