Mr Tokyo Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Pineville

This was my first time eating at Mr. Tokyo. I was meeting my husband there for dinner. He got there first and put our names in as there was a half hour wait. As I was parking our table became available. They would not give us a table until we were both there. (Which I totally get by the way) the host snapped at my husband that I "have 7 minutes to get there" or we lose the table. Okay, not the best customer service, but we forge ahead.

As we walk to the table the floors are so slippery. I am wearing professional dansko clogs because I came right from work and was slipping with every step. We sat down and a waiter placed 2 menus in front of us and walked away. No introduction, no explanation of any weird rules... also no drink menu. Waitress returned to ask if we want drinks I ordered a water and my husband got a beer. I would have liked a plum wine or something but was not directed to any drink menu or asked if I wanted anything else.

We got miso soup which was very good, and crab salad, also very good.

Then our rolls came out. Waitress brought them over, set them down and walked away. They jumbled our order up so my plate had a sweet potato roll I ordered, and a roll that I didn't order. I think it may have been a roll my husband ordered, but neither of us could identify it. Then on his plate was one of my rolls, one of his rolls, and a roll that I had originally put on my order card, but erased. It didn't come off all the way so I wrote "0" on the line. I figured if they needed clarification they would ask.

We asked for the check and the server said "okay you know the rules?" I said "huh? What rules?" There will be a $1 surcharge for each piece of sushi you didn't eat.

I have never heard of such a thing. Paying a surcharge for food you paid for but didn't finish.

We didn't know anything about this restaurant, and because we were not greeted, welcomed, or offered any service really we had no idea that it was only all you can eat. We thought we were paying for A la carte sushi and I wasn't bothered by the cost... we eat sushi on special occasions (this is our 13th wedding anniversary) and we are aware of the cost.

The server comes back over to the table and loudly starts saying that "do I want her to change from all you can eat to a la carte? It will be very expensive..." and went on about how other restaurants charge $14 a sushi roll and they charge $11.

At this point I am feeling bad about this whole experience and just want to get the hell out of there so we left our to go boxes of unfinished sushi that we paid a $1 surcharge a piece (for a roll I didn't even order) and got the hell...

Very good hibachi, so-so (dry) sushi, extra charge if you don’t eat the entire piece of sushi. $13.99 during weekday lunch but $23.99 for same menu on weekends. No drink or dessert is included.

The reason for the low review: The hibachi was hot and delicious but my friend didn’t like one of the sushi items and left it over. When we asked the waiter to take the plate, he stated there would be an additional charge. I was aware of the charge for leaving food over but this wasn’t a case of ordering too much food and wasting it, it was the FIRST sushi to come out and she DIDN’T LIKE IT. When I explained that, he just re-iterated the rule so I took (snatched) the plate back, threw the two pieces of half-eaten sushi in a napkin and tossed it in the garbage. Now, I’m not one of those difficult people who says “the customer always is right.” That said, businesses succeed or fail based on the customer’s perception of value so you should at least listen like you care what they are saying. So, I spoke to the manager and explained that I understood why the policy exists (to keep prices low by avoiding waste) and she stated the waiter didn’t charge us for the left over sushi. That was fine but I explained that a better response from the waiter could have been “I’m sorry you didn’t care for the sushi, let me talk to the manager and see if I can avoid that charge for you”. The manager and I had a pleasant conversation despite the difference of opinions and the issue was resolved. Needless to say, I didn’t leave a tip and wrote the waiter a note stating that customer service is more than just taking an order slip and putting plates on the table. As I was leaving, I made I eye contact with a tall, long haired blonde hostess at the door and said “Thank you.” She gave me a fake smile (half moving her lips). Don’t know if the waiter told them what happened at the table and had an attitude towards me but her obviously fake and insincere smile suggested that…Unfortunate because I had a really friendly, authentic waitress on Thursday afternoon and was planning on telling...

This review is only for the HOST!!!

The food and the Service here is amazing, very friendly and helpful people who actually helped my mother save money on our food because she wasn’t ordering a lot. Food has always been great and have had nothing bad to say. THE HOST on the other hand have always left a bad taste in my mouth. Told us we couldn’t sit until our third person was there… which is fine, no big deal.

My mother had to drive 2 hours away and I wanted her to come here because me and my wife love it here. So we told them just two and leave a bigger tip for the inconvenience of my wife showing up 20 minutes later. We ate, all got our food and paid. As we were talking for a bit just catching up, were making our way out the booth when one of the host came to our table and said (Aggressively) “We have more people waiting and we are about to close, you’ll need to leave. Thank you and have a great day” then walked off.

FRIST OFF NO… that is definitely not how you handle that situation. You don’t tell a paying customer that they need to leave right after they pay the bill.

SECOND… if you had asked us in a different way or had waited for us to respond, we would had told them that we were just about to leave.

I get needing to seat others before close but it was 7:15 when they close at 9:00. Absolutely rude and disrespectful. Also reading the reviews, this isn’t the only occasion of this happening. If that’s something they wanna imply then put it with your other 9...