Musashi Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Pineville

TERRIBLE! Read this before you go here! We drove an hour to dine here all because of the great reviews saying this was an authentic Japanese restaurant. We were told it was a 20 minute wait, which was no problem, even though another waitress said she was clearing a table at the moment. We walk around for 30 mins and decided to go back inside since we never received a call. We see the same blonde haired waitress seating a couple who had just walked in, which is extremely unprofessional!!! Why even have a waitlist?! But that’s just where it STARTS. The same waitress, the one who had us waiting for NO REASON, takes our order after sitting for 10minutes. Keep in mind, the people who came in after us (but sat first) are already eating. She brings our appetizers but forgets our drinks. The pork gyoza was definitely frozen, the meat inside was grey. Tempura was bad, we think they needed to change their fryer oil. The rest of the dinner was just so slow, we waited sooo long for everything to be below average!!!! The tonkatsu ramen smelled like sulfur, aren’t broths supposed to make your mouth water?! My wife got the tonkatsu dinner and they give you half of a scoop of rice for 2 big pork chops. After all this, they bring us $100 tab!!! WHATTTTTTT!!!!!!! NEVER GO HERE SAVE YOURSELF THE...

Authentic Japanese restaurant, but needs a bit of cleaning, dusting, and could use new paper screens. There was kind of a layer of “grease dust” on everything.

Sushi chef was not exactly cross contamination friendly. I have bad food allergies and requested accommodations for this; sushi chef’s response in Japanese was, “WHAT? Not possible (not doing it).” The he proceeded to argue with the manger hostess about it in Japanese.

I speak Japanese pretty well, so I just reiterated in Japanese, that it’s very important.

He then Attempted to not put shellfish, crab, and sesame in my food, but made other rolls with shellfish and sesame, without changing gloves or washing hands then going onto make mine.

Plates ordered in the back came out with shrimp and sesame seeds on them.

I couldn’t eat half of my food.

Later that night I had a delayed food allergy reaction and got a very bad stomach ache, vomiting, and swelling of my face and rash after eating here, even though everything we ordered wasn’t supposed to have my allergies in them.

I will not be returning, even though I love Japanese food and really wanted to like this place. It’s unfortunate that they really don’t care about or take seriously food allergies. I know they can do better.

Hoping they fix...

Moving from San Francisco, it took us awhile to stumble upon a place where we can grab Japanese comfort food like we were used to in the Bay Area. Not maki the size of a baseball bat draped in mayo-based sauces. Not a menu containing Japanese, Chinese & Thai food (cover everything, master of nothing). No trendy vibe. What we found here are staples you’d find walking into a small town shokudo.

The lunch menu always features an off-menu special like Katsu Curry or Karaage. The sushi is straightforward, approachable and always fresh as are the daily specials. Perhaps the top dish is the Nabe Udon which reminds me of the comfort food my grandmother would make on a Sunday night. Other authentic dishes include the Hot or Cold Tempura Soba, Katsu Don, Ika Karaage, Agedashi Tofu and Croquette. There are bento boxes and teriyaki selections available as well.

Service is always great and you can tell the staff has been together for awhile. The primary server is awesome - she works super hard and manages the entire space. They have a tatami room for private dining and larger parties as well. Parking is super easy in the shopping center but the lines can be long. All in all, the most authentic Japanese restaurant...