Massaki Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Staunton

I was looking forward to celebrating my husband with him for a teaching award he received. We were told it would be about a 30 minute wait. After about 40 minutes, the manager/owner came to us and said it would be a little longer. I asked if he know about how much longer and he said 20 minutes. I confirmed by asking, 20 minutes, he said yes and offered us a drink. 25 minutes later a large group who came in after us was seated...I recall one person in the group confirmed the wait time when they arrived so they didn’t have a reservation. I went to the hostess and said I see a group was just seated who came in after us...she said yes, they seat per group number. I asked if we were at least next to be seated and she laughed a little and said no. I asked why and she said there were two reservations ahead of us. I asked why we were not told there were reservations ahead of us and she said they came in early. I said then that should be their problem and asked what the new expected wait time was and she couldn’t tell me. I said we were told about 30 minutes wait, it’s been an hour, you already sat a group that came in after us and now because reservations arrived early, we have to continue to wait because we are only two people. She didn’t know what to say...she was young and I didn’t expect her to, I just expected her to get someone... I said we should have been told larger groups after us will be seated first and that if reservations arrive early they’ll be seated first...I said I just need some honesty here...she didn’t know what to say. I asked her to confirm. I was so upset...I was not irate but you could hear the frustrating and disappointment in my voice. I had planned to simply share my frustration and explain how unfair they run their operation to the manager/owner... but the longer I stood there waiting and waiting, I got more upset. This was in no way celebrating my husband....so I grabbed him and said let’s go!!!!! I took him to Red Lobster and we had a great time there!!!! If the extended wait time was because people simply stayed longer than expected or they made a mistake, I could except that, but I will never except not being honest with me about the wait and the fact they kept pushing our wait time because we were only 2 people without letting us know...if we were explained in the beginning, we would have just went somewhere else and came back another night. We will never come back into...

What I ordered: salmon roll with lemon and tempora crunch; miso soup- extra tofu, extra seaweed- with small side of rice; green tea and gyoza. I also asked for my water bottle to be filled with ice cold water and the waitress handled this very promptly.

Arrival: was seated immediately and greeted very professionally by a friendly, 40's-ish hostess.

Appearance: place was a little dirty, which matches reviews: food on the floor next to an empty table and walked on by waitresses. My table, though clean of debris, was sticky. There was a dirty table -filled with past guests' plates, drinks- but that was removed quickly. Did not see hibachi side.

Service: I received a fast waitress, arrived quickly, was friendly, no suggestions, even after saying I had never been here. Responded well to me ordering something a little different than the menu. While the miso did NOT have anything extra at all- 1 tsp of tofu cubes, 1 tsp of seaweed (remember I ordered extra of both), they accidentally delivered 2 orders of miso soup. Each bowl is half a cup of miso and they did not charge me at all for the miso and rice.

The gyoza was, as reviews have stated, very good, with just the right amount of crunch and sauce, just the right amount for a single to have as a side dish or to share with one other person. I also like that it came on a bed of shredded lettuce. Great choice and best part of my meal!

Overall: It was not a bad first experience and I would come again. I am a world traveler so the slightly less than hygienic environment does not bug me; I have seen worse and have eaten amazing food despite the place appearance. Plus my bill was very reasonable at $20.93. I would definitely come back. It was worth it.

Result- 4...

Massaki used to be great, last few years I have been disappointed enough times I don't think I will keep this restaurant in my repertoire. We got five sushi rolls and yakisoba. Two rolls were decent, two were bland and low quality fish. For the last one I've never seen a Texas steak roll so figured it might be amazing. I expected rare or at least medium steak beings it was sushi along with raw fish and soft rice, instead it was extremely overcooked and tough as shoe leather. When I told the waitress she just shrugged her shoulders and walked away, the entire meal she seemed like she was in a bad mood though. It was early around 4 and they were not busy and we certainly didn't ask for anything complicated maybe she just got bad news or something. The yakisoba and chicken was dried out with some hard pieces and rather unremarkable, I was surprised when I found they charge $20 for something worse than Ramen. Overall at this point I would go to the food truck or even Martin's for sushi and that is just as bad as it sounds. I forgot to take photos of our dissapointing dinner while we were there but got pictures of the doggy boxes before we...