Kaoru Sushi — Restaurant in Richmond

THEY HAVE ROACHES. Our order that day: Tiger Roll, Miso Soup, & Sake Avocado Roll

I've been a customer for a while & have been here several times with family/friends. Customer service has always been minimal but we enjoyed the food in the past so continued to return. However, during my last visit on 08/23/2024 there was a roach on our food, which was dismissed by all employees who I made aware. This happened as soon as the waiter dropped off our food. As we poured soy sauce a roach jumped from the soy sauce bottle onto the plate then the table. My friend and I tried to get the attention of waiters as we took pictures of the roach to try to alert them. Nobody other than the sushi chef behind the bar acknowledged us. The roach was freely crawling all over the table and eventually jumped onto the soy sauce bottle and a waiter came over & picked it up and took it to the kitchen without saying a word to us. I was expecting him to return and offer to remake our food or at least offer an apology, but nobody ever came back to address the situation. That same waiter continued to attend the tables around us, but did not come back to ours. We waited for a few minutes and tried to get the attention of waiters but they all pretended not to be aware? I don't know if they just expected us to eat the food that the roach had just crawled over?? I finally decided to walk up to the register and spoke to another employee who came out from the back. I tried to quietly explain the situation to her and apologized myself saying - "Would it be possible to cancel the tab? We don't feel comfortable eating the food since there was a bug crawling on our plates." She completely ignored what I said and walked behind the register and started canceling the tab. I began to speak again to apologize for the hassle but she interrupted me and only said, "Okay get out." Which I found to be rude. I'm pretty sure their goal was just to hush the situation, but I think a simple sorry could've been said. I find it disturbing that the situation was handled this way & it made me wonder how...

We ordered takeout online, service was good and food was ready on time. Food was tasty overall: 3 sushi rolls and the tempura combo. The basic California roll was better than the specialty rolls. Weird thing about the tempura combo- the menu stated 2 shrimp and vegetables, but 2 tempura pieces were unrecognizable as vegetables. They appeared to be fishcakes used in traditional Japanese oden but were undercooked and pretty inedible. It was an unpleasant surprise. You expect shrimp, green beans, kabocha, broccoli, etc. but not rubbery fishcakes. Not sure if we will come back...

Edit: we haven't gone back. We tried Yoshio Sushi on San Pablo Ave which I would recommend instead- roughly the same price but better overall flavor/quality and better service/attention to detail. I appreciate the business responding to my review, but it sounds like a non-answer because we DID order takeout,...

I have been going here for over 6years now, not exactly this same location but the other one called “Yoshio” right by DMV El Cerrito. I have see them grow and their price as well, which is totally understandable considering the economy, however that doesn’t give the the right to put automatic 18% service charge for 2 people and still have tipping option their receipt, the shocker is, they will not tell you about it until you’re set to pay and you are in a situation you can’t get out from. Don’t get me wrong, I personally enjoy their food and always go there for the ambiance and spend time with friends, but since what they do now is scam people with expensive food and 18% service fee and still asking for tip, making you pay more than you eat, all I do now is order take out and avoid the whole drama.

Note: 18% service fee isn’t included when you order take...