Konomi Japanese Restaurant
| Address: | 843 Quarry Rd #140, Coralville, IA 52241, USA |
| Phone: | +1 319-351-2880 |
| Site: | konomigrill.com |
| Rating: | 4.1 |
| Working: | 5–10PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 5–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 5
WO
Worker Confession
Everything is bought frozen, including sushi fish. Workers not paid overtime. Up until recently, I worked for Konomi. Theres a lot of things people need to know and dont know about this place. For starters, besides the salmon and occasionally the red tuna, all other fish is shipped in frozen in vacuum sealed bags supplied by Chicagos True World Foods. This includes all of the scallops, specialty items, roe, everything. Of course the sushi guys are told by Andy to always say it is fresh cut daily. He himself will tell customers its fresh. Theres been times when Andy would come into our kitchen and cut open a yellowtail loin thawed overnight and put it on a metal plate to bring out to customers and his friends and pawn it off as freshly cut. Lets talk kitchen food. The yakisoba noodles? Frozen thawed instant noodle packets stir fried with a hearty squeeze of Japanese mayo. The udon soup? Frozen udon noodles boiled in the same complimentary clear soup with some mushrooms and liquid "seasonings." The cheesecake? Frozen from Chicago. Everything is either already made and shipped in frozen or premade days before, then charged a hefty premium. This is no problem whatsoever. It is a problem, however, when the owners brand and blatantly lie to the customers that their items are made in-house and fresh. Lets talk working conditions. WE ARE NOT PAID OVERTIME. Or at least not until they recently switched to a new bank that requires them to. I know at least one of my guys that works over 60 hours a week in the kitchen for close to 2 years and not paid any overtime. This shouldnt come as a surprise, especially when they chose to pay the fine for Obamacare instead of providing employees with health insurance. Getting raises is also a rarity. They tell new workers they give $1 raises annually, but will just forget and find excuses not to when the time comes. They turn over so many kitchen, sushi, and servers because of the stress and constant verbal abuse. They would rather fire and hire new workers so that they can keep paying everyone $10/hour. They once fired a dishwasher on a Saturday evening over a promise to give him a raise that was 6 months overdue. They called him back saying theyll talk the next morning and need him to help finish the busy night. They promptly fired him the next morning when its a much slower day and they found a replacement dishwasher. When youre a worker and you clock out, you should be able to order a drink, food, and sit at the bar like the customer that you are now considered to be. Not at Konomi. If you are an employee, even if you go home, shower, change, and come back, you are not allowed to sit at the bar nor can you order any drinks. The owners prefer that their friends sit there and they would rather sit with them and drink while kitchen and sushi falls behind in orders. Konomi is like reliving high school over again. If youre not liked, youre treated differently and greatly disrespected by the owners, no matter the amount of time and dedication you put into your work. The years you put in and the memories created are meaningless. If youre a server and you arent on good terms with the head server, shell just gradually give you less and less hours until you are completely "fired" without reason or cause. I affirm that my statements are all true to the extent of my knowledge and that nothing is fabricated. I invite anyone to come and take a look yourself. Youll find a pristine kitchen and smiles on the workers. But look beyond and youll see the food youre served and the people working hard to provide it for so very little.
A
A Private User
The first time I went to Konomi, it was fine. Both the food, and the service, was fine. Not exemplary, but fine. The last time I went to Konomi, I had one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had the misfortune of being a part of. The servers section had only one party (mine). The server was rude and was obviously upset to be at work. After taking my friend and Is food order, she was nowhere to be seen until our food was finished and brought to the table. At that time, she realized that she had forgotten to bring us our drinks from the bar. We werent in any rush so we didnt mind. But when we wanted to order a second round from the bar, she was, once again, nowhere to be found. I went to the bar to order the drinks myself and was met by the server insisting (quite rudely) that I go sit down and she would get the drinks for us. Despite all of this, we were planning on ordering dessert. However, we werent given a chance. The server brought the check to our table, said, "Thanks," and then walked away without even asking if we were okay or if we needed anything. We paid and left. To top it off, however, I was disappointed that there was no manager in sight the entire evening. When I wrote into the restaurant to explain my dissatisfaction, I was never given a response. I will not go again.
BO
Bob Wang
Way Overpriced for the food. If you still decide to go stick with the sushi. Spent about 100 bucks for 2, drinks are very expensive and very subpar. Sushi was good but not unique or above other sushi restaurants Very expensive, had the Japanese noodles- $15-18 and it tasted just like Beef Ramen Noodles stuff you can make at home for 10cents a pack instead of 18 bucks. The meat with the ramen had no flavor was bland - I was honestly annoyed that I paid this kinda money for ramen noodles. I can imagine business will come from out of towners for the football games, I see no reason for locals to want to visit here. I stopped by here on a weekend at lunch time and there was ZERO people there aside the staff. I literally was so shocked I asked if it was closed and the waitress said no...Id like to challenge anyone with these 5 star reviews to find a restaurant on a Saturday at noon and find the place literally deserted. I would give it 2 stars for food itself, but given the price for the food then the standard has to be held higher and thus 1 star.
HE
helene donta
We are regular take-out customers of Konomi because although they have a pretty limited sushi menu and have no vegetarian rolls on the menu, we feel they have the freshest best tasting quality of fish there. On multiple occasions, however, and I mean more often than not, we have been told it would take 25 minutes and have arrived to find out the sushi is not ready and at least on one occasion, preparation was not started and we have waited, sometimes over 20 minutes longer for the order. Also, on multiple occasions, our order has been wrong, with rolls either missing or wrong. So if you are getting take-out, I strongly suggest you physically check the order before leaving the premises and I would also recommend that you add at least 1/2 hour to the total prep time before picking it up.
A
A Private User
Bad Service, Average Food. I have been here on two separate occasions and was dissapointed both times. The most recent visit, my group had made resverations for 8:30 and was not seated until after 9:00 and our orders were not taken until around 9:30. We did not recieve our checks until 11pm! The food was okay but the quality does not come close the food and service at 3 samurai. Also, compared to 3 samurai portion sizes were very small! Our service was also poor, the wait staff was unfriendly and slow. I do not plan on going here again. If you are looking for great food and a fun atomsphere plan ahead and make reservations at 3 samurai, Kamoni simlpy does not compare!
