Nikki's Steakhouse & Sushi Bar @ Military Cutoff Rd — Restaurant in Wilmington

I used to like Nikki's and enjoy the food and the atmosphere. But, yesterday was possibly the single worst dining experience I've ever had. The waiter was particularly strange, making odd jokes and somewhat heckling members of our party (of 10). He seemed irritated that a few of our party arrived literally moments after we sat down. We were seated at a hibachi table (though we did not ask for hibachi) which had a leaking pipe overhead. He made no attempt to clean up the water and only half-heartedly offered to seat us in a different section. The food took quite a bit. We were told that this was because they were "out of bento boxes". We were the only party seated and it was around noon I'm not sure why 8 bento boxes were hard to scrounge up. Some dishes were simply served on plates so I am not sure why there was a delay. The food was okay. The really interesting part started when the food was delivered. Our waiter randomly asked if we had "heard about the new YouTube algorithms?" He went on for a bit about how Google was censoring everyone and deciding what we could and couldn't watch. He then tells the whole party that "there's no such thing as hate speech". Mind you, no one in the party was talking about anything like this. Over the course of the rest of the meal he reveals that he thinks the Earth is flat, 9/11 was and inside job, technology is ruining society and taking over the world, and that Oswald had nothing to do with the JFK assassination. I can say with absolute certainty that we will not be returning to Nikki's...

Back story: my family and I typically exclusively go to Nikki’s. That changed after tonight. I tried to go there for lunch, however, they only had one chef and without a reservation wouldn’t be able to seat us for 2 more hours. We decided that was ok and that we would come back for dinner instead. I made a reservation for 7. There were no other reservations for this time. We came back around 1800. An hour before our reservation. We knew we would have to wait so we ordered appetizers and just enjoyed some family time. When 1900 came around another party came in and was almost immediately sat down. I asked the hostess if they had a reservation and she said they did at 1900. Her demeanor was that of condescending and hostility. Another person said that the group that came in and was sat down ahead of us were sat down because the hostess asked them if they were the party of 6 that was my name. Someone from that party answered yes, so they sat them down. This was despite me having already checked in with her to let her know we were there. They then stated they would seat us after they cleaned a table that had been vacant for an hour. We decided we would give our business to HIRO or Okami from here on out if this is how they conduct business. Essentially, they sat another family before us disregarded our reservation, and then gave us attitude, when we asked what happened. The food is decent… the waitresses are nice, however, their staffing for chefs is terrible and the hostesses that they have are...

It had been several years since I last dined here, as I now live out of town. We decided to visit today for lunch. It wasn't busy, and we asked to sit in the hibachi area. The hostess asked us to wait while they set up a table. Once seated, we joined one other family of three at the grill.

Shortly after placing our drink orders, my husband noticed a bug crawling across the grill surface--then another, then a dead one. When the waitress returned to take our food order, we pointed it out. She agreed it was "gross" and said she'd let someone know to clean it.

After that, no one returned to the table for about 10 minutes, even though there were only to other guests on the restaurant at another table. Meanwhile, we began to smell a strong chemical cleaner and saw a mop, broom, and bucket full of dirty water sitting directly behind us. Boxes and other supplies were also stacked nearby--clearly not the clean, welcoming environment you'd expect.

When yet another bug crawled across the grill, we decided to leave. We let the hostess know we'd only had drinks and explained the situation. She was very apologetic. We remained friendly and didn't make a huge deal of the issue. We paid for our drinks and left.

We ended up going to Hiro instead, where the service was fast, the prices were better, and most...