Sakura — Restaurant in Westport

We were a family group of five and had an unpleasant dinner experience. I admit that I am a clean freak. I worked in restaurants in my youth, so I know the many sins of cleanliness of which restaurants are guilty. I was a bit disgusted to see spattered grease around the perimeter of the hibachi. It was cold outside, so you can imagine our disappointment to find that the dining room was freezing. It's unclear what the problem was. Maybe the exhaust fans over the hibachis were sucking out too much air, because it was cold and drafty. Our poor 94-year old Bubbe had to have her coat draped over her shoulders during the whole dinner. We ordered hot tea. It was served in plastic cups. I couldn't even warm my hands on the tea cups. Plastic is not a good conductor of heat. The tea itself was just okay and perhaps a bit weak. I am accustomed to great tea at Japanese restaurants, but theirs lacked flavor. Speaking of the exhaust fans, they are old and very noisy. Adding to the noise were two tables of twenty-somethings celebrating birthdays. They were very loud. The management really should have asked them to tone it down. We ordered the dumpling sampler, two orders of the fillet and tuna to be cooked on the hibachi (the main point of going to such a restaurant), and some sushi. The entrees come with soup, salad, and steamed white rice. The soup was mostly good, but it had what appeared to be strange, small droplets of deep-fried batter that were nicely crunchy, but also greasy. That addition seemed unnecessary to me and didn't add flavor. In fact, I personally found it detracted somewhat from the delicate flavor of the clear broth. No one else seemed to mind too much. The salad was disappointing. The iceberg lettuce was cold and crisp, but it's still just iceberg lettuce. The ginger dressing was underwhelming. I have had much better. I didn't do the ordering, so I can't tell you exactly which dumplings from the sampler I tried. They were steamed, tasty, but unremarkable. The fried dumplings no one ate. They didn't look very appetizing, so maybe that's why we didn't eat them. Next came some thin rice noodles fried on the hibachi. Some of them got crispy from the frying, but they were tasteless. Two from our party ordered fried rice. The vegetables I am fairly certain were of the bagged, frozen variety. This place wasn't inexpensive, so frozen vegetables? Really? We asked for one of the orders of fillet to be cooked medium rare and the other medium. The pieces I got were sufficiently medium, but too salty. We asked that the tuna be cooked rare and medium rare. The tuna was all overcooked-not a trace of pink. The sushi was adequate. The one piece of tuna appeared to me to have been gassed to make it look redder-too red in my opinion. The final yuck factor was that the guy who cleaned the hibachi did a terrible job. The other staff were reasonably competent. To summarize, Sakura was overpriced considering the so-so quality of the food and very uncomfortable atmosphere. If you must experience the fancy knife work of the hibachi chef, go for it, but prepare to be disappointed in every...

As a devoted patron of Sakura for over twenty years, it's with regret that I must inform you that our family will no longer patronize your restaurant.

Our dedication to Sakura has been solidified by its storied history within the community and the numerous positive experiences we've shared within its walls. However, our last visit was disheartening, prompting us to reconsider our support for what has been a local landmark.

This letter aims to reach you, the owner, to address concerns regarding the customer service at Sakura, particularly concerning the person we encountered at the front desk, who also serves as the manager. It's essential to reassess her approach, as the rudeness we experienced is not acceptable by any standard, especially within the welcoming community of Westport.

The core of our dissatisfaction stemmed from an incident involving a significant delay. Despite having a reservation for 6 PM, we waited 45 minutes for the hibachi chef to arrive. This waiting period is challenging for any family, particularly one with young children anticipating a birthday celebration. Our frustration grew when we noticed tables seated after us beginning their meals ahead of us.

When we expressed our concerns to the manager at the front desk, her response was absolutely dismissive, exacerbating our frustration. Such indifference and lack of concern for customer satisfaction were disheartening. We waited and waited more.

It became evident that our seating was deliberately delayed in an attempt to accommodate additional guests with a later reservation, clearly prioritizing the restaurant's convenience over the customers' experiences.

Enough was enough. We settled the bill for what we had consumed and exited the restaurant.

This incident was particularly concerning as it involved the manager, who should be setting a high standard for loyal customers. The culmination of these issues has led to our decision to cease our patronage of Sakura. What was intended as a celebratory occasion turned into a disappointing experience, overshadowing a moment meant for joy and celebration.

I hope this letter encourages a reflection on Sakura's service practices, that are otherwise outstanding. Your establishment has the potential to offer wonderful experiences to its guests, but it is crucial that everyone, especially those in management positions, treats customers with the respect and courtesy that...

I knew right away that the bartender has the experience of a 4 year old child behind the bar when my 11 dollar “spicy margarita” was served in a hurricane glass rather than an appropriate margarita glass. Whatever, not the biggest deal, as long as it tastes okay, right? Well, upon tasting this foul cup of rotting sewer water, I was startled to find that this was not a traditional margarita with infused pepper tequila but was instead an insulting cup of pickled jalapeño juice spiked with some lousy tequila. I almost spit it onto the hibachi grill it tasted so bad, and I had to give my 4 friends a sip to confirm I wasn’t crazy (I was in fact not crazy.) My lord, what an insulting horrific mistake of a beverage to serve to an unsuspecting victim.

Now a bad bartender pops up here and there and doesn’t always ruin the night or overall experience. However, what DOES always ruin the experience is atrocious, impersonal wait service. For an involuntary 20% added gratuity, I would like my waiter to smile, have a presentable appearance, and answer questions that I have about the menu. Instead, I paid 20% gratuity for minimal eye contact, disheveled presentation, and general inattentiveness. This inattentiveness was probably due to the AirPods dangling from my waiter’s ear as he took my order.

The hibachi chef was the only guy who was pretty cool, however, my table was disappointed to learn that we couldn’t participate in the sake bomb (one of the most iconic and entertaining aspects of any hibachi restaurant) because of the little 8 year old gremlin sitting at our table. I don’t know if it’s the restaurant policy, or if the ogre of a mom specifically requested that her daughter can’t watch anyone have fun at the hibachi table, but regardless this is the only hibachi restaurant I’ve been to in my life in which we couldn’t do the sake bomb. I would’ve left crumpled up Monopoly money in my glass of water as a tip if they hadn’t screwed us with a whopping 20% mandatory gratuity.

Onto the food. Steak was good, meat was good, everything was good besides the burnt dried up noodles. Again, the hibachi guy was pretty chill, I feel kind of bad he has to work in such a tacky atmosphere with morons all day.

In conclusion, I wouldn’t wish for my worst enemies to endure the pain and discomfort of dining at this absolute joke of an establishment.

These guys...