Koto Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in South Burlington

Do not eat here if you have food allergies or must eat gluten free. I called before dining here and was assured by the staff that they have GF options and that they can cook something GF in the main kitchen. They advised me they don't have a GF menu but that the waiters are knowledgeable about what I can have. That was far from the truth.

When I asked my server about ordering GF, he didn't seem to know a lot of information. He told me they would cook it on the hibachi grill with everyone's food which was not what I was told when I called. I asked him if they could cook it in the back and he was argumentative about it. I told him I just wouldn't order anything then. He then told me that he will be sure that it's GF and that it was safe to order. I ordered some GF fried rice. He then proceeded to bring me soup that I can't have and said it was GF. I questioned it as I saw what appeared to be a fried onion garnish in it. He then came back to the table and confirmed in fact that it WAS NOT GF. Luckily I knew better and didn't eat it. The hibachi chef came out and proceeded to cook my GF rice and some NON GF noodles on the same grill using the same utensils. He also provided a sauce for the rice which the chef said was GF. The server then saw the sauce in front of meand came over and whispered that the sauce was not GF. I told him the chef just said it was and the server then said well I guess it is then. He didn't really seem to know. Needless to say I didn't eat it. GF is not a choice for me. It was my daughter's birthday and this is where she requested to go. It's never fun to sit and watch everyone eat. I would just advise that they train their staff better or offer a GF menu that clearly labels what...

TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR RECEIPT. I attached a photo (please look at the reviews to find it) of my receipt from kotos along with how much they took out of my bank. The hibachi chef was friendly, however they got lazy with our orders, one of us didn’t want mushrooms so they completely skipped the mushrooms for all of us, and didn’t give us our 2 shrimps that come with the hibachi dinner. Whatever, other not-so-great experience was the waiter was not friendly at all. I noticed days later that they overcharged my card so I call the restaurant and the manager "couldn't find my receipt". So what he offers me is a $0.20 gift card (like I’d ever return here after this experience, and I don't live here!!). So basically he couldn’t give me my money back. On top of all this, I was told the person who enters the tip and total amount on the computer is the waiter. Then it is double checked by THREE managers to make sure the amounts are correct.. so I can't help but question if this is an on-going thing. (I was told about this place doing this and it's the reason I took a photo of my receipt) I don’t care if it was 1 penny, that is considered stealing. Another thing. It was super hot and muggy in the restaurant, we looked up to see if there was an AC anywhere and we saw a vent with built up pieces of dust hanging down like icicles from the vents, it was so gross. I will never be returning or recommending. I will be warning people instead. ((Typically I always tip on average 18%-20%. However, in situations/experiences like this I leave the...

I rated this restaurant 5 stars because it is one of my favorite places to go grab sushi for lunch, or bring my friends to a nice dinner in the Burlington area. However, yesterday on a Sunday, I went to have lunch and was super unimpressed with the amount of time we had to wait. Coming from a restaurant business myself, I understand that there are busy times and impatient customers. Our experience yesterday consisted of being seated by the hostess, brought water by a busser and then waiting over 10 minutes for our waitress to even greet us, never-mind the 10 minute wait on drinks. Again, I do not mind waiting for anything as I understand business but the restaurant was not as busy as Ive seen it previously and there were about 4 tables seated in our waitresses section. This tells me that there was no communication between hostess and servers which is a problem. Because it was quite obvious the server had no idea we were there. For the amount of money that you pay to have a nice dining experience at Kotos, I would expect the tables, soy sauce bottles and bathrooms to be clean. Which they were not this time and I was all around unimpressed. My sushi however, was FANTASTIC! I just want a manager to see this and strive to do better like I KNOW YOU GUYS...