Zu Izakaya Asian Kitchen Bar (Tempe) — Restaurant in Tempe

We came here last night bc we got a late start out the door for dinner, and they were open late. And boy, am I glad we came here! First of all, we walked in at 10 pm. The hostess told us there would be a wait for a booth, or she could seat us at the high top immediately, so we went w that. Waitress comes over maybe 3 minutes later for drink orders, then back pretty soon for food. We ended up ordering 4 sushi rolls and an appetizer (the rolls were the Las vegas roll, golden California roll, angry caterpillar, and spicy garlic tuna rolls, and then we also got gyoza). Probably 3 minutes after we ordered, the first 2 rolls came out, maybe 8 minutes later we had the rest of our food. This is by far the quickest service I've ever had at a sit down place, and honestly it was faster than some "fast food" too. We were super hungry and ate really fast, but we were literally finished eating at 10:30. Our waitress was attentive and made sure we had all we needed a few times. The longest part of the night was honestly just waiting to tell her we were ready for the check and then getting out, but I believe it was only because she had several tables leaving around the same time. As for the food, it was all good; my favorites were the golden California roll and the spicy garlic tuna roll. Las Vegas roll was also good, it's just a pretty common offering, so it doesn't particularly impress me, but nothing wrong w it. The only one I didn't love was the angry caterpillar, but that's really my own fault bc I know I'm not a huge fan of the cream cheese rolls but I ordered it anyways knowing it was bc it sounded good at the time lol. Also, I would say it had a little more sriracha than I would personally put on, but I am a wimp on spice, so do w that what you will. The gyoza were good as well, my husband really enjoyed the dipping sauce that came with them(I did think it was funny as this was actually the last thing to arrive, but we did order at the same time as our sushi rolls, and we don't actually care). Also, when the check came, I thought it was very reasonable. Again, we got 4 sushi rolls, gyoza, and then for drinks I had soju and my husband had a soda, and it was $65. In my experience, you can't really get good, sit down sushi for less than that, but it can definitely be more. Honestly the only negative (reason I put 4/5 for atmosphere) is that there was a table or two of very loud men behind us, pretty much yelling their conversation the whole time (not being belligerent, just loud). That, coupled with the fact we were seated side by side at the high top rather than across from each other in a booth, did make it a little hard to talk to each other, but again, we weren't there too long, and we could have waited for a booth if we chose, we were just hungry.

Tl;dr this was a great experience, with good, fast service, and good food. The only drawback was that it was a little loud, but considering how late it was, not too bad. We will...

Hard to imagine WORSE customer service. Had to leave before we were even seated.

We had a party of six and although the restaurant was fairly empty, they was no table available for a party our size. That is not the issue, just where it began. We asked if we could push two sections together - they declined and instead suggested their sports bar which smelled like the men's bathroom at a baseball stadium.

So we agreed to wait for a table to open and the host said we could wait at their center high top and order drinks from there while we waited for the table to become available. We could not have food at this high top (because ironically our party was not big enough for that - yet for six people too big for any of their available tables).

No one came to take our drink orders, and instead, 3 minutes later the host returned to tell us that actually we were not allowed to wait at the hightop and instead we had to go outside in 110 weather to wait (with two of the members in the party visibly pregnant).

Just imagine that - this host who seated us at this high top bar then has a change of mind and requests two pregnant women to stand outside in 110 degrees to wait 40 minutes for a table to open up.

So we did go outside, get into our cars and went down the road to Kabuki and spent a few hundred dollars...

My wife and I love Zu Izakaya. We have been coming here for the past 5 years. I have some things that I will criticize but no to deter me from going back. At first sight it has a very unassuming facade, very demure. Its parking lot is worn down and has no parking lines, it might even look like an abandoned business. This place has a good vibe to it. It's busy, clean, dimmed. The service is phenomenal, by now we recognize the servers and the hosts and vice versa. Professionals in the trade. It has a dark interior and is kept dimmed. They have a tv on one of the wall to watch sports. There is a communal high table in the middle of the room and a bar at the back of the building, if there is no tables at the front there is an option to go to the bar section where there is more tables and tv's. Sushi is delicious, I have had the hot pots which it was very good as well. The other food that I have had is bulgogi served with vegetables on a skillet and rice. There has been occasions that the vegetables need more time to cook and bulgogi need to be less fatty. Miso soup we order every time, sometimes is not so hot. Gyoza is always great as well as the calamari tempura. I usually get a beer. The draft beer needs a lower temperature to my liking, but the bottled beer is...