Waraji Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Raleigh

We visited Waraji a few days ago because we had not been in quite some time. This used to be my favorite sushi spot in the Triangle. Unfortunately, the service we had during our recent visit was extremely disappointing.

My order: baked mussels and 2 sushi rolls His order: gyoza and pork katsu entrée

The server brought out his gyoza first, along with the soup and salad that came with his entrée. We figured my baked mussels would arrive shortly thereafter. We waited at least 15-20 minutes, but they did not arrive, nor did our server come back to check on us. She then came out with his pork katsu. When she arrived at the table, she noticed that he had not touched his plates, and then looked at me and said, "Oh, you didn't get your mussels. I can put his food back under the heating lamp until she gets her food," to which my fiancé replied, "I'm not going to eat until she gets her food." The server said she would check on my food and walked away. I then watched her service 3 other tables before going back to the kitchen. She also did not take the plates back to keep them warm. My food came out 10 minutes later. First, the mussels, and then the sushi rolls came out about 5 minutes later. Of course, by this time, my fiancé's food was completely cold. Nonetheless, we were both very hungry and began to eat our meals.

At this time, it is important to mention that I let the server know that I had a gluten allergy when I ordered. After we placed our order, she had brought a separate bottle of soy sauce out to the table and let me know that it was tamari and it was gluten free.

When I started to eat my sushi, I picked up the bottle of tamari, only to notice that it was a regular bottle of soy sauce, NOT gluten free, and that the cap had just been swapped out. I looked for the server and she was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, another server was very vigilant and could see that there was an issue as I was looking around for our server. I explained the mishap to her, and she very quickly brought me the right the right bottle and apologized for the mistake. Our server eventually came back and I let her know that she had given me the wrong bottle. I thought it was important for her to know, since I could have gotten very sick from it. She argued a little with me and tried to tell me that she had given me the tamari, even after I explained that her coworker had to swap it out. She then blamed the mishap on her manager, saying that the manager told her the bottle she gave me was gluten free.

After we finished eating, I paid our tab and tip. (I will add that it was very awkward for her to stand next to me watching me while I entered the tip.) I did let her know that this experience was not great for us, considering that his food was completely cold by the time my courses arrived. She started to make excuses by telling me that it is difficult to time food from the kitchen and sushi bar to come out at the same time and that is the reason for the poor service. Very poor excuse, considering that both of our appetizers came from the kitchen. But also, a restaurant should be able to time the arrival of courses, regardless of whether or not it's sushi or kitchen. Appetizers should come out at the same time, and entrees should come out at the same time.

Our server did not seem to care at all. When she realized I was unhappy with her excuses, she simply said, "oh. sorry sorry," in the most insincere tone and then hurried away.

The sushi and mussels were fine. But it was hard for him to give an honest opinion on the gyoza and katsu since it was so cold when he ate it.

It does not matter how good the food is - if the service is terrible, it makes for a...

This was my second time dining at Waraji. The first time I went as a party of two on a Tuesday evening. The food and drinks came out at an appropriate amount of time and with a good amount of time between the courses being served to enjoy them. The service then was excellent, and the restaurant was full.

For my second experience, I went on a Saturday night with a group of eight because I had such a great experience at that first dining session. However, the line to just enter the restaurant was so long that we had to wait outside even though we had reservations. It felt rude and impersonal to skip the line just to let the hostess know that we had reservations. It would’ve been better if there was someone to greet each guest, even those waiting in line to make sure no one was waiting in line who had a reservation.

When we were seated, we were greeted by our server who immediately asked us what we wanted for drinks. We were undecided at that point because we had just been seated and there was only one drink menu for Western cocktails and also one menu for the sake with only one drink menu. It’s pretty crazy to think that anyone would be ready to give their drink order for a table of eight. I don’t necessarily blame this on the server because there was only one drink menu per table at every table. We asked for additional drink menus and the server was able to get us only one additional menu. The drinks did take about 15 to 20 minutes to arrive once we had placed the order with the server.

As for the food, the service was disastrous, but the food was excellent. Everyone placed their food orders with the server at the same time for both the appetizer and the entrée course. However, there were entrées that came out before appetizers, and also none of the appetizers came out at the same time. It cannot be that difficult to make sure that each appetizer comes out at the same time when a restaurant has been open for this long. I understand that it was busy, but even if we had to wait longer, that would have been better than having some people wait for their food and the food get cold on the table.

That being said, the food was excellent. Everyone enjoyed everything they ordered until we got to dessert. We ordered in total four mochi ice cream orders of assorted flavors. The flavor was excellent for every single one; however, the texture of the red bean, the mango, and the chocolate was extremely dry and crumbly, as if it had been left out in the freezer uncovered. It was very disappointing.

Overall, this experience was a three-out-of-five stars. I would recommend this restaurant for a short dinner service during the weekday, but I would not recommend it for a large group during...

We frequent at Waraji a lot over the years. We dine at Waraji so much the waitstaff pretty much know us. The sushi disappoints, the food is always up to par.

As soon as you are seated, you are given a warm towel to wipe your hands. Your order is put in through a tablet by the server, in which I think it is cool because at least you know your order is in!

We sat in the traditional room where you are seated on the floor. The traditional room is available upon request. I like to get comfortable when I am about to stuff my face. It is custom to remove your shoes, and I lined up the shoes so it won't be messy so that server wont trip on the shoes.

I start out with appetizers such as the Ika Butter (Squid), Beef Tataki, Edamame, Miso Soup, and Salad with Ginger Dressing. For the main meal, I devoured the Sashimi Deluxe that consists of 5 different types of fish. I'm very picky with my sashimi and the sushi chef always let me substitute more of my favorite fishes. That is one of the main reasons why I always came back to this establishment.

If I bring the whole family, I usually order various rolls and request to have it come out on the boat because I like to take pictures of my food and it just makes my food pictures looks more appealing.

My absolute favorite rolls are The Shamoo Roll (it's like a Spider Roll so big it looks like the crab was on steroids), The Waraji Roll, Mary Roll, Scary Jerry, the Hot Dragon Roll, Banzai Roll, and the Futo Maki.

If you have room for desserts, you should try the Mochi Ice Cream that comes in different flavors for you to choose from: Strawberry, Green Tea, or Red Bean. I hope you will enjoy Waraji as much as I do because Waraji gives off that exciting atmosphere with the gentle decor. Each morsel piece of sushi/sashimi will tantalizes the palate of your taste buds at every bite. Yes, Waraji is that good! Did I mention the potion of sashimi is thick and the rolls are three times as big!

I hope my review made you hungry, so give Waraji a try if you have not already. They open promptly at 5:30pm. The sooner you are there, the less of a wait time...