Sushi Queen — Restaurant in Sterling

Today was quite the disappointment. We arrived just after 7pm and saw there were quite a few people waiting. No big deal. We live in an area where we expect a wait time. Walked in to put our name on the wait list. While standing at the register/host stand I looked around and saw that most of the booths were empty but not bussed. I'm not sure what was going on but that should have been my first clue that it wouldn't go well. Meanwhile I still waited just to put my name on the list. There was someone behind the counter who looked at me several times but didn't acknowledge me. So I still waited. Finally after more than 5 minutes (because i didn't check the time immediately) a hostess came. That should have been clue 2. She immediately tells me that it will be a 20 minute wait. I say ok. She asks my name and I tell her. She writes my name and the numeral 2. So I tell her that we are a large party of 8 and she should have asked me. At that point she tells me that she doesn't know how long the wait will be and that there are other large parties. It really seemed like she didn't want us to stay. I did tell her that they have poor customer service at that point and I asked if they wanted our business or not. She just told me that it would be 20 to 30 minutes. That should have been clue 3. However, we waited anyway. When they came and called us they started to take us to a table but another server or host came and said no. They decided to switch our table and in the process told us it would be another 3 minutes. So there we were in the middle of the dining room, standing and waiting. It was a bit awkward. We were a large party but it isn't the first time we have gone with such a large number. So we were not worried about the time it would take for them to prepare the food and what not. We ordered (and found out they had no miso soup) and the first round came out except my food which was edamame and seaweed salad. My husband received his chicken fried rice but not his beef gyoza or cucumber salad. People ordered a 2nd time and received their food and my husband and I were still waiting. People ordered a 3rd time and at that point I told the server that I still hadn't received any of my food and that my husband was missing his. The server's answer was ok. I asked him what ok meant. And he said we just had to wait. I went ahead and ordered a few rolls in the hope I would get some dinner. My husband made the choice not to eat. The rolls I ordered arrived before the seaweed salad and the edamame. I also had to ask for wasabi because none was brought with the rolls. Ginger wasn't brought either but I didn't realize I needed to ask for that too. At that point, it was 8:30, and the server told us that it was last call. We still hadn't received all that was ordered and it was last call 30 minutes before closing. It was really disappointing because we used to enjoy going. The staff was friendly enough but it has gone downhill over time. The staff seems annoyed when you ask for things...like napkins or wasabi or to clear the empty plates. I know this is a chain so it may be time to take the drive to Fredericksburg. The added gratuity was not even worth the service we received. Next time I will split the bill just so they cannot add...

So… yesterday, I went to this establishment to get something to eat after a long day of work. I have frequented this place before with zero complaints… until yesterday.

First of all, I go in and get seated. I am a party of one… and it took nearly 20 minutes (between 6:10 and 6:30) before someone noticed I was there. And the waitress who ended up serving me asked me if I needed something… like duh, I need to be waited on. I haven’t been seen yet. I’ve sat here for 20 minutes waiting to order a stupid drink. Mind you, the restaurant was not packed during this time, it was not booming with customers. There’s no way I could’ve been ignored or not seen because of them being overwhelmed with work.

Then, I get my food order in. Of course, it’s delicious and good. The waitress asks her usual “Would you like anything else?””Do you want a refill?” I did ask for one, never got it. When I finished eating, she asked me if I wanted anything else. I asked for one more of a specific roll I always get… and then she left and didn’t come back for a WHILE. I was reading stuff in my phone by the time she came back and she looked at me like I was weird for still sitting there and asked again if I wanted dessert or something… I said “No… I ordered a extra of this roll.” She goes and gets it, I eat it, and at this point I just wanna go.

So I asked for the check. She then asked if I wanted dessert. I said, “No thank you. Just the check”. She the kept proceeding to ask me what ice cream I’d like, listing off the flavors. I eventually conceded and said “strawberry” because I just couldn’t get her to understand I didn’t want ice cream. It’s not complimentary, it becomes part of my bill.

So she brings me the check and this ice cream… I do my best to eat it. And I decided I was not gonna tip her because the service was… not worth an extra charge. So I paid what I owed and I left.

And this is where my biggest issue lies.

I don’t make it half way to my own car before she’s RUNNING to get me in the parking lot and proceeds to ask me why I didn’t tip her. I just stared at her confused and frightened. I have never had any server run up on me and demand a tip. So I apologize and go “sorry, ma’am”. She then kept asking me what was wrong with her service, why wouldn’t I give her a tip, didn’t I know her salary was low, she has a daughter and she needs the money and on and on like this.

I am not… and have never been a confrontational person… so I just signed the stupid check because I wanted her out of my face. But that action of hers was completely against the rules, it has to be. Waiters/Waitresses are not OWED a tip. And certainly shouldn’t be chased down for one when the service that was provided was terrible.

So… I will come back, but I will make it a point to voice that I will not be served by HER. Because that was completely...

This place is under new management and IS A DISASTER. They advertise themselves as buffet and puts on menu "repeat order until you are full" yet I recently had a HORRIFIC experience here and it is one of my family's fave place to go too even though my kids don't eat much we still go there for the variety. Anyway it started out as I was gonna be in the area for a meeting @6pm so I decided to grab early dinner. My upon my 2nd order of my fave thing to get there yellow tail jalapeño they said they can no longer serve me that and the manager came to my table and said sorry but we can't keep giving you that order because there is a limit of two per person per order, mind you everyone that this place is a buffet but you place your order to the waitress and they prep and bring it to you. I have been to this place over 20 times in less than a year with family, parties and friends etc and I use to brag and recommend this place but has since gone downhill. As a matter of fact I was there with my family 3 weeks ago and I regularly make this order and never had this experience before.

Anyway I told them I wanted to place that order coz that's what I want to eat tonight at this point and said if I decide on something else later I will let you know and the manager MING he says his name is started saying well we refuse to serve you the order that you want. So I told him why not? Because you already had it twice, I told him and what is your point? I have had it more than that before here and it's never been a problem he then says you can order anything else but that just because he felt like it and he said if I wanted that same order I have to pay more mind you at this point I lost my appetite ppl were looking at my table so I said if you refuse to serve me I don't want anything in this place. Story cut short they forced me to leave because they no longer want to serve me and made me pay $24 for refusing to serve a buffet as they have advertised. Sadly a place that my kids love to go to has now been crossed off our list to eat.

This place was never the best sushi place out there but for $24 (after taxes) it's decent for a sushi buffet and the fact that they serve it to your table was a plus but this new management like to bulldoze people around and make a scene just because they decided to change their minds on what they advertise. It was a real horrible experience there & I suggest to everyone to just skip this restaurant to save you the trouble and grief of thinking you're getting a buffet experience. I have spent up to $200 with other sushi restaurants that have more variety than this place so it's not worth it at all to spend time and money in a place that doesn't appreciate repeat customers. You don't treat regular customers like that and if you want to make changes make them before you open up to public....