On Thursday, January 11, we visited Kru/Contemporary Japanese Cuisine in Sacramento. Drawn by its promising reviews and higher-end pricing, we had expectations of a quality dining experience. Our reservation was made well in advance, with limited time slots available, a sign of the restaurant's anticipated busyness.

Upon our arrival, the restaurant was indeed bustling, filled to capacity both at the tables and the bar. Our order comprised Sapporo, a cocktail, and a rainbow roll, a standard benchmark we use to assess sushi establishments. However, the service immediately fell short of our expectations. We experienced a significant delay in receiving our first roll, and the wait for our simple drinks orders was even longer. This was particularly frustrating, as we sat looking at our sushi, unable to enjoy it as we had intended with our beverages.

The food itself was underwhelming. The soft shell crab hand roll was tasteless, with burnt and tough tempura. Though these early issues marred our experience, we remained hopeful for an improvement. However, as the restaurant gradually emptied, our waiter seemed to forget about us. Thankfully, another server was more attentive and assisted us multiple times.

Our frustration eventually necessitated a conversation with the manager, who was apologetic and offered us a gift card as compensation.

Given the restaurant's booking system, they should have a clear idea of how busy they will be and thus staff accordingly. Yet, the service suggested otherwise.

Our next visit was today, for a takeout order using the gift card. We were again inconvenienced by the restaurant’s policy against phone orders. The wait for our order, placed in person, was an unwelcome 25 minutes, especially with a child waiting with us.

To add to the disappointment, our simple request for extra ginger and wasabi was overlooked, indicating a lack of attention to customer service details.

In summary, despite its upscale pretensions, Kru/Contemporary Japanese Cuisine's service and food quality are average, with limited variety for a Japanese restaurant. Considering our experiences, we cannot recommend this establishment. Or, we strongly recommend NOT going there.