desaki Restaurant

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

My family and I dined at Desaki last night, and it was a terrible experience! My brother and his family dined there last year, and he said it was wonderful. So this year, when we booked our Great Wolf Lodge weekend, my brother insisted that we return. It was his birthday, and the ten of us took the shuttle over for a 5:30 dinner. There was 10 of us...6 adults and 4 kids. The shuttle was wonderful and the driver was friendly. The good experience ended once we arrived. The our entire dinner was rushed. Although our hibachi chef was funny and our meal was delicious, our waitress dropped our check while we were still eating. She did not offer us more drinks; she did not offer us coffee; and she did not offer us dessert. Apparently, this restaurant does not have dessert or coffee. Also, my brother called her out for dropping the check while some of us were still eathing. Her words exactly: "This is not a fancy restaurant." Well, I dine out ALOT! And regardless if we are eating at Ruth Chris, a diner, or Friendlys,a good server never drops a check on her guests while they are eating. After spending around 200 per couple at the table, my husband asked for a glass of water, and the waitress said she didnt have tap water...only bottle! I thought this wasnt a fancy restaurant? Even at the BEST restaurants in the world, a patron can get tap water if he asks. I am not sure what kind of restaurant owner would rather make customers who spent a lot of money angry and annoyed. Doesnt he lose in the end? Sure, you might get us to buy a bottle of water, but you just lost repeat business. I sure wont tell my friends to go to this establishment when they are in the PA area! Also, the waitress, hostess and manager started asking us if they could get the shuttle for us about 4 times. We were only at the table for an hour when they started rushing us out. Yes it was a Saturday night, but at 6:30, the place was empty. We would have ordered more drinks; we would have left the waitress and the hibachi chef a huge tip----especially since my brother and I both worked as servers in our college days----but they were so RUDE that we decided the 18% gratituty they added was enough! Finally, it was my brothers birthday, and his wife called weeks before to find out what they offered for bdays. The person on the phone said the restaurant would bring out a cake and candles...so we did not bring a cake to the restaurant. But when we got there, the hostess said they didnt do cakes on a Sat night! ??? Dont most people celebrate their birthdays over the weekend?? If we had known, we would have brought one ourselves! Very disappointing place! Too bad. We are big eaters, big spenders and big tippers. I dont know how this manager think he can treat customers this way and still do well! This is not how NY restaurants treat their customers! What a waste!

ER

Erika Rachel

I was very disappointed. Ive been to many hibachi places and this one would rank last on my list thus far. I was curious from the beginning when walking up to the front door. The adorable wagon on their front landscape is a beautiful touch, except that its advertising a 212 number, which is NYC, which immediately makes me think this wagon was yanked from some cheesy, dirty, bike taxi in Chinatown. Were seated by a wonderful hostess, but asked to scootch all the way into the oversized booth. Sharing a table with other guests is an element of hibachi Im familiar with, but this table, as big as it was, with 8 people already seated at it, had 4 other place settings, which should have been removed the second we sat down. Instead we were asked to wait 5 minutes to see if anyone else showed up, and if so we were going to have to eat our meal scrunched like sardines. So for the next 5 minutes we all watched the door and breathed sighs of relief as we saw people being seated at non-hibachi tables. The woman next to me from the adjoining party said she often feels claustrophobic when seated this way, and I cant say I blame her. Finally the other plates are removed and our chef arrives. Hes a little too sarcastic and scripted for my taste, but thats a matter of preference I suppose. I prefer them to be personable and funny when pretending to spin the spatula in my direction, otherwise it just feels threatening. I clapped out of obligation and respect, not out of enjoyment. The rice was bland, and the salmon was so dry and tasteless- if it werent for the family next to us and my being seated in the middle of everyone I would have told the waiter when he came around that it was the worst salmon I had ever tasted. The noodles were good, the vegetables were fine, the scallops were AMAZING. I will say that if Desaki gets one thing right... Its their scallops. Great texture, flavor, size, everything about them was delicious. Our waiter was friendly and up to par. We were in and out very quickly which is a desirable dining quality for some. The decor was lovely, the bathrooms were noteworthy, and the place is huge. I seriously recommend that management reconsiders the true capacity of the hibachi booth tables, because we were a rather fit group with 2 kids at our table and we were disgruntled the second we sat down- not a good way to start off a dining experience. Its a situation that screams to the customer "This place is all about its bottom line, not your dining experience". Id consider trying this place in the future, but not until Ive exhausted every other option in the area.

AL

Alice Qi

This was an awful experience right from the beginning. To start, we had a 30 minute wait to get to the table, then another 45 minute wait between drinks and appetizers before the actual chef came to our table. Our waiter explained that they were down one chef that night, but it still does not explain the excessive waiting that we had to do. Our entire meal took us around 2.5 hours.Coming from a partial Japanese background, the food was served out of order and disgusting. There were overcooked and chewy lobster and the filet Mignon was definitely not medium rare. The noodles were neither soba or udon - some sort of Chinese noodle. My rice was overcooked and burnt. The chef tried to complete some fancy tricks, but ended up throwing an egg at the poor girl sitting across from him. There was one chef for the 16 of us - I couldnt even see what was going on! In addition, the chef forgot about 4 shrimp orders and did not start cooking them until reminded. Our meals were certainly not served at the same time. Is this where the 18% gratitude goes? I went and spoke to the manager on the floor that night (a blonde lady), asking very nicely for some sort of compensation for our terrible experience. I explained my reasoning and expressed understanding of the staff shortage, but it is not an excuse for the terrible experience we had with the food, service and waiting time. Guess what? The manager did NOT DO one single thing. Our bill arrived as is. She did not even make eye contact with me as our group of 8 left the restaurant. Given the supposed awards won, price and environment, this was definitely not worth the money spent. My recommendation is to find another restaurant and avoid this one at all cost.

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