Chef 21 Sushi Burger Simpsonville — Restaurant in Simpsonville

PART 1: TLDR; Rude Customer Service / Kitchen Staff

I wish I could have given this a good review because the food was decent, and a decent sushi place close to our house was a dream, but I will not be back. After driving back from the beach yesterday, with a screaming toddler and his two older sisters through some torrential downpours in Columbia - I still wanted to get my wife something special to eat for her birthday (which happened to be yesterday). She loves sushi, and we looked for sushi options that we could call/order ahead of time and pick up as we made our way back into Simpsonville.

I pulled over about 30 minutes south of Simpsonville, and placed an online order (which for a family of 5 was a decent order) at 6:17pm. I received notification that order was received and would be ready for pickup at 6:47pm - which worked perfectly for a tired family looking to make a quick stop to pick up food and head home to unpack and unwind after an all day car adventure.

When I walked in the door, the server who greeted me asked me how she could help, and I said that I had a carry out order. I gave her my name, and she looked very confused and asked me what I had in my order. I rattled off the list of things we had ordered and she went to the back and came out with another server, who looked on a small tablet next to the register at pending orders (I presume). They both walked back behind the curtain and the first server came back out and told me that they had "only finished half of my order, and that it would be another 15 minutes, because they had a rush" - certainly not what I wanted to hear, but there's nothing I could do about it. Their rush included about 4 tables and 3 other guests waiting in the lobby for orders.

At this point I went back out to the car to check on the wife and kids who were not happy to be so close to home and sitting in Food Lion/Sushi Burger parking lot. I brought one of the kids in to use the restroom and brought her back out. There were no warm greetings to us.

I came back in and continued to wait. 15 minutes passed, 20 minutes passed, then 25 minutes passed, so I went back up to the front to ask about my order. The first server I spoke to came out and said, "sorry, but your order will be at least 10 more minutes". At this point the restaurant was 2 tables that had food, one that walked in and was looking at a menu, and myself.

I started to explain that I just wished I had some notification of the delay because we had been driving all day... but before I could finish the cook with a bandana on peered over the counter and told me "She already told you how long it was going to be, now be quiet and sit down and wait for your food. You are causing a scene."

I was shocked... what I was trying to tell the server was that some notification would have been nice, because I could have dropped everyone off at home and then come back to pick up the food - no problems, no kids tears in the car, etc. But instead the cook was the one who made a scene in the restaurant before I could even finish explaining what I wanted to say. He literally cut me off mid-sentence. I had not raised my voice, I had not used foul language, I was simply trying to explain something to the server. I worked in the service industry for almost 11 years - so over promising is a big no no for good...

I love how we were given the option to pick our own table and the other server who was working and seated us was very kind and very respectful. We were seated and greeted by OUR server who was off the bat very off putting. She already had an attitude with us as soon as we sat down but we brushed it off assuming she was just having a bad day. We told her our drink orders and let her know we just needed a couple of minutes. We proceeded to wait at our table for 35 minutes with no one coming around and multiple attempts to flag her down and us even pressing the button on the wall twice. We could confirm we pressed the button due the light in the center turning blue and the bell in the back ringing. Following this long wait one of us had to go flag her down. It almost seemed like she was avoiding our table? She told the person who flagged her down that we simply "Needed to ring the button when we were ready" We were never told this. None the less we still pressed the button twice with no answer from our server prior to her informing us we needed to press the button. When the server came back to our table she was incredibly rude and finally took our order while snatching our menus and having a nasty look on her face. Once she took our orders she returned with refills and left my cup half empty never returning to re-fill my cup? I also have a bone to pick with how we are forced to tip in front of our server. I feel obligated to tip more than what I think her trashy service deserved due to the fact she is looming over me with her arm stuck out staring at me and the screen waiting for me to tip her. This experience is abnormal compared to the previous 3 times I have visited this restaurant where all of our servers in the past have been excellent. Food was delicious as always and service was unusually terrible. Wont be...

Atmosphere: Went in with a friend during a time where there happened to be no other customers so it was really nice and quiet. We wanted sushi and sat in the sushi area of the restaurant. It had leather-like couches for seats and unique lighting/decorations. It smelled a bit like cleaning water and not so much like food, which I liked since it made me feel like the place was very clean, plus the smell of our food couldn't clash with the smell of other foods from earlier in the day. Music was alright and not too loud. It was a bit too cold for me, but I have Raynaud's Syndrome so I was numb by the time we left. If you don't have a sensitivity to cold you'll probably be fine.

Food/price: I got one sushi roll for like $17 and a lycheetini, and my total was $30 not including the tip. Friend got a sushi roll and a mocktail for the same price too. The sushi and drinks were all delicious but I'd save this restaurant for special occasions as I definitely plan on going back someday, it's just too out of budget for me to go regularly as a college student. If you have the budget then this might be your next favorite Southeast Asian restaurant in Greenville. They had a sushi dining area, a dining area for noodles(?), and a dining area with open grills to cook your own food South Korean-style.

Service: 9/10 the staff were very kind and knowledgeable about the menus. Our server went an extra mile to get my friend and I a couples-looking setup for our sushi even though we aren't dating and hadn't said so either. It was funny, but I think it'd be more effective for...