Yama & J Japanese Restaurant @Jaya One
Yet another new restaurant that Ban and I tried after purchasing Groupon/Living Social vouchers (can't remember which one).
Unfortunately, it was off to a bad start: it was hard to read the details of food in its menu. Something about the colour combination of the background and the words. So it took us even longer than usual (compared to other new restaurants) to decide what to order.
Instead of amaebi sushi (raw sweet prawn sushi), they served me cooked prawn sushi (ebi sushi). I told them that amaebi was supposed to be raw and yet the waitress, even after talking to the kitchen staff, responded that the cooked prawn was amaebi. I was quite stumped. I then asked them what was the ebi sushi in their menu and whether that was the raw prawn. If so, why was it cheaper than amaebi sushi.
My question actually got like a whole gang in discussion: at least 3 waitresses and 3 kitchen staff. Goodness. They then admitted their mistake and after a long wait (I'm not exaggerating here) where to their credit they apologised a few times for the wait, they served the correct dish:
It was not juicy. Bummer.
The salmon in the handroll was the low grade kind. Sakae Sushi's salmon is easily better than this. Mind you, price at Yama was definitely much higher. Strangely, it was slightly spicy.
The salmon and white tuna sushi were, similar to the handroll, of low grade. Goodness, so stingy and yet charged so high.
Service was slow. We asked a waiter for green tea refill but it was obvious he forgot. There seem to be poor communication between serving staff and kitchen staff.
The only redeeming feature of this restaurant was that most waitresses were doing their best to serve. They even gave us complementary seafood soup. Spicy lol.
After paying, they offered free loyalty card that provides discount for members. I politely declined as I was sure I wouldn't go back there again. Any restaurant that cannot even beat Sakae Sushi despite charging significantly much higher price is certainly not worth dining at.
Unfortunately, it was off to a bad start: it was hard to read the details of food in its menu. Something about the colour combination of the background and the words. So it took us even longer than usual (compared to other new restaurants) to decide what to order.
Instead of amaebi sushi (raw sweet prawn sushi), they served me cooked prawn sushi (ebi sushi). I told them that amaebi was supposed to be raw and yet the waitress, even after talking to the kitchen staff, responded that the cooked prawn was amaebi. I was quite stumped. I then asked them what was the ebi sushi in their menu and whether that was the raw prawn. If so, why was it cheaper than amaebi sushi.
My question actually got like a whole gang in discussion: at least 3 waitresses and 3 kitchen staff. Goodness. They then admitted their mistake and after a long wait (I'm not exaggerating here) where to their credit they apologised a few times for the wait, they served the correct dish:
It was not juicy. Bummer.
The salmon in the handroll was the low grade kind. Sakae Sushi's salmon is easily better than this. Mind you, price at Yama was definitely much higher. Strangely, it was slightly spicy.
The salmon and white tuna sushi were, similar to the handroll, of low grade. Goodness, so stingy and yet charged so high.
Service was slow. We asked a waiter for green tea refill but it was obvious he forgot. There seem to be poor communication between serving staff and kitchen staff.
The only redeeming feature of this restaurant was that most waitresses were doing their best to serve. They even gave us complementary seafood soup. Spicy lol.
After paying, they offered free loyalty card that provides discount for members. I politely declined as I was sure I wouldn't go back there again. Any restaurant that cannot even beat Sakae Sushi despite charging significantly much higher price is certainly not worth dining at.
Comments
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Goodness! That's horrible! Thanks for letting me (and the readers) know your experience.
Mine wasn't buffet though. I used a Groupon/Living Social voucher. For buffet, try Maiu @Damansara Perdana. I also blogged about it too.
Terrible poor and bad foods and service.
Don't ever go this restaurant.
Sorry you had bad experience there. You were definitely not the only one. Hopefully there won't be more.
Food ingredients are cheap. Amount is less and we pay higher for low quality food. Too much mayonnaise and chili sauce for salad and handroll. The concept of fusion food is not brought out.
There are more waiters and waitresses than customers when I dined there. Despite that, the waiter stood beside our table and watched us. He didn't even offer to order or explain for us when seeing us struggle with the not properly designed menu. Worst thing was, he didn't even know what 'tamago' is! Never encountered this in a japanese restaurant!
I also observed one customer who seem not to understand the menu and asked help from waitresses. Hah. They were chatting happily away and didn't notice that.
I think the owner doesn't have the heart to run a restaurant. Can't feel his genuine interest in customers.
HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED.
Poor quality of food, environment and service.
Sorry to hear that you had bad experience there. Can't believe they're still that bad.
They now have another version called IKU Japanese Fusion Sushi. I spotted it at Damansara Uptown. Didn't dare to try though hehehe.