Mahi's — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Not much of a reviewer, so hopefully this crosses the reader well.

I was in another reviewers party the night that they went as well. Their review is written by ISO-941. It was for a celebration of our siblings graduation. A special night for all of us - the graduatee, the family, the significant other. The graduatees request was to go to their favorite sushi spot, Mahi's. We decided to go, and as we arrived, we walked into an incredibly loud restaurant flooded with people, a live band playing horrible music, and a staff that was anything but welcoming and inviting. A great start to a great night...

we get told there is a 30 minute wait, no worries. we wait 30 minutes.... 45 minutes.... 1 hour before we finally get seated. A friendly face appears - our waitress - she seats us at our table. She sees a table for 9 people appear, and the amazing intelligence of Mahi's thinks "Let's provide this table of 9 people with 1 liter of water". For 10 minutes, we waited for our waitress to re-appear to ask for more drinks. We exclaim "We only got one water! Could we please get more?" She delivers us 3 more liters to make up for it.

We order appetizers now. We ordered maybe 5-7 items. I can't even remember exactly what we ordered now, I forgot what we ordered while we waited over 45 MINUTES for the appetizers to arrive. They did not just appear on behalf of the restaurant either. We were so antsy, hungry, and annoyed, I finally stepped in to speak to the manager and wouldn't you guess it, Voila! the appetizers were done.... over done. the wings took an extra 15 minutes to come out after another reminder that we ordered them, but they were late probably from sitting in the fryer 10 minutes longer than needed. It was similar to eating chicken jerkey with some bottled buffalo sauce - for 18 dollars for 6 wings - 3 dollars a wing - it was absolutely a waste of money. My pal's (ISO-941) oyster soup came to the table with the carrying plate being scorching hot due to sitting for more time under the heat lamp than sitting in the plastic bag the soup was probably cut out of. We knew the soup wasn't fresh either because while it was sitting under the heat lamp, the top layer of the soup congealed - clear indication that it's been sitting for a while. The fries that we ordered were fries pulled from a plastic bag from a deep freezer, another waste of 10s of dollars. So far, the entire experience has been awful.

Then comes dinner time. It was almost like a package deal, you get horrible service in the beginning, the ending is also horrible. I saw the manager walking by and decided to let her know of the tables dissatisfaction. She looked to be sweet, wearing a nice quirky dress, a (find out later) deceiving smile, I get welcomed with a "Hello! How is your night going?", an expected question.

" Hello, I just want to let you know of our frustrations as a table with tonight's service, food deliveries, and overall quality of experience and food. Overall, the food has taken exceptionally long to get to the table, the food over cooked, everyone is just unhappy."

You could almost see the horns appears from under the blonde hair, the venomous teeth seethe from her mouth, the emptiness of her eyes - staring down an abyss of nothing. She replies "the food has been delivered on a timely manner and I think everything looked delicious as it was coming out. What are you wanting me to do about it?"

Look, I understand this review is lengthy and it is from a stranger. I have no reason to lie as again, I don't do reviews, this horrible experience just couldn't be left alone. That was her exact response, almost verbatim. This was a manager as well.

I responded to her, taken aback for sure from the rudeness, "well I am speaking on behalf of the whole table. If you want a more concise explanation of tonight's faults, please go ask everyone at the table."

I have exceeded my character limitation. unfortunately there is no way to continue. the summary is this place is horrible and its a tourist trap. don't fall for the trap. trust me,...

We as a family cannot say enough bad things about Mahi's, especially since it was our first time (and most certainly our last) at the restaurant!

Where to begin.. Our family (the 3 of us) were in Virginia Beach for a sporting tournament. We attend many in Virginia Beach. We choose to stay in a hotel overnight even though we only live about a 2 hours away. It's easier! We're extremely familiar with VB and The Tidewater. We had just checked out of our hotel after finishing our tournament and wanted to grab lunch before heading home. My wife and I had noticed the restaurant the night before and said we should try it.

Upon arriving, we we greeted (mostly pleasantly) by the hostess at pretty much the stroke of 2:30 p.m. We Immediately were seated. We looked at the menu. Fairly high prices but what did we expect... It's a tourist destination. We then waited nearly 20 minutes for anyone to come to our table! 3 other tables on either side of us had been seated, orders taken and drinks delivered before my wife went to the hostess stand to see what the deal was. We were ready to leave. Finally, our server (Leah) arrived! Very unapologetically I might add, to take our order.

We ordered the chicken club, blackened mahi mahi sandwich and chicken tenders with fries along with a virgin Pina Colada and a Blue Moon. It took another nearly 10 minutes to get our drinks. We had actually thought about leaving and going somewhere else but had run out of time. We needed to eat and now were left with no options.

When our food finally arrived, disappointed doesn't begin to cover it. I will have posted pictures but I assure you, the prices charged were by any definition, ABSURD! Shameful would probably be a better description. The chicken club was mostly flavorless less the bacon lifting the flavor up. The blackened fish sandwich (though not blackened, it's not just a spice blend, it's a preparation) was disappointing, as well as luke warm and the chicken tenders (3) we're pretty much shoe leather. Two plates were served with slightly more than a handful of fries and the coleslaw with the other was flat and bland.

Our daughter did well in her tournament so we told her she could order dessert. She ordered the ice cream sandwich. Our daughters description of it was " Well, this is pretty much crap."

Leah, our server, brought the check before our daughter was even finished. We gave her our card and when returning our check, informed us that "we're all set! Everything is included." $15.40 in tip had already been added though the only listing for added gratuity listed was for parties of 6 or over... Oh, you'll also get charged their credit card percentage fee unless you pay cash.

Are you kidding me! First of all, you may not add anything to the check unless notifying the customer, in writing, of the charge. I will be sending an email to the Virginia Attorney General's consumer division, reporting the practice tomorrow! Leah (our server) probably thought she was going to get stiffed because we waited so long. She wasn't! If she'd handled it differently.

After working in and being the general manager of several nationality ranked restaurants all over the country, I would never blame a server for a section seating oversight. Not if handled properly! She did the exact opposite of what should have been done, acknowledged nothing and for all tense and purpose, stole from us.

I'm going to make sure to let any and or all persons, that have oversight of the restaurants business know of it's practices. $105.00 for 2 sandwiches, 1 beer, 1 mocktail, a kids plate (maybe for a 4 yo) and a horrible dessert. Personally, and I don't say this often, I found it pretty arrogant and gutsy to bring food like that, with such a service failure and charge STUPID money. That's how we feel. Taken advantage of and really stupid! I would avoid the place...

As of today, 8/25/24,

My review of Mahi's has changed. A year ago, around today's date, we had a positive experience.

Today, 8/25/24......it was horrible!!!!

My husband & I chose to eat breakfast @ Mahi's today because we've had good past experiences here, and we recently learned they allow dogs.

We were seated. I was seated by the hostess, of whom I had to go, find because no one was at the front upon our arrival. She sat me & I told her my husband was coming from the outside, with our dog.

Menus & silverware were placed on the table. After being seated for at least 2-3 minutes, my husband took the dog for a potty walk. I remained @ the table.

At this point, about 5 minutes had passed. Not a single waiter or waitress greeted me, acknowledged me or anything. So, I continue to sit there and wait.

As I'm still waiting to be acknowledged, an older white female waitress served the table adjacent to ours. I'm thinking, she's coming to my table next. Nope!

Then, a male waiter, who was white, came out. He walked past my table & went to the table in front of where I was seated. He checked on them & had a short conversation w/ them. Again, I'm thinking he's coming to me next. NOPE! He went inside the restaurant.

Now, let me state my husband and I were the "ONLY BLACK PEOPLE" sitting on the patio. Everyone else was white. How could you miss us or not see me? Plus, I had on a bright pink shirt & bright turquoise shorts. Really!!!!!

All this occurred b4 my husband returned to the table from walking the dog.

So after about 10 minutes or so, I quietly gather my purse, get up & go inside to seek a manager.

I met the manager. I very calmly, even though I was very angry, wanted to know why both wait staff served both tables, yet never even acknowledged my presence. They were in the kitchen as I'm telling the manager what happened. They still didn't acknowledge me. He apologized and said it wasn't intentional (racist/ prejudice basically). He told me he would serve us himself.

I told him I didn't even think we were going to stay. I go back outside & sit back down. He comes out with 2 waters, tells & says, "Don't let this ruin your day." I'm totally pissed, offended & appalled. The manager then asks what we are going to order. I say, "we like Bloody Mary's, but when my husband returns, we probably won't stay." The manager says, " I'll add extra vodka & they will be on me. " I know he was trying to do damage control, but that doesn't fix this.

The manager brings the drinks as my husband returned with the dog. The manager quickly apologized to my husband. Now, my husband has no idea of what happened because I didn't have a chance to tell him. So, I over-talked the manager & told my husband what happened.

We told the manager we were leaving. The manager said, " I'm sorry, there's nothing else I can do". The manager tried to say it was a mix up in hosting staff & whose table we were.

Does it matter? The fact that neither one of the wait staff addressed me & avoided coming to our table, as well as, the fact we were the only black people on the patio; It was 100% intentional.

All the white people, on the patio got served & the 2 Black people didn't. Really!!!!

We left. It's highly unlikely we will ever return.

We drove down to Jumping Shrimp. We were treated VERYYYY well & the way we should have been...