Arigato Sushi Restaurant — Restaurant in Winter Park

There are a lot of sushi restaurants in the Winter Park area. There is a very good reason why this place is struggling, and I hate to say it, but this place is one of the worst Japanese/sushi restaurants that I have been to. If you couldn't tell from my name, I am Japanese, and not to be a stereotype but I LOVE Japanese food (especially sushi).

My wife, her best friend and I checked this place out when we first moved into the area. We thought it was super quaint, the interior is nice and the food wasn't terrible, it was actually pretty good (good enough that even with appalling service, we thought it would be worth another go). Keep in mind that, during the time we were there two tables of people (who were there before us) ended up leaving because the service was taking too long. Not only that, but the staff apparently were taking their lunch breaks during the lunch rush, and all of the food they made for themselves was prepared and set at a dining room table before we even got our appetizers. It was a little silly, but oh well. I digress. The food was good, and so we decided, let's try again!

When we called today, then man who spoke to my wife was surprisingly rude. He put us on hold without even saying hello, then during the entire ordering process constantly stopped talking to us and left the phone to do other things. We tried ordering the same thing we had ordered last time, but he told us it was not part of the menu. We explained to the man that we had ordered it before, so we didn't know we couldn't get it again. After being told three of the four sushi rolls we wanted were not available for the lunch special, we asked which rolls were. He was apparently too exasperated with our ordering situation to even tell us what rolls were available for lunch. He told us (and I quote), "Why don't you just come in and look at the menu, it's too complicated for me to tell you." We politely told him, "Okay! We can just order from another sushi restaurant. Thank you!" and hung up. So ridiculous! We just wanted to know what rolls were available. :(

After a while, we called back hoping it would be less busy and we could speak to the manager about our experience. Turns out, the guy on the phone before was the manager, and he didn't really care about our business at all. He got super defensive when I tried to explain why the situation before was frustrating. He continuously interrupted me, and kept saying, "Your wife just doesn't listen." Ummm, sir, that is not professional! I told him this, he also didn't care. He suggested we take our sushi purchasing needs elsewhere, so we are! We ordered from Japan Express just down the street. Same prices, and the servers were super nice. Five stars for them! And to that I say, Arigato...

9-11-2020 New Review/ Horrible Place to Eat I have been coming to this restaurant for 8 years now and have loved every time until tonight. What a total disaster, disgusting experience. The place was moderately busy but the people serving and working there were a complete joke. The three stooges could have done a much better job. The one at the door completely ignored us and several people walked past the waiting line to get seated and just sat themselves not observing any kind of social distancing. When we were finally seated, our order didn't get taken for almost 15 minutes. We got zero tableware or waters. When we finally ordered we were told the wait would be about 15 minutes for the food which I thought was adequate, I wish that had been the only issue. The soup was completely cold. The noodles we ordered came as rice. When we mentioned this to our server he wanted to remove all the plates and bring new ones instead of offering to bring the noodles. People were walking in without masks and nothing was said. When they came with the check and asked how everything was of course I mentioned the issues and all I was told is that they only had one person cooking that night. I do not know how that accounted for the ineptitude of everyone else including the guy asking. When I asked where the regular server was Wayne, they said on vacation. Needless to say I will NEVER eat here again unless Wayne is present and working.

I love to come to this place for sushi. Sushi is always good and fresh and their menu options are great. there's never a wait to get in and sit down and the service is very expedient. Prices are also very good for the grade of the sushi which has always been excellent. looking at this place from the outside you couldn't really tell what a gem it is for sushi. I've also don't take out and I find that I get the same quality food for takeout as I do when I eat there. The portion served are...

I’ve been here so many times and the place and food are fabulous. I come here really to eat the spicy tuna because it’s really delicious. Today, I went here to get the spicy tuna with my boyfriend. The server sat us and we had a lovely time until the end. I was paid for the food and was waiting for my takeout order that I placed. The server came up to us with our takeout after dining in with a nasty attitude after we paid cash and we were gonna tip right after we paid the check. He brought our Togo and said next time to do togo since we weren’t gonna to tip him so my boyfriend called him back after he left with a attitude and said “hey we were gonna tip you either way.” He also commented that in the past I “stiffed him”. I’m sorry but I’ve never paid for my meal in the past because my ex did and he was the one who tipped the server poorly which is one of the many reasons he’s my ex . So I was kind of disgusted on how he treated me and boyfriend. I was also disgusted that he kind of threw my food in the bag and now the sushi is all over the place. Either way I was going to tip him $15 but I gave him $5.

And I understand the frustration as a server myself but he treated us poorly and later regretted...