KĀI — Restaurant in Plano

Food was good. Everything else was terrible.

We were seated at 6:30 for a friends birthday. Even though there were very few people there it took them about 15 minutes to actually find us a table. So around 6:45 our waiter came over and clearly knew very little about the menu, food, or the restaurant. He very strongly encourage us to order slowly so we could " enjoy each portion " of the small plate meal.

Fast forward to 7:40 p.m. when we were about to order our second drink and third small plate of the meal..... At which time our waiter came over and casually let us know that the kitchen had closed at 7:30 because the restaurant was closing at 8 for a corporate party. Not only did we not know this before, we were fully prepared to spend at least another hour celebrating her birthday and at least another $100 to $200 on food and drinks for the occasion. And let's not forget that our waiter encouraged us to order slowly so we could enjoy the meal... Seriously?

We were extremely disappointed given that it was her only birthday celebration, but also because we had genuinely enjoyed the food up until that point. The very unapologetic, matter-of-fact way in which we were informed that the kitchen had closed only added to our frustration.

Naturally, I asked to speak to the manager, who had come by our table earlier in the evening and let us know that if we needed anything he was around. 20 minutes later our waiter comes back and informs us that he will not be coming by and he just comped our first two drinks instead. Normally I would be fine with this, however, we had just waited for 20 minutes to speak to him and he was nowhere in sight and I felt this was incredibly disrespectful. I politely informed him that I did not ask for anything to be comped, yet I appreciated it, but I still would like the respect of a face-to-face with the manager.

Fifteen minutes later, and visibly Intoxicated by god-knows-what, the manager strolls over to the table and begins to ramble on about how he would take the blame, it was his fault, he was so sorry etc Etc. Mind you, my friends and I were incredibly calm and barely got a word in edgewise the entire time he was at our table. It was clear that he was too intoxicated to even understand anything that we were saying so we just sat there silently and let him ramble on. Towards the end of his rant, he offered his personal cell phone number not once, not twice but three times so that he could 'make it right,' and 'start us off,' the next time we were there. Needless to say we did not take his cell phone number and neither of us will be returning to the restaurant. If it hadn't been for the delicious food, it would have been the worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant. Especially with a bill of over $145 for 45 minutes of a terrible...

The atmosphere and ambiance are wonderful here. That's where the good ends. I have been disappointed by this place a few times. The times I did enjoy were great. So overall, I'd keep expectations low, which is not good for the price point. The current manager, Hanna, is professional. She is quick to resolve issues. She helped me with a recent issue. 2 friends and I came to Kāi because we expected good service, tasty food, and clean plates. That did not happen. At my table, one of the menu covers smelled of vomit. My waitress humored me and exchanged it with a different menu. We all decided to split a bottle of sake. The $35 we selected was out after waiting almost 10 mins to be told. Mary, the waitress, guided us to a different selection, a $45 300ml bottle. It arrived to the table after our 3 tiny veggie dumplings, which honestly tasted nice but not too different from just spicey edamame in flavor. So we fill our sake cups and make a cheers. To my horror, as the cup is finally eye level while drinking, I see my cup is covered in lipstick. How disgusting, right? So, we tell Mary about it. She exchanged it for another cup after informing Hannah, the manager. I was the only one who cared for the recommended sake. I pour another and think, okay, this is fixable. Wrong. I see in the bottom of my cup some yellow. I hoped it was just staining. Nope, as I checked, whatever was yellow moved. Not a stain.

I leave the table to find the manager. She was very helpful and let me know an appetizer was being sent on the house for the 1st cup with lipstick. I showed her the 2nd dirty cup. She let me know they would just go ahead and comp the bottle at this point. I let her know I needed to see if my friends wanted to stay. It's been over 20 mins, and we hadn't even gotten our order in. We all decided it was just best to leave. We let the manager know that we still want to make sure the bill will have our veggie appetizer because we still like to tip for the staff. Mary, the waitress, brought the bill but forgot to take off our initial $35 sake that wasn't even available. We had to wait around longer to inform them and have that taken off the tab. Mary did package the last half of my sake to go. That was helpful. We left and ended up having a great dining experience at another restaurant in Legacy West. We had expectations of just sharing small plates in a beautiful setting. Individual issues wouldn't have been a big deal. Every step in the dining process had some error. Unfortunately, it added up to a bad experience. We left worried about the hygiene of what the food comes on and the drinks come in. I will probably try again but not for sometime. The management did a great job rectifying issues. So that sways me to think maybe, just maybe, I'll have a good time...

Upon entering, it says no hats, however they may be lax on that as my buddy was wearing a ball cap. (We were there at opening on a Friday)

Great decor around the restaurant that displayed the Asian fusion theme the were going for. (Could use a few more spots to sit while waiting to be seated, however I do not know if they pack out during the busy time of dinner service, so that may not be an issue)

The had a full bar and our waitress had a few recommendations that our wives really enjoyed. (They have Pepsi products unfortunately for me so I went with a Pinot Noir)

They had an extensive menu which was a bit daunting and difficult to navigate/ understand, as several items had to be explained, but our waitress was able to direct us through a majority of it and we were able to deduce the rest.

We had several items among the table from Sushi, to the bone marrow fried rice, lobster tacos, calamari, and the Mongolian Beef.

Appetizers we had: lobster tacos, which should contain the word "mini" in the description as they were about half the size of a dollar bill. Tasted great though. Calamari was an experience as they strayed from the traditional marinara type sauce that normally accompanies it and went with a zesty sweet chili sauce. The calamari was gone pretty quickly.

Entrees: As a big fan of lamb chops, I had to try them and they did not dissappoint other than there being very little to accompany a dinner plate of that nature. They were cooked perfectly. Mongolian beef was fantastic. Great seasoning and flavor. I wish they had mentioned that it did not come with any low men or fried rice. Fortunately, we had an order of the Ox bone marrow fried rice to join us for the ride which was a great add. Chilli prawns- prawns were great however nobody at the table enjoyed the spice they put on the pineapple that came along with them. It does take skill to make pineapple unenjoyable.

Sushi: which should be the mainstay, unfortunately left us with more to desire. Of the 3 rolls we order, only one was exceptional while the other 2 were just above the mediocrity of sushi rolls that can be obtained at our local Market Street. We had the Seafood dynamite roll which was the good one, while the Steve roll and Sunny's roll failed to leave us wanting to order them again. (This was over a week ago and those were the 3 rolls we ordered, but the name of the one we liked may have been different as they all came out on one display plate)

Overall an experience to enjoy with friends for the atmosphere, but for strictly food purposes, there are other places that are...