Laughing Monk Cafe — Restaurant in Wellesley

Wife and I came for our anniversary and had the omakase. Every plate was delicious and brought something unique to the experience through texture, flavor, and aroma. All of the seafood was fresh and vibrant, and worthy of the showcase.

The plating was immaculate. Some dishes were so beautiful as to have a painterly quality, displaying a master's eye for color and composition. And there's clear evidence of an artist's craft in the experience, expressed through small flourishes like the first bite being served out of a treasure chest salvaged from the ocean's floor, or seating omakase patrons at the bar to witness the performance of the meal's making. Needless to say, if you have a special experience to celebrate, the omakase will make it feel special.

Since that first meal, we've been back a couple of times for (sigh) normal dinners. While they weren't as spectacular as the omakase, they were still excellent. The sushi is always executed well, and the whole grain rice they use gives it a nuttiness that surprised me at first, but I grew to enjoy. While the sushi is the star here, we also quite liked their fried rice.

We don't live as close as we once did, so there's no telling when we'll be back - but we will. The Laughing Monk is...

The food was absolutely amazing and the atmosphere was great as well. HOWEVER, the server was beyond rude. My friend and I split a basil fried rice and a shrimp appetizer. We sat at the bar, right in front of the sushi station. The server took our orders, gave us our food, refilled our water once, and asked how the food was one time. Service was nothing special at all. The total for each of us was $14.15, and I rounded up the total to $15 and paid. I didn’t tip much because we sat at the bar, service was literally nothing special, and tips are never required. Once the server saw my tip amount, she began interrogating me about the tip amount, ending off by saying to not dine in with them again if I can’t tip. Both my friend and I, who are first year college students, were extremely uncomfortable and a little scared. I was insanely taken aback because it’s never okay to do this as a server, especially when you factor in the fact that it’s EXTREMELY unprofessional. I was just telling my friend how much I loved the food and was literally thinking how this place might become my usual spot given how much I love Thai food and how close by it is. However, after this terrible experience, I will NEVER be...

Listen, the food here is incredible. Hands down the best sashimi I've ever had, and the mango curry wasn't that far after.

The reason this isn't 5 stars? It is doing WAY too much for the floorplan it was provided.

Props to them for making an incredibly efficient restaurant with such limited space. Truly. But the problem is they find themselves in this weird middle-ground where it's too small to be comfortable, yet too big to be intimate.

Because of this, the menu and execution comes off confused: For menu we have southern Asian meals competing against a course style sushi bar. As for execution we have a busy takeout desk competing with the 5 cramp dining tables, which are all also competing with a sushi bar!

Maybe, drop one of these many concepts your juggling? My vote would be the dining tables. Make it an upscale, high price, low frequency sushi bar (your sushi quality is already well worth it), with takeout for those who cant land a seat at your highly sought after bar.

Will this price people out, myself included? Yes. Will this make it so you're not just another...