Orchid Japanese Restaurant

Reviews 4

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Oliver Smith

As it has been mentioned many times, people do seem to have a problem with the service in this place. And I agree. When we came for the lunch buffet here yesterday, we were in for an uncomfortable experience. I will speak specifically for three things: 1. If you have dined here, you know they have a small portable circular light on the table that can fit in the palm of a toddler and runs on AAA batteries. We have a young toddler with us (15 months) . And given his curiosity, he was playing with it. One of the ladies from the restaurant (perhaps, the owner) came to him to specifically tell us to turn off the light to "save" the battery. I couldnt believe it. Its not that we were distracting others as we were only one of the three families dining in the entire restaurant! What more, she actually sat for a good couple of minutes next to our booth (behind me) to ensure that our son doesnt turn the light on again! I found it very rude. 2. While we did our 2nd round of order, our waiter showed up to the table and asked us "Do you guys still want to eat more?" in Chinese to my wife, who is a native Chinese. We found it quite rude and distasteful that you would ask your guests who are dining in your restaurant this question - especially when its a buffet! It made us feel we are eating too much, when we werent. 3. Our son is 15-month old and he doesnt eat sushis. I mean, he barely has 6 teeth. Guess what, when the bill showed up they added USD 2.95 to the entire bill because apparently, kids 3 and under are charged that amount. When we said that our son didnt eat anything they said we should have told them earlier as they gave us the plate and chopsticks. And they said they saw us feeding him so that counts! At this point, I was speechless. The plate they provided us was not used, the chopsticks were not even used (I mean, since when can a 16-month old toddler use chopsticks). My son barely got a bite or two of the sweet potato tempura (not even finished the whole piece) and spent the rest of the time just playing around. He wasnt hungry at all. I couldnt get myself to justify why I had to pay USD 2.95 for a bite of sweet potato tempura. The waiter simply said this that he saw us feeding and so her charged and he left. I dont think I felt so cheap in my dining experience ever - in Raleigh and elsewhere. I will never come here again no matter how good the food is. I am sure, my review probably wont mean much. But this is my two cents and I think, it is better to eat at Sushi Blues Cafe and Sake House where the service is as good as the food. #nomoreorchid

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Jonathan Mclean

The quality of food at Orchid Japanese Restaurant is excellent, which is why it makes me so sad to write a bad review. My wife and I used to visit this restaurant often but one of the staff members has ruined what used to be our favorite place to eat. Our last three experiences at this place turned sour due to one particular waitress. I dont know her name, but shes an older woman with dark hair. Were big fans of their all you can eat buffet. You simply mark what you want on their menu with a marker and they take the menu to have your meal prepared. They are supposed to return the menu when they return with your food incase you want to order more, since it is an all you can eat buffet. This particular waitress never returns the menu to us when she brings our food. To make matters worse, she always comes to us within 35 minutes to ask us if were ready for the check. We eat here often so we know that this isnt standard because other waiters always bring the menu back and dont pressure us to leave so soon. Our visit their last Saturday was the final straw. We arrived at 7:45pm. We were served by the same waitress. Once again, we didnt receive our menu back. We had to ask another waitress to bring it to us. At 8:25 our waitress asked us if we were ready for our check. She didnt ask us how everything was. She didnt ask us if we wanted anything else. She asked us if we were ready for the check! We were only there for 35 minutes at an all you can eat buffet! This is the third time the same waitress has forced us out of the restaurant. Im sad to say well never eat there again, because of this one rude waitress.

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Robert Schrauben II

I decided to try this place out for my birthday and I can honestly say that it was one of, if not the best Japanese restaurant I have ever eaten at. Everything we ordered was fresh and truly authentic in flavor, texture, and presentation style. My parents are not avid sushi people, but they still had plenty of choices for entrees. My father had the hibachi vegetables, ribeye steak, sesame chicken, and calamari. My mother had the hibachi vegetables, fried sweet potatoes, and more of the wide vegetable dish selections. Both were not disappointed about anything they had without a single complaint (which is a very rare situation for them). I had pretty much everything on their sushi menu from sashimi to the actual rolls. The sashimi was exquisitely fresh, and had a great texture and flavor. The rolls were very decorative and equally tasty in measure, with a wide variety of different flavors. My personal favorite with the rolls would probably be the DC rolls. Their buffet includes everything on the menu for $25. All you have to is mark down what you want on a list, push a blinker button, and someone comes out to pick up the lists then bring out your food in a quick manner. You can eat as much as you want and order it as you want it since its made to order. Only downside is that if you waste food they will charge you for it, so order responsibly. We will definitely come back here again. This was such a wonderful dining experience and definitely worth every penny.

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Richard Salinas

Although this is the only place in the area that serves AYCE which is nice; the sushi quality is not very good. It starts with the rice for me, as any great sushi chef would say. Their rice tastes old and is not seasoned properly, along with the texture being off. Second, the fish is of average quality. Their tuna has a metallic taste which means they are using young tuna or ones that arent ages at all, which is bad for environmental reasons. Third, the wasabi is poor quality, now given there are very few places that actually use real wasabi but their powder is very weak. Lastly the soy sauce, it could be the brew they use but I just dont like it. Overall when I first came to Raleigh I really hoped this place was going to be good but it just doesnt work. Because of this place I learned how to make sushi at home and would honestly I would put it up against any sushi restaurant in the triangle. For people who give this place 3.5 stars or more, YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT REAL SUSHI TASTES LIKE! 4/25/16 Since this post I decided to give this restaurant another chance. I was pleasantly surprised, the fish actually tasted good. The tuna had a nice deep red color, good taste and texture, it did not have the cartilage in it like the last time. The rice was also better this time around, still not seasoned but had good texture. The soy sauce is still subpar along with the "wasabi". BUT overall I was happy with my lunch and I probably would return again at some point.