Japonica Diner/Merriweather Creperie — Restaurant in Whidbey Island

I wanted to give a higher review, because I think this restaurant has great potential. Unfortunately, what we experienced our first time there was enough to make us never want to return. The servers seem inexperienced and were not very warm, friendly, or accommodating. We were rushed when we got to the counter and tried to order despite the place not being busy (it was about 1 or 2 hours after they opened for the day). We were saddened by the lack of options--basically everything used raw fish or raw ingredients, and we were hoping for a warm, cooked lunch. The "seared tuna" was completely raw. What they call "rice bowls" are actually more like Hawaiian poke bowls using raw fish; actual rice bowls in Japanese cuisine are usually dishes like katsudon (pork cutlet & rice) or gyudon (thin-sliced beef, onion, and rice). Nothing wrong with serving primarily sushi and other raw food, but I wish the restaurant was more upfront about that fact, using clearer language on their menu. The presentation of the food was very beautiful, but everything on the menu was very overpriced. Two entrees and two lemonades were $70. The yuzu lemonade we ordered was very watered down and bitter, and there was no option to sweeten it despite the restaurant's boba-making equipment. It seems like this restaurant is trying to do too many things too quickly and all at once and is understandably getting many of them wrong. Is it a diner, a cafe, or an upscale bistro? Is it Japanese cuisine, or Japanese-inspired Hawaiian cuisine? Right now, it seems impossible to get a clear answer from just sitting and eating at the restaurant. My advice for the owners is to hone in on what they want the restaurant to be; focus on the efficiency of customer intake, pacing the cooking of orders in the kitchen, ensuring quality control for menu items, and really solidifying the intentions for the restaurant's atmosphere and experience. Cover the basics before jumping for what's more niche and complicated. I really wanted to enjoy the lunch we ordered. I was really hoping for this restaurant to be good, and I'm incredibly disappointed with what I experienced; like the other reviews have mentioned, we ended up going to a different restaurant to finish up lunch. I hope the owners are responsive to feedback. We want to like this place, and we truly want...

I was excited to hear this place was opening, especially given Mommafish’s reputation, so 5 of us tried it out for dinner this week. The meal with miso and edamame started out strong, but it went downhill from there. Service was incredibly slow. They need to add staff to the dinner service. We tried most of the sushi options in the menu, about 3 rolls, the ginger chicken, and the kids bento box. Here is how it broke down:

miso soup and edamame - seasoned well. great flavors - came out fast the rolls and hamachi with ponzu - pretty good. the pieces were a little large and fell apart easily. Flavors were good. glazed chicken - just ok. kids bento box - disappointing. Listed as $7 for rice and slice cucumber and carrots. Protein like chicken or shrimp add $7-8, so you’re looking at $15 for a kids meal, since it’s not much of a dinner without some protein added. If I were to do this again, I’d just have ordered our kid a California roll.

The place is cozy, but gets quite loud when the space is full. Would recommend they add something to help with the acoustics.

The service was very slow - the whole meal took about two hours. Would advise you order everything up front. After starting with 3 rolls, we wanted to add 2 more and it took about 20-25 minutes for those two additional rolls to come out. At that point, everyone had finished eating and we regretted ordering them. Dirty plates, napkins and second glasses of wine were also slow to be tended to.

The spot is new and finding its footing. We’ll give it a second go in the future, but hope they can finesse the details. Given the price point and reputation, we are...

Disclaimer: My boyfriend and I went opening week so I’ll give them some grace as far as that goes.

As far as service goes, we only saw our server twice in the space of an hour and a half and she was only able to get our drink order and our appetizer order in - meanwhile she checked on the table next to us 5-6 times.

The kitchen was obviously overwhelmed and ill-prepared for the reservations they allowed to be booked. There were only reservations being served during this first six-week period as well and I paid $25 per seat just to hold the reservation.

For the food, we were only able to get the appetizer of California Crab Rolls because we were absolutely starving by 8:00 PM (got sat at 6:50). The rolls were HUGE, warm, and falling apart. They left a weird aftertaste in our mouths as well.

Atmosphere was nice, maybe a little cramped.

All in all, I was refunded my $50 reservation hold, we paid around $36 for a tea, a small bottle of sake, and a 4 piece subpar California roll, and left feeling like we wasted our dinner (here on the island everything closes around 8). We actually ended up just cutting our meal off at the appetizer and heading to another place nearby for the rest of dinner.

Hopefully, this is just a case of opening week jitters but I’d feel wary of recommending this place until they’ve figured a few key pieces out (i.e service and quality)

Side note: We saw a few other people at the nearby restaurant we ended up going to that also ended up cutting...