Maneki Restaurant — Restaurant in Seattle

Hi! Long review but worth it. My boyfriend and I are visiting for a couple of days and searched Reddit for recommendations regarding seafood, etc. This restaurant was highly recommended and we both love Japanese cuisine. We're open to trying all cuisines since we are from a diverse city ourselves. This place claims to be one of the oldest and highly rated Japanese restaurants in Seattle, I was excited for dinner since our reservation request was accepted within the same day! We arrived early and waited until the staff arrived to unlock the door and open up the kitchen, etc. The outside decor in the windows was lacking; it almost didn't look open at first, but we don't care about that - it's about the food, right?

Food: We ordered the premium sashimi platter, a broiled mackerel, and eel dish. The miso soup that accompanied was delicious. Beer was cold and they gave us a chilled glass, which I appreciate. No complaints about the food at all.

Service: I have never had such a disappointing service experience while dining. We were met with a black female waitress with an amber-colored face mask. I wish I caught her name but I don't think she even said her name or wore a name tag. She was quick and efficient which is cool with me. The problem we had was with her overall attitude and customer service.

First, I asked if we could choose or substitute any of the sashimi pieces for others on the $65 platter and she said blatantly, "It's chef's choice." (Which was written on the menu, and I saw that later.) Before I could ask about which exact fish were offered with the premium sashimi platter to get some clarity, she interrupted again with, "Well it's the chef's choice. If you could pick and choose what you wanted, it wouldn't really be chef's choice, would it?" I literally didn't know what to say to that.

Second, she took our menus when my boyfriend asked to keep one. She looked at him blankly and disregarded his request. She said something along the lines of we had the 'bar menu' and that was fine.

Third, when my boyfriend's miso soup arrived, it didn't have a spoon to go along with it. We drink from bowls directly from time to time, but oftentimes restaurants just give a spoon with soup automatically. When he asked for a spoon, she said, "In Japan they don't use spoons with their soups traditionally, but I guess I can get you one. That's the nicest way I can say it." The tone was as condescending as you could get. He was shocked and before he could tell her nevermind, she walked back with the spoon and dunked it in his soup. He said, "Oh no worries, I don't have to have the spoon." And she replied, "So you don't need the spoon? But I already brought you the spoon so might as well use it." My boyfriend and I just stared at each other as if this wasn't actually happening in real life. I tried to explain that at various restaurants in Texas, we get spoons with soup so we just were asking for a spoon out of habit. She said, "Well I'm from Texas too, but this is the way they eat soup in Japan," and walked off. There was no, "Okay, I get it, or yes ma'am/sir I understand or hey, I'm sorry I didn't realize that." I don't even know what she could have said but anything would've been better than blatant disrespect.

As a public servant who respects and serves the public from different countries every day and is happy to get people what they want and need, I was so disappointed in her overall customer service. I'd like to think she had a bad day or something, but a mother and daughter next to our table exchanged disgruntled glances after she spoke with them and took their order. So now I know we couldn't have been the only ones who received poor service. If she reads this, I hope she knows that her service left a bad taste in our mouth. I feel bad for this restaurant to have such history and have this waitress to be one of the only people you interact with while dining. We originally planned on returning, but not after this experience.

Atmosphere: Relaxed dining room with adjoining...

The atmosphere of the restaurant and the food were great. It's a nice, quiet little place and most of the workers there were super nice and friendly. Unfortunately, one of the servers was pretty condescending each time she came around for the table. And honestly, it kind of ruined the experience of eating at the restaurant. Maybe she was having a bad day or something, but her attitude and tone made eating her an unpleasant experience.

One example is when I simply asked if I could have a spoon with my miso soup. She responded by saying, "Oh, in typical Japanese culture, you would drink this soup out of your bowl but sure, I'll grab you a spoon." Sure, no problem. I understand that this is one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in Seattle and Japanese culture can differ from US culture. I responded by saying that I understood, and it was no problem for me to drink out of my bowl. Her response, was "Oh, well I already brought you a spoon soooo.."

Another example is when my girlfriend asked about the sashimi platter. She was asking what was included and if there could be any substitutions of whichever sashimi could be chosen. She responded that it was the chef's choice, and she can't make substitutions because it wouldn't be chef's choice if my girlfriend chose what was included in the platter.. that's fine that it's chef's choice, but no need to always "correct" the customer in a condescending way.

An additional example was when we were ordering food. I asked if we could keep one of the menus to see if we might want to order more later. Our server just kind of gave a blank look and took away the menu.. this is more of a minor thing but everything all together just added up and made it an uncomfortable experience for us. I'm not trying to be a Karen or anything, and I think, I'm far from it, but this was one of the first/only times I've wanted to get out of a restaurant because of how crappy our service was. The table next to us also seemed to have some issues with the same server, so I know it was not just us. It's a shame that I would not recommend this restaurant to others because of the one server.. because the food was great. But she really did ruin our...

We stumbled upon this place on a road trip by chance in a warm evening in May. We arrived at shortly before 9 PM and the sign on their door says it's already closed. As it's late and we haven't yet eaten, also there aren't that many choices in the Chinatown area, so we decided to try our luck and went in. As with many other stores in the neighborhood, the storefront was completely boarded up and you could tell how COVID and crimes have hit. We could almost affirm this place is legit simply by telling from the bar, the seating, the decor and the vibe. I might have been too thirsty I finished up the whole glass of ice water before we even had the chance to read the menu. As we were checking their menus, a cheerful lady (whom we believed the owner of the restaurant Nakayama san) stopped by our table and swiftly put down a snappy, zippy glass of Margarita. My mouth was watering, but I managed to stick to the truth and speak to the lady that it's not our order, without taking my eyes off the cocktail. She said with a smile with radiating upbeat energy that it's complimentary, and asked with a chuckle :) if I really don't want it, and acted in a fun way as if she's throwing it to the bin. "No no no!" I asked her why after taking the first sip. She said casually that it's made for another customer at the bar but the customer passed it. We cannot say for sure if it's for real, maybe she made up the story in a split second hoping we'd accept her treat without feeling guilty, but all we know the owner is kind-hearted, super caring, and it's true customer service at their very best. While we're waiting for our food, we Googled this restaurant and got to learn this place and Nakayama san's family actually a living history of Japanese migrants in the US with a ton of heartbreaking equally heartwarming stories. We enjoyed our cold soba noodles with tempura, miso soup, and of course the tasty cocktail, thanked the owner at her "office" - the bar, and left this place for home with one of our best memories of...