Hotoke

Reviews 5

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I will give this place a zero if possible. We were a group of 13 girls last night (08/09/14) at this horrible place. The waiter (an African American guy) was downright rude, condescending and obnoxious! Initially I noticed he wasnt the friendly type, you know the type that will be helpful with a restaurant menu, but no biggie. We all ordered. A few of us order the lamb rack well done. When he brought us the food he yelled out the name of the dish, I raised my hand & added well done (meaning I ordered the well done one) and he replied in a condescending manner; everyone ordered well done! Like I am suppose to know this and what relevance is this information? And then he slams my food right in front of me & does the same for the next person etc. As in you hear the thud the plate made on the table! At this stage I snapped & told him off. Told him he needs to stop being a rude arse & do his job & to get his manager out here now as we do not want him to wait on us with his negative energy. And yes you guessed right. He replied me right there with some rude commentary and walked off while still talking loudly. I was flabbergasted!!! I commanded him to get his manager right now and to shut up. I was livid!!! The manager comes out and I reported everything that happened. One of the ladies had cut into her lamb and it was rear! Blood! Blood! Blood! She showed the manager and he took her plate to the kitchen. Mine wasnt any better but I was to upset & didnt want to send my food back. Manager comes back & another lady showed him her rear & I told manager we all asked for WELL DONE!!! He said the kitchen got the medium memo! You can see the foolish waiter did not tell the kitchen our correct order and the poor chef probably just did the default - medium rear! Manager switches our waiter with a Caucasian guy and the rest of the service was ok. Least I forget! This place is plain arse cheap! We brought a birthday cake for the celebrant and they charged us $2 each to cut & serve our own cake!!! I have been to many restaurants (high end and not so high end) and never ever have I been asked to pay to cut & serve a Celebrants birthday cake. That was just downright wrong & does not foster good customer service. Sorry this is long but you can all tell I am still pissed! Oh did I mention we were all African Americans too.

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Tom Hutch

First & last time to Hotoke in New Brunswick. Just so you dont think of any excuses we came after "prime time" on a Thursday night which is also Latin night..... in what felt like the inside of a freezer. So the first big problem is the all you can eat sushi comes 2 rolls at a time with an extraordinary long amount of time between servings. They really know how to make you want to leave. Their is nothing great about the quality of their sushi! I will give them a star for creativity due to the list of "Latin inspired Sushi rolls". They where odd yet yummy. I never thought I would like guacamole on sushi but honestly the guacamole was better than the sushi. The white fish was not fresh and was very fishy smelling. The same thing was wrong with the eel. The rolls where skimpy. The shrimp tempura was so small that half my roll was cucumber. The Mango martini was also good & a great idea to use nectar & vodka together. At the end I wanted to ask about desserts but I was colder than ice cream and had already spent the better part of 2 hours on only 4 rolls... mostly waiting. Robert our server was also not very welcoming or accommodating. He passed our table multiple times with empty plates & glasses and didnt try to take our orders. Not a cheap night, not a great meal, not the best atmosphere and not the best staff. Overall zero star should suffice but like I said, 1 star for creativity. I cant wait to see what opens in its place next! BTW IF YOUR LOOKING FOR AN ENJOYABLE AND DELICIOUS ALL YOU CAN EAT SUSHI TRAVEL TO SUSHI PALACE!! THEIR ARE 3 WITHIN A 15 MINUTE DRIVE FROM NEW BRUNSWICK

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Abraham Tran

BOTTOM LINE: Dark, trendy bar that happens to serve overpriced, inauthentic sushi. FOOD (SUSHI): I cannot speak to the quality of the prepared dishes - I only had sushi here. Dont come here for the sushi. I came here because my friend was a waitress, and a large group of us had dinner. As a sushi connoisseur, I can say that the sushi was average, but overpriced for its value. Portions were small; sushi was of the new-age fusion variety that attempts to mask lack of freshness with unique ingredient combinations; and the basic rolls did not have the "wow" flavor typically associated with good quality, extremely fresh fish. It simply wasnt worth the money, when there are better sushi places nearby (although my favorites are in South Jersey: Fuji and Oh! Yoko). DECOR: It was a little dark for me, but the place definitely had a cool vibe for young professionals. If you have the money to enjoy it, and you like trendy scenes, then this place might be for you. The lighting is cool, and the waitresses all wear tight Chinese-style dresses. Personally, I prefer more lighting and less pretense. SERVICE: I notice that others have complained about the service. I cannot speak to it, because my party was friends with some of the waitresses. We were served promptly. DRINKS: This may be the only reason to come here. The mixed drinks are interesting, and you will find something for everyone in your group. I would come here for happy hours, or just to have drinks with a date.

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A Private User

Hotoke customer service and accomdations is bogus. I have eaten here more times than I can count. The owner and waiters have seen me several times. I come in for happy hour which is Mon-Fri from 4-7. I was stuck in truck (bad car accident) and got there at 7:02. They told me I could not get happy hour specials because it 6 mins past the time. Im like actually its 7:02 well 7:03 now pointing to my phone. The bartender/waiter points to the bar computer screen. I say you have your clocks set 5 mins fast. Hes like well 7:02 still past 7. Dont get me wrong I understand policy and procedure. But when you are dealing with a regular customer who frequents your place all the time and you know the customer face there has to be an exception to the "policy" at the very least to show your appreciation. However the manager did not budge not one bit. He claim their computers are set on timers so when 7pm roll around it automatically changes the prices back to regular. He also said if his boss sees that he reversed an order than he would get in trouble ***blank stare*** Bottom line I will not be spending any more money at Hotoke. Not one dime! I promptly walked out! There is a place nearby called Wasabi House in East Brunswick that is just as good of not better at half the price and snobish attitude.

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Giselle K

I cant say enough about this place. The food was simply awesome. I went here for my birthday with 9 other girlfriends and we ordered almost every appetizers and we were just moaning with every bite! It was sooo yummy! Our dinners were so good. The sushi was so fresh and delicious. I tried my friends pad thai and it was delish. The servers were all really good, attentive and friendly. The atmosphere was so cool. The night we went they had live music until 10pm. Then at 10pm the DJ came on and played music and I have to say he was one of the best DJs I have heard in a while. The music he played was a great mix of old school and current music. But I loved how he kept the crowd dancing! The old school music wasnt over powering and he played tunes that brought people back and had a lot of us laughing and saying... OMG, I love this song!! He was just really awesome. My girlfriends and I were tipsy but respectful and we had chatted up the bouncer and he was just so nice and sweet. I felt like everyone was family. Just wanted to say the food is great, the employees are great and Im definitely going back! You should go!

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