Fin's Japanese Sushi & Grill — Restaurant in Panama City

Update 7/17/2020. I'll keep this one short.

My family and I ate at Fins last night. They've made great changes. The sushi was excellent. And most importantly, they are one of the few local restaurants that seem to be adhering to a social distancing rule. We truly appreciate all of their efforts. Thank you!

Things have changed considerably at Fins and the changes are not good. My family and I ate here this past Saturday evening and were woefully disappointed. It appeared that the entire staff has changed. The sushi, which has always been pretty good for the area, is now almost inedible. I’m not sure if this was due to the quality of food purchased or their (new?) sushi chef. I suspect the concern is the chef.

While sitting at the sushi bar, I had an opportunity to watch him prepare the sushi and send it up. I’m not sure that he likes his job, but I have serious doubts he does. The presentation was poor, with ginger and wasabi literally slopped on. At least a couple times a waitress took plates of sushi to tables with the ginger trailing off the plate.

We’re consistent with what we order, and I’ll let the photos below depict the differences in presentation. Both orders are essentially the same; one of the photos was taken two months ago, and the second photo was taken this past Saturday. Again, essentially the same sashimi and rolls were ordered. Easy to observe the differences.

With our dinner entirely bad, the worst presentation was the spider roll. The roll, which should have been warm and slightly crunchy was a soggy, cold mess with absolutely no taste. I asked the manager if he would taste it and he refused. Smart man. I should have taken a photo of the spider roll – it was unlike any “spider roll” I have ever seen or tasted. Just soggy.

I will caveat that we’ve eaten sushi in great restaurants on both U.S. coasts and in Europe. Our all-time favorite is Ambrosia in Key West, Florida. In the past, we were happy with what Fins offered us, but changes and improvement need to...

Me and my boyfriend have been to Fins multiple times and absolutely love it but unfortunately a few months ago it was a different story. Due to severe shellfish allergy I always read the menu every time to make sure there are no changes and normally order the same rolls. I ordered the Philadelphia roll and Yummy Yummy roll. Took a bite of the Philadelphia roll and no problem then took a bite of the Yummy Yummy roll, when I went to take a second bite of the Yummy Yummy roll I noticed it looked funny and realized it had crab on it. The waitress came by and I asked to make sure it wasn't supposed to come with crab and she confirmed it wasn't then I informed her it had crab on it and I was allergic. She just stood there and looked at me funny, then said she would get a new roll made and left. She then returned and asked for the Yummy Yummy roll that was made wrong because the sushi chef had to see it, to prove that I wasn't lying about it. It wasn't like I asked for a free roll or free meal, I was just concerned about my allergy. A second Yummy Yummy roll was made and upon looking at the plate there was a piece of crab on the plate touching my roll. So I couldn't even it that roll. It's scary to think that rolls with shellfish are being rolled with the same roll as the non shellfish ones. I did end of getting sick and throwing up because of one simple bite of shellfish. Luckily it wasn't worse. We have not been back since and it makes me so sad because we loved Fins. It wasn't the fact that a mistake was made it was the fact that the waitress and sushi chef acted like I was...

As a business owner and volunteer for multiple organizations in my community, I feel obligated to give this poor review.

We are from out of town and our car broke down. While we left our vehicle in the hands of your local mechanics, we walked--valuables in tow--through the summer heat and into this place.

After waiting to be seated, we were finally waved across the restaurant to be seated. They asked us "how many?" Now, until this day I did not know it was possible to interrupt a one syllable word, but that's what happened when we tried to say "two." What came next was even stranger.

"We don't have any booths."

We didn't ask for a booth--or for anything yet. Also, while we were waiting to be seated it was next to a fully set booth.

Here is where our poor service quickly began and ended. After taking our drink order they disappeared. In the meantime, the table seated behind my beautiful, freckled partner was able to order and receive beverage. We left after giving a generous time for benefit of the doubt. It was pretty clear they did not want our business since they were not very busy and were serving everyone else.

I'm not a fan of the online review system. But as someone who grew up working restaurants to get where I am today, I feel compelled to let your community know our experience in your town. We were in a tight spot and felt let down. Let down by a "grill" with a menu on which I couldn't find a meal without rice or noodles as the main item. I'm a meat and vegetable guy.

[Real experience submitted...