Yakuza

10/29/07

severely understaffed

by tutimaroni

I've been twice now. The service seems to have only gotten worse. Most recently, I was there with a group of 3 others. We were told we would be seated in about 20 minutes. We waited at the bar for over 40 minutes. The bartender was very busy making drinks; too busy to take our order. We eventually left, upon which the bartender said sincerely, "you guys just made my day." I guess its more understaffed than anything. I was hungry and could wait any longer considering the first time I was there it took FOREVER to actually be served. Don't go hungry.

10/12/09

Waiting 1 hr, 45min. for food? Not in this town!!

by Odessa08

We have been regulars at this restaurant since the day they opened, and have brought dozens of people to eat there. Mica used to give attention and care to the food, and seemed appreciative of his customers. Sadly, for the last two years, the food and service have been in a steady state of decline, i.e forgotten entrees, inattentive wait-staff, and declining food quality. We kept hoping they would regain the quality they had begun with. The last straw came recently when we had a reservation for a table of ten. We waited almost 2 HOURS before ANY food was brought to the table, and not a dime was comped off of an almost 500.00 bill! This is Portland people! I eat at PACKED restaurants in this town every week, and have NEVER had to wait more than 40 minutes for food, and NEVER that long for an order that included appetizers.

Perhaps the chef/owner is too busy with new ventures to maintain the quality of what was once a fine establishment. What a shame.

• Pros: nice neighborhood
• Cons: Poor service, forgotten food items, no apology for long wait

09/21/09

Food was awesome, cocktails severely lacking!

by MandyBarrett

We went here only because Portland magazine said it had the best burger in town.

On that front, it was AMAZING! The burger is top-notch, we each had one along with a scallop and dungeness entree. To that end their sushi is fresh and flavorful.

HOWEVER- this is a big knock on the place. How can a trendy upscale restaurant completely drop the ball on the cocktail and wine service? This is Portland, last time I checked. If you do not come to play with wine and spirits in this city, you simply are not going to survive.

I looked over the menu before going, the cocktails they did have looked awful. The only one that looked appetizing was their pomegranite, which, coincidentally enough, they did not have on their menu.

I asked if they had something with Midori in it, you know, this being a Japanese restaurant and everything. Nope.

So we settled on wine. They had a whopping 2 to choose from, and after we chose the Reisling, they ran out after the first bottle and we had to order cabernet for our second glass.

This was on a SATURDAY NIGHT, and they ran out of wine? Are... you... kidding me?

Anyway, the food was awesome, and as a local burger afficionado the burger absolutely lived up to hype!

But if anyone involved with the restaurant happens to see this, be warned- your absolute disregard for providing patrons with an ample wine list or cockatils may cost you repeat business.

• Pros: The best burger I have had in awhile, lived up to hype
• Cons: Cocktail list is awful and limited, wine list was miniscule

08/21/09

second try not the charm

by smoopers

I was grumpy and was looking for something other than our usual standby's, yakuza is in the hood…I had been before, right after they opened and remembered it had been tasty-so we decided to give it a shot. Problem one, I was already grumpy, problem two-it was 8p and I was hungry. We ordered the burger, shrimp tempura roll, the squash, and the house roll. The squash, shrimp tempura and house roll came out first after 70 minutes. 70. I had heard that they had GIANT rolls; these were smaller than other places and mediocre. I was ravenous-trying to figure out if they had something-anything I could order quickly to nibble on, like edamame…Nope. The waiter did say he had comped my drink and asked if I wanted another-sure. 3 drinks no food. Awesome. I worked as a waitress for a thousand years and I can tell you it is not fun to have a dining room filled with hungry people who don’t have food and a slow kitchen, that is when I put on the charm and beg forgiveness-“”I am so sorry you are experiencing a wait- the kitchen is slammed I apologize…” Nothing from our guy. Just a comped drink. No explanation. No apology. After 90 minutes the burger came out. It was delicious. But I was still hungry. And irritated. I will never go back. The squash was completely bland and uninteresting, the shrimp tempura roll mediocre and the house roll okay. The burger was perfect. The service sub standard. If you are looking for a place to sit around and drink, and aren’t really hungry, this place may be for you. If you have a matter you need to discuss with a friend for several hours and want your food to trickle into your conversation every hour or so…But it is loud in there too…Nevermind. I say don’t go. We did get all of our drinks comped though.

• Pros: burger
• Cons: Sloooooooow and unapologetic service

08/12/09

not coming back

by chocolatecovered

we waited almost 90 minutes for disappointing sushi. apparently we should have ordered the kobe burger but still no excuse for waiting that long. the table next to us was seated after us and got served before us, and their order was even lost before getting put in to the kitchen. at least our beers were comped. i've tried this place twice now, and i really do want to like it, but found it underwhelming and overpriced both times. i find their "be prepared to wait 30+ minutes for your food" disclaimer printed on their menu pretty pretentious.

• Pros: ambience
• Cons: slow, poor service

07/07/09

A Beast of a Night Turned Wonderful

by KlumpKnop

Our visit to Yakuza was quite seredipitous. We had made reservations for the second seating at Beast next door and were told we could wait at Yakuza until called for dinner. Our first entry into Beast was at best bad so when we entered the light and casual atmosphere of Yakuza our spirits rose and we decided to cancel Beast and dine at Yakuza. The gracious host sat us at a quiet table on the patio and the friendly waitress brought the menus, took our drink orders and suggested several items for our meal.

The simple one page menu belies the depth of flavors, textures and gastronomic subtilties that lie in the food. The first taste of almost evey dish brought out the "Oh my God this is Sooo good!" statement as we relished each new presentation. Since this was our first visit we relied primarlily on recommendations from the waitress with a few selections of our own. We ordered in stages to allow a better appreciation of the full range of dishes which included the Zucchini squash carpaccio, Kobe beef tartar (yum-yum), Hawaiian amberjack sashimi, Dungeness crab maki, Minced Hawaiian yellowtail maki and apple and avocado and sweet pepper maki.

Our only disappointment was that they had sold out of all of the desserts due to our late arrival. Beast had done us in a second time but no matter, we now have another new dish to look forward to on our next visit.

The beverage list was a bit low on wine but had a good selection of Sake, beer and ale. The staff was friendly, helpful, knowledgeable about the food and just plain nice. What started as a terrbile evening ended up wonderful. We look forward to our next visit.

• Pros: Fabulous food and service
• Cons: Desserts were sold out.

06/28/09

Not even the food was worth it. Never coming back.

by Rainyrain

I came here for my birthday dinner because I had heard fabulous reviews about the food. And for the most part, the food was pretty fabulous. I don't know if I would go as far as to call this the best burger in Portland, but it definitely ranks up there. And the beef tartare (or, really, the "crispy poached egg") that came with it was quite nearly spiritual, as was the scallop appetizer.

But then, there were some misses, like both maki we ordered (Dungeness crab and hamachi), which were bland, unspired, and far below the standard set by the, well, less Japanese dishes on the menu.

And the service was HORRENDOUS. And I'd like to make the disclaimer that I will usually forgive any degree of terrible service if the food is good enough. And the food here was nearly good enough--but the service was slow enough to ruin the meal. We sat for about 20 minutes before our waiter asked us for our orders, and it was another hour before our first dish arrived--and at least another 20 minutes before the next two. The food came in sporadic bursts, with unforgivable waits in between. And it wasn't just that they hated us--I often noticed times where hardly anyone in the restaurant had food.

I blame the kitchen. They seemed understaffed, for one, and the two-then-three chefs seemed to only be able to work on one or two (SMALL!) dishes at a time. We spent at least two and a half hours here and probably only half an hour of that time actually eating. By the end of the night our waiter was apologizing profusely.

In short, I am never coming back here. If you only order one or two dishes--and I would make it the burger and the scallops, probably--then you might be OK. And this might have been a bad night. But it was enough to keep me away from Yakuza forever.

Amusingly, though, Naomi Pomeroy of next-door Beast kept wandering through the kitchen, either to gather herbs or to watch the degenerating spectacle, I couldn't tell...

• Pros: burger, scallops, beef tartare, al fresco atmosphere
• Cons: ABOMINABLE service--and the sushi was not great.

05/03/09

Mind-bogglingly good sushi in awesome location

by owlberg

The ONLY reason Yakuza gets less than 5 perfect stars is due to the occasionally pokey service. Otherwise, both the sushi and (especially!!!!) the sashimi are second to none. Carefully prepared and imaginative rolls, and delicate, luscious sashimi, make this THE go-to place in Portland. Highly, highly recommended.

03/03/09

no apology

by stuff21

Food = excellent! Probably the best sushi I've had in Portland. Servers = pretty good, seemed friendly enough, fairly prompt. Why the one star then? They made a big mistake on my bill that showed up a couple of months later. They did refund me my money, but were very blase about it. If they just would have included a note of apology with the refund check I think I would have been fine. But the fact that they didn't feel the need to apologize just shows me that my business isn't important to them. If you go, my suggestion would be to pay cash!

• Pros: incredibly fresh sushi
• Cons: poor customer service

10/13/08

Unique and Sumptuous!

by willingtotaste

The reviews which Yakuza received during the summer of 2008 do not do justice to the dining experience it offers now. I ate at Yakuza with Portland friends on October 12, 2008 while visiting from the East Coast. The experience was sublime! We ate slowly, took our time and enjoyed conversation while sampling nine or ten dishes. Four or five of them were among the best Asian/sushi/fusion dishes I have ever had. Don't go here for traditional sushi but do go for inventive Japanese fare. Each menu item was distinct in flavor from the next and each melted in our mouths. The Kobe beef strips with raisins and fresh figs were incredible. The salmon carpaccio was a subtle explosion of different tastes. The tempura fried chevre with caramelized onions was rich and flavorful. There was a squash dish which I could have eaten all night. We consumed the scallops in a citrus infused sauce/soup right to the very last drop. The cucumber and avocado with sesame seeds was a perfect traditional foil of taste to balance against more exotic menu items. The blends of fruits, ginger, other spices and fresh bits of greens were imaginative and perfectly blended to temp the taste buds. The service was prompt and our waiter was able explain all the ingredients of each dish with enthusiasm. I would readily return to Yakuza on another trip to Portland!

• Pros: As you sample different menu items, you wind up wanting to taste every dish on the menu!
• Cons: Had to leave for the airport.

09/06/08

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by Mogwine

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