Mikuni Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar

Reviews 4

CA

Catherine Wong

Attending a conference this weekend, we went to Mikuni twice because it was convenient to our hotel, had a generous drop off area (for a physically handicapped diner) and they took reservations-kind of. The first night, Saturday night, it was so crowded, they were only taking reservations for parties of 6 or more, with a limited number of non-reservations seats available. We (party of 2) waited for around 20 minutes for a late-ish (post 8pm) dinner before we were led to our seats at one of the three (count em, three) sushi bars. Not your typical Japanese restaurant, the noise level (particularly on this night with a packed house) was loud-very loud; additionally there was music blaring, making it almost impossible to hear anyone unless you shout. Thankfully and mercifully, we were seated behind a huge cement pillar which absorbed most of the noise, making us able to talk (with each other) without shouting. Heres another good thing about being seated at the sushi bar - two waiters! Yippee! The menu is several pages of various sushi (traditional and some more contemporary, California roll types), appetizers, some kitchen-made dishes and a fixed price, four course menu. Because of the wait, the sushi chef offered us free edamame which was delicious! Upon finding out we were first-time diners, our waiter was super friendly and knowledgeable and made many helpful suggestions: I settled on the beef curry (featuring steak!) and my dining partner opted for salmon sashimi, a side of rice and kaizen ribs. They were out of green tea due to the conference traffic. The curry was good and spicy and did feature (probably) sirloin steak... yummy! The kaizen ribs were deliciously fatty and well-seasoned and the salmon was very good. Molten Lava chocolate cake was for dessert - it was very good featuring a killer raspberry sauce. All n all we left full and happy. The manager, Jay was super nice and accommodating, even though the restaurant was so crowded it was bursting at the seams. The second night we came was after the conference ended (with reservations for seven), so it was decidedly less crowded. The Manager greeted us warmly and seemed delighted we were coming back with five additional diners. This time we had a waitress who handled our table with aplomb! Split bills, plates and hungry diners needing recommendations did not daunt her, nor dampen her enthusiasm in the least! Because of the aforementioned noise level, we were able to relax, talk across two huge tables and relax without feeling like we were disturbing other diners. The ambience on Sunday was convivial - oh, and this time they had green tea (and a selection of sake) to warm a chilly Sacramento winter night. Heres the thing about this restaurant-if you are expecting a "traditional" Japanese restaurant, this is NOT it. There is a full bar, the ambience is contemporary and trendy and although you can come dressed casual, some diners were all dressed up. Music blares and people are generally there to meet for a good time, to drink and eat, in that order. There are traditional Japanese menu items, but most dishes have an "only in America" flair to them. Mikunis has eight locations scattered all around the Sacramento area. We generally find ourselves up north in California several times a year - we will make it a point to stop by again and sample their other dishes. Special thanks to Jay and his crew for making our visits to the midtown location special and enjoyable!

RU

Rui Yang

Mikuni treats their customer with CONTEMPT. WhIle my experience is pretty specific, I did learn the lesson that Mikuni thinks it is ALWAYS right and they have customers with issues, not themselves. As a 32 year old grown woman, checking ID before I purchase alcohol is not news to me. However, my driver license is in renewal, so I also showed our waitress my temp license telling her that the physical card is expired because I have not received the actual new ID in the mail yet. To my GREAT surprise, she said she needed to TAKE MY ID AWAY and show it to management for APPROVAL. I express uneasiness about it, but she said it is restaurant policy. I let her do her thing, but said "I understand you are doing your job, but there should be no difference between what I have and my coworkers IDs." At this point, she offers for me to talk to management, which I accepts. The general manager shows up, and wanted to see my ID AGAIN. I surrenders that and he took 3 minutes reading every fine detail on the paper, and said this is their policy to TAKE AWAY such ID for approval. I explain to him that Mikuni simply DOES NOT have authority to treat my ID differently as the DMV hold the temp license as good as the plastic. If they dont take away my coworkers IDs (they really dont have a right to) then they should not take away mine for "APPROVAL". To this, he shockingly said "that is for DRIVING priviledge only and a lot of bars and restaurants does not even accept that" (LIES.) I point out Mikuni simply does not have a right to do what it just did, to that he said "THIS IS OUR POLICY, WE ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE THAT". Not wishing to let down my coworker who is so looking forward to the Mikuni experience, we stuck around till she is done. And for the record, we brought our busines to a competitor bar/restaurant which also turns into a club two blocks down, NO ISSUE WHATSOEVER. 0/5 is your real rating Mikuni, if you dont know what customer service means then you should NOT be in business.

K.

K.C. Saxe

For people who dont know- if you see an open table, but arent sat immediately, its because the hostess is doing her job. Why? Because in a restaurant this big, the kitchen can get easily overwhelmed with food orders if they all come in at once. And let me tell you, this place is impressive feat. The coliseum of all sushi bars, there is upstairs seating, 2 sushi bars, and a private room. Whoever designed this place mustve had a phd in Tetris. I felt like a piece of sushi eating at our table, which was very snugly packed in amongst a sea of others. If youre looking for a quiet place, you cant expect it from a restaurant of this magnitude. We couldnt get our chairs close enough to our table, as waiters were constantly moving back and forth like ballerinas to navigate through the tight spaces. Whatever was destroyed in the ambiance was revived when our food came out, rather quickly for a gigantic place. Seriously the taste was impeccable. My palate was frolicking through fields of spice, caressed by velvet soft fish, and surprised by eclectic ingredients like macadamia nuts. Overall, I wish management would designate some of the booths against the wall for reservations, I wouldve been happy to pay more to have some privacy. But the sushi is seriously so good, I will definitely be back at a less busy time.

MI

Michelle Van Allen

Sushi here is decent - its essentially fast food sushi, but about as well as you can do for the price. The last 3 times Ive been here, the wait was really long and the service was bad. The most recent time we were there, the hostess lead us to a table and then stopped and said, "Wait, this isnt your table" and then walked away leaving us standing in the middle of the restaurant while she gave the table to some other couple. There were no apologies from the waitress or manager. We ended up at the sushi bar where the chef did a good job. However we couldnt get anyone to come bring us drinks or give us our check when we were done. The couple next to us commented that they had the same problem. I spoke to the manager and he basically said "Sorry not sorry," that they actually have no servers assigned to the sushi bar but everyone is supposed to "check on it." Anyone whos worked in service can tell you that if everyone is assigned to something, then no one will do it.