Yesterday we tried a new restaurant in town called Cat. It's sushi but also fusion. I swear they had all kinds of Italian food like chicken marsala that you definitely wouldn't expect at a Japanese restaurant. Nice, modern decor, stainless steel chopsticks at the bar. Our chef was "J". My dh talked to him extensively about sushi and all the restaurants in the area, giving him all kinds of tips about which ones were the best. J was clearly born and raised in California but new to the Huntington Beach area. He seemed very friendly and appreciative of the conversation. When my husband talked about how good and how rare freshly grated wasabi is, J brought out 3 servings of fresh wasabi for us that I could have sworn he said was on the house. Also he spontaneously made us a small baked cod dish that he definitely told us was on the house. We were thinking what a great guy, he's really taking care of us!
When it came time to settle up the bill my dh looked it over and seemed hesitant but sent his credit card with the waiter. As we walked out he showed me the itemized bill which was a computer printout slip. The special rolls and the sashimi salad I had ordered were clearly printed on it but there were about 9 charges of unspecified 5 dollar items, we figured 2 of them were salmon sashimi that husband had ordered but the rest we could not explain. Dh had been clearly too embarassed to question it before he paid it. Maybe somebody had made an error adding up our bill and hit the 5 dollar key a few too many times? Maybe the waiter didn't know that our wasabis and cod were supposed to be on the house? And perhaps the small bowls of miso soup at the start of the meal weren't really complimentary -- the waiter never asked if we wanted them, just announced to us he was bringing them and we said okay, figuring they came with the sushi bar or something. So our bill was about 30 dollars more than it should have been if everything that we thought was free had been. Don't know what to think, did J con us? Or did the waiter take it upon himself to charge us for the wrong stuff?
Is the above type scenario a common way for sushi restaurants to handle business?
Well what's done is done but we will be more assertive next time. I look at it as a 30 dollar lesson in speaking up. We both really want to believe it was a simple misunderstanding and I don't think my dh would make an issue of it later during a return visit, but OTOH it would be nice to have an explanation. The food was good enough to go back for again, I was intrigued by some of the exotic sounding menu selections like a banana blossom salad with clams. The sashimi salad was a good flavor and quality for the 10 dollar charge, and I would have a hard time finding better in our area.
When it came time to settle up the bill my dh looked it over and seemed hesitant but sent his credit card with the waiter. As we walked out he showed me the itemized bill which was a computer printout slip. The special rolls and the sashimi salad I had ordered were clearly printed on it but there were about 9 charges of unspecified 5 dollar items, we figured 2 of them were salmon sashimi that husband had ordered but the rest we could not explain. Dh had been clearly too embarassed to question it before he paid it. Maybe somebody had made an error adding up our bill and hit the 5 dollar key a few too many times? Maybe the waiter didn't know that our wasabis and cod were supposed to be on the house? And perhaps the small bowls of miso soup at the start of the meal weren't really complimentary -- the waiter never asked if we wanted them, just announced to us he was bringing them and we said okay, figuring they came with the sushi bar or something. So our bill was about 30 dollars more than it should have been if everything that we thought was free had been. Don't know what to think, did J con us? Or did the waiter take it upon himself to charge us for the wrong stuff?
Is the above type scenario a common way for sushi restaurants to handle business?
Well what's done is done but we will be more assertive next time. I look at it as a 30 dollar lesson in speaking up. We both really want to believe it was a simple misunderstanding and I don't think my dh would make an issue of it later during a return visit, but OTOH it would be nice to have an explanation. The food was good enough to go back for again, I was intrigued by some of the exotic sounding menu selections like a banana blossom salad with clams. The sashimi salad was a good flavor and quality for the 10 dollar charge, and I would have a hard time finding better in our area.
. I think the fear of embarassment is something I need to work on even more than my cross punch.
