Shogun Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

We went on a Sunday night and there were a lot of people waiting to be seated. So when they offered us a table by the door, we took it. It was pretty cold, but I figured we would be served something hot quickly. By the time I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and back, they were about eight empty tables further inside the restaurant. We were not offered any of them. I watched all the people who had been seated after us get served yet no one came to take our order. Finally, after making an effort to make eye contact with my server, she took our order. I ordered the spicy tofu soup. My son had a donburi dish that looked pretty good. We shared some sushi, which was delicious. After about 20 minutes I had to flag down our server again to ask where my spicy tofu soup was. It turns out the kitchen forgot to make it so we waited. My son’s donburi is pretty cold at this point as he has been politely waiting for my dish to be served. Finally, my Spicy Tofu Soup is served and to my surprise it is full of seafood. It has these strange rubbery weird looking chew toys in it. I had to ask what they were and the waiter had to go into the kitchen to ask. It was some kind of machine made looking squid. I barely ate any of the soup. Nothing was taken off our bill and I’d have to say overall, it was a very...

What a bummer. I knew they recently changed ownership, but never imagined it could turn into what it is now. Have been in four times since this summer. From the poor quality of salmon and hamachi, to the unfriendly sushi chefs, to the horrific floor ‘service’…, I’m so done with the new shogun. The fish does not seem fresh. It’s tough, fibrous, and lacks flavor. And that’s been the case for the past two months. The tempura is soft, almost soggy, as if it was cooked last week. Then there’s the service. WHAT THE HECK!!?? Shogun used to be somewhat elevated. Now the service is sporadic, inconsistent and a bit obnoxious. Not kidding, I spent more time waiting for a server than I spent eating. And it’s like musical servers…never the same person twive. Took forever to get my order started. Then, 1 star for the food coming out quickly. Then, thought I would order another drink…wait. Wait. Wait. Nothing. Finished my food. Decided to just call it a wrap. Wanting to close out…wait. Wait wait. Finally, they took my money. One of the servers is really loud, all over the place, not focused. Calls me honey, darling, sweetie—but not in a genuine way. The whole vibe is just off and uncomfortable. What a...

We were excited to try Shogun after living in the area for two years and finally decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, our experience was a bit disappointing.

To start, we ordered edamame and a crab roll as appetizers. My husband’s crab roll came out quickly, and he really enjoyed it, but my edamame never arrived. For my entrée, I ordered the spicy tofu soup, which was surprisingly bland—I had to add a lot of soy sauce just to make it palatable. The soup was supposed to come with rice and salad, but those never showed up either.

Although our waitress was friendly, she was not very attentive. We had to flag her down after finishing our meals just to ask about the missing food. She apologized and claimed the kitchen was behind, but considering how quickly other items came out, that excuse didn’t seem very convincing. She did comp the edamame, which was appreciated, but when we asked for a box to take it to go, she forgot, and we had to ask another employee after asking about 10 minutes later.

Overall, while the food was hit-or-miss, the service was the biggest letdown. We understand that restaurants can get busy, but basic attentiveness and follow-through were lacking. Not sure if we’ll be back...