Nishino

How about a little customer service?. I was dying to go to Nishino's for my birthday dinner and ended up walking out. Make no mistake, the quality of the food at Nishino's is stellar, but the horrific lack of service will ensure that you will wait a VERY LONG TIME to enjoy anything (although they do bring the check pretty damn fast!).

We went early to be sure to get a seat at the bar. I was ready to enjoy myself to the max and $$ was no object.

The sushi chef never acknowledged us when we sat down, nor inquired about what we might want to start with. We placed an order with the waitress, and then proceedeed to wait, and wait, and wait some more. My very patient husband even thought the wait was too long and we mentioned something to the owner. His response was a total turn off and amounted to "Oh well, too bad. nothing I can do..." At that point it was time to leave. Food that was ordered 25 minutes earlier arrived, (raw oysters-did they have to harvest them?) we ate it, and it was fresh and tasty. Then we asked for the bill and left. The entire experience was a total turn off.

An expensive restaurant with terrible service does not equal a fine dining experience and somone should get that across to Nishino's. From what I've read in other reviews, this was not an isolated experience-but a pattern-if not the norm!

Cross this place of the list-pass the word!…

Yummy sushi, nice ambiance. We tried out Nishino as part of the Dine Around Seattle promotion. Overall, a good experience - exquisite sushi (not too "fishy" tasting), good tempura, good miso soup, and delish mochi for dessert! The ambiance is nice - the restaurant is unfortunately located in this little strip mall thing next to a gym, so that takes away from it, but the interior is nice with some interesting art on the walls.

We got there early and were given a nice little table for two near the window - and then they unfortunately proceeded to seat the next two parties in the two tables on either side of us! They lost a star for that. The dining room's not that big, the waitstaff could have dealt with diners slightly more spread out. The other star was lost by the jaw-dropping prices on the regular menu. Bottom line: we may return during Dine Around Seattle - but only then!…

I wish I could review the sushi- we never even made it to our reserved table.. I was visiting friends in Seattle and heard great things about Nishino- being a sushi fanatic, it seemed like a no-brainer choice on my trip to the Northwest from LA. I made an 8:00 Friday reservation 3 days in advance. We arrived 5 minutes early to a restaurant already filled to overflow with people waiting to be seated. I told the maitre d' that we had arrived for our reservation and was met with a blank stare and an "OK", which I translated to "sit down with everyone else".

By 8:15 several people had been shown to their tables while we sat and continued to wait. I asked an employee what the status with our table was- she was apologetic, saying that our table was still being used by a party who were taking their time. She offered a complimentary glass of wine, which helped.

However, what did NOT help was, while still waiting for our table at 8:40, another group with the same number in their party came through the door, announced "We're here for our 8pm reservation, sorry we're late", and were immediately brought to a table. After seeing that, I told the maitre d' and the employee that we were leaving. With the employee apologizing profusely and re-emphasizing that the party at our table was still sitting there, we left Nishino with our bellies still grumbling in hunger and our spirits a little less festive. Bottom line- a restaurant that busy needs to learn how to better manage their table turning or deal with 'camper' customers, and as for letting the late party in immediately when we were on time and waiting for so long? There's no excuse for that whatsoever.…