Sushi By Bou- DC @ CitizenM Hotel L'enfant Plaza — Restaurant in Washington

Extremely disappointing dining experience – microaggressions and poor service

We did not make a reservation and went upstairs to the restaurant to ask if we could dine in. A Black female staff member informed us that omakase requires a reservation. I said that we didn’t want omakase, just a regular dinner, and would order à la carte. She said that was fine and told us to sit wherever we liked, and that she would bring us “everything we need.” However, after that, she disappeared.

She didn’t offer us water, didn’t explain the menu, and didn’t even wait for us to settle before moving on to serve other guests. What stood out most to me was that she never smiled at us, but I clearly observed her smiling warmly at other (white) guests. For a restaurant attached to a four-star hotel, the service was shockingly unprofessional and cold.

What’s worse, two other staff members repeatedly looked over at us while we sat there for 30 minutes, completely ignored, but none of them approached to ask if we had been served. I couldn’t help but wonder – was this discriminatory treatment? I had clearly told the staff we were there to dine. Why were we treated so differently?

As an Asian guest, I sincerely urge fellow Asians not to visit this restaurant. Despite serving Japanese cuisine, there is absolutely no trace of Japanese hospitality or respect. The service was appalling, and the indifference from every staff member was deeply upsetting. This restaurant exhibits microaggressions and a lack of basic courtesy.

After waiting 30 minutes without anyone coming to our table, we left. Not a single staff member stopped us or asked why we were leaving without ordering. It broke my heart. We were staying at citizenM for three nights, and this is the restaurant attached to their hotel. I called citizenM afterward to report the incident. They said they would look into it and get back to me — but after two days, I still haven’t received any follow-up.

It’s unacceptable for a hotel to ignore such poor service from their affiliated restaurant. In a competitive hospitality market, this kind of neglect will quickly lead to failure. I plan to leave a review on citizenM’s page as well to warn others. Please reconsider before booking with citizenM or dining at this restaurant — it may leave you feeling disrespected and heartbroken.

Lastly, if poor service doesn’t bother you, you should still be aware of food safety concerns. I noticed sashimi sitting out unrefrigerated for over an hour while being served to guests. If you have a sensitive stomach, I strongly advise you to avoid this place — you risk serious food poisoning from unsafely...

Disappointing and unprofessional – sushi quality and service far below expectations

I had high hopes for this restaurant, but the experience was incredibly disappointing from start to finish.

First, the sashimi was not fresh at all. In Japan, this would be completely unacceptable. I watched in disbelief as raw fish was left out at room temperature for nearly an hour while being served to guests. That’s a serious food safety issue and certainly not what you’d expect from a high-end Japanese restaurant.

What shocked me even more was that the chef preparing the omakase wasn’t Japanese — and, from what we could tell, had no formal training in Japan. That might explain the lack of hygiene and professionalism. He didn’t clean his hands between making each piece of sushi, nor did he wipe down the counter properly. It made the entire experience feel unclean and frankly, disgusting.

My wife and I were seated next to a white female guest who came alone. Throughout the meal, the chef — a Black man named Sean — kept chatting with her nonstop. He completely ignored us, but to be honest, we didn’t want his attention either. In traditional omakase dining, sushi chefs usually maintain quiet concentration out of respect and hygiene — talking excessively is considered unprofessional, especially since saliva can spread onto the food. Sean didn’t wear a mask and kept talking while preparing sushi, which made us feel extremely uncomfortable and unhygienic. It was honestly disturbing.

We had an 8:00 PM reservation but weren’t seated until 8:15. During the wait, a white female server approached and asked if we wanted drinks. Before we could even look at the menu, she impatiently said, “Or do you just want water?” The tone felt dismissive and rushed. We ended up asking for water, but what she brought us was unfiltered tap water with a strong raw taste. For a restaurant inside a four-star hotel, this was shocking — no filtered water?

Even though we were seated late at 8:15, our dinner was cut off exactly at 9:00 PM. The whole meal felt rushed and mechanical, with none of the care or atmosphere you expect from a proper omakase experience. The dinner was advertised as a 60-minute course, but instead of adjusting for the delay or offering any apology or compensation, they hurried through it and ended abruptly.

To make matters worse, the restaurant mandates a minimum 18% gratuity, regardless of how poor the service is. For a place that charges premium prices and advertises itself as a refined omakase experience, this was one of the worst dining...

The food and chefs were incredible! Chef Sean was really fun to talk to as he was preparing our omakase.

When we came, they were running behind by 10 mins, but that was okay, they had their rooftop open and it wasn't that bad of a wait. It's also worthy to note that they gave everyone a free complimentary shot of sake (this was mixed with some sort of juice) as apologies for the wait.

However, please note that the bar area is kinda small and tight, especially when they shoved another seat to fit one more person - so if you're on the bigger side, you might want to try to sit at the end.

Omakase was great. We got the bouijie course of 17 instead of just 12, but I am not sure it was was worth double the price point. The base omakase was already impressive, one item, the surf-and-turf was consisted of seared wagyu (beef) with uni (sea urchin) on top. For the boujie course, you get more higher quality cuts of fish, even one that is smoked right in front of you, but again, whether this is worth double the amount is not something I am completely sure about.

Something that I do have a complaint about is that they don't seem to do anything for special occasions. The ladies by us were celebrating a birthday and we were celebrating our anniversary. I believe our reservations also asked for this information. Both parties also elected for the boujie course as well. I'm not saying that we should have been entitled to anything, but again for something that literally calls itself "boujie", one would have expected something small, like a dessert, at the end of the meal. Instead we were just rushed out of our seats because they were running behind for the next reservation.

Next, the zero proof drinks were HIGHLY underwhelming for the price, 12$ a drink. I had two, the Easy Peasy and the Galaxy Lemonade. Easy Peasy was just decorative sugar water while the lemonade was also decorative lemonade. I would only recommend getting the lemonade for the looks, the taste was ok.

The alcoholic drinks were fine though. We got the Yuzu Honeybee one and it was good. There were plenty of space to enjoy a drink while waiting for your omakase reservation.

Again, for the food, there was nothing to really complain about in terms of quality, considering this location is in DC. All the pieces were great.

I would recommend going here for the omakase experience - just be aware of your...