Address: | 1365 Osage St, Denver, CO 80204, USA |
Phone: | +1 303-595-3666 |
Site: | domorestaurant.com |
Rating: | 4.2 |
Working: | 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM |
A
A Private User
Domo is an incredibly beautiful place and we spent a shockingly bad evening there. My father was handicapped and Ive worked with hospice patients and their handicaps for 10+ years and NEVER experienced such prejudice and thoughtlessness conveyed to the handicapped as by the staff of this restaurant. And to think my family paid for it and left a tip. My parents were visiting from Seattle and wanted to go someplace very good. Id heard great things about Domo. My dad was a Zen officianado and had spent time in Japan. We are all foodies and spend a great deal of money on the stuff. I called ahead and asked about handicapped seating. They said to just come and it would be fine. They were cavalier over the phone, but I persevered. My father had a stroke (before going to Domo) and was using a cane. He was very slow and it is obvious to anyone who sees him, that its physically quite difficult for him to get around. We came early, by 5:00pm, so the seating would be easier for him to negotiate. As we entered, 2 staff members (one wearing white) were at a table in the entrance room. They stared at us, but did not offer to help. I asked if we could get a special chair for my dad (as I noticed there were only tree stumps to sit on in the nearly empty dining room. Although they were very attractive tree stumps, they would not provide stable seating for an obvious stroke victim.) They would not suffer a change to their decor to bring a suitable chair for my father. Instead of immediately assisting, they made us wait several minutes, my father standing with his cane, until the hostess came to seat us. Upon his arrival at our table, the first thing the callow, pimpled waiter told us was that we must each order a complete meal and there was a minimum of $25 per person (or some such figure). I dont see that being any restaurants policy. My parents are always tastefully dressed- never ever flashy, but they wear quality clothes. I expect I looked great as I usually do, so I dont understand the prejudice. My father, who was easily happy to spend a couple/few hundred on a dinner out with the family, bristled at the rudeness. It had been exhausting for us to just get seated, so we stayed anyway. He explained to our waiter that he enjoyed ordering a la carte and if the food was good, he expected we might meet the minimum. We ordered. The tension was high, so I went for a stroll in their "relaxing" garden while we waited (a long time) to be served. I heard a large person barreling down behind me on the gravel path and turned to see a huge Asian man ready to bowl me over. Extremely strange behavior for a Japanese man in a "Zen" garden. I might expect as much from a fellow American who just did not know better, but... I stepped aside to let him pass. He did not look at me or apologize. I later learned that he was one of the owners. The waiter had a superior, surly attitude which only made his pimples shine all the brighter. It was very unpleasant to be the recipient of his "service". The sushi was gloppy. Lots of chopped fish in sticky mediums. None of us had ever had the likes of it before. Perhaps it is an excellent example of country Japanese cuisine, but did not suit any of our tastes. We drank a lot of sake. I did not want to leave a tip, but my stepmother, a very mild and kind person, insisted on leaving the waiter 10%, an exceedingly low tip in our family. (We like to leave 25% and sometimes even 33% for outstanding service, atmosphere and food.) She was just too uncomfortable leaving nothing, so I agreed to her 10% with the stipulation that I explain all of the above to our waiter as I handed the tip to him. I wondered if their prejudice arose from some macho attitude erroneously arising out of Domos martial arts studio beginnings. Perhaps they thought it was uncool or unmanly to be handicapped. The saddest part is, this is the last public place we ate as a family before my father died. VERY BAD KARMA, DOMO.
RH
Rhiannon Wisniewski
I cant believe someone would give a restaurant 1 star because they cannot themselves read!!!! The sashimi bowls state "minced" right there on the menu - no mystery. To be honest, I wasnt thrilled with the idea of "minced" when I ordered my lunch there with my husband. Its different than what were used to, sure, but I kept an open mind. I was rewarded handsomely! The yellow tail sashimi bowl was DELICIOUS. The sticky rice was perfect and the fish very fresh and plentiful (I had enough to get rice and fish together in about every bite), and even lightly marinated? All I know is that it was so delicious that I wish more raw fish would be served in this way. Actually Im a pretty big eater, and the bowl along with the 3 small side dishes were quite filling. I cannot wait to go back and get my that same dish again! I recommend that everyone who is at all into sushi in Denver try it. Its different, but keep the mind open and enjoy very fresh fish. The lack of soy sauce on tables is not a problem because I think they do use it in preparation of the food, and it is indeed tasty. Also I dont think leaving soy sauce off the tables would save a restaurant much money (its cheap!) so I wouldnt suspect that is the case here. I think they want their diners to have an experience punctuated with quality food and an amazing setting and its all part of how they run things. And it works for most people! I wouldnt change it nor should it be such a big deal in all these reviews. We had a nice summer day and ate outside in the garden. Wow, lovely ambiance. Given the neighborhood, its such an amazing little tucked away gem! It really added a lot to the experience to be inside this little urban oasis. They do take out orders now but I just think you have to eat here. I was quite impressed. Also, I did read a lot about the service being sub-par, and so I went in not expecting much. The servers all seem to share tables, and I had no trouble receiving plenty of water refills (hot day). No one checked to see if we liked our foods, but we did, and we were eating the heck out of them, so it was not an issue. I know I could have flagged someone if I had needed to, but they did come with water and to remove dishes at all the appropriate times and I felt it was just fine. Please try Domo - a unique and delicious experience in Denver! I would definitely take out of town people here because Im proud we have such a place.
RI
Rich Kenyon
Its a great place if you like good Japanese ramen in Denver, and you like poor customer service. So Ive never had Japanese ramen here in Denver, So we decided to go with friend that had been there before. It was a group of 4 and we got there right around noon on a sunday, so It wasnt terribly busy. Anyway we walk in and up to the host, who has a sour look on her face and clearly has no business greeting customers as a host. Host-how many? Us- "Just 4" Host- Name? Us- Mike Host- "20 minutes, go sit" 40 minutes later we get the call to be seated, again by the over enthused host. We walk into a room which is nearly empty, so we were all naturally stumped as why we had to wait in the waiting room for 40 minutes before we got sat. But we sit down and order, the actual waitress was nice and semi tentative, at least she explained everything to us that were new to the food. The food came out pretty fast and it was delicious for the price. The portions were huge and definitely filled me up, and I was able to bring home left overs. But then came the paying for the meal... So instead of the waitress taking our check, the oh so delightful host took care of our check, which was quite pleasant. The 4 of us wanted to split the check up, but apparently this place doesnt have the technology to split a check up into multiple checks. So we were told we had to either do the math ourselves or just split it 4 ways. So we had to either tally up everyones meal and add the correct tax and then tell them what to run, or we could just split it 4 ways evenly. Even the simplest diners allow you to do that. Im guessing the waitress was just in such a pissy mood and didnt want to take extra 2 minutes to accommodate us? We decide to just do it the easy way and spit it 4 ways and be done, which was unfortunate for 2 people who just got water and no extra sides. We finally get up to leave and walk out, who still in a great sour looking mood chatting with a waitress up front. We walk by and we dont get a look, a have a good day, no acknowledgment of any kind. So in the end, the food was amazing, but I doubt I will be back, and Im sure I wont be recommending this place to anyone I know.