Yoko's Japanese Restaurant
Portland, OR 97202-3561
Phone: (503) 736-9228
01/14/2008 Posted by tbonzjonz
it's encouraging to see the number of negative reviews for this restaurant. last friday i had the worst restaurant experience i have ever had in portland there. the food was certainly decent, although nowhere near good enough to warrant the horrible customer service and lack of interpersonal skills displayed by their 'sushi chef'. after the requesite 1hr+ wait at the C-Bar, my friend and I were seated at the sushi bar. given that it was a friday nite, we had already had a couple of cocktails. i haven't seen this friend in some time and we were having a good time. evidently, that was my first mistake. my gregariousness and sincere desire to establish some kind of rapport with the restaurant staff evidently offended said 'chef'. i quickly realized he was busy and not in the mood to talk, so we let it go. after a decent (by no means spectacular) meal, we noted the kitchen staff was breaking down the line, so as we were finishing up our beverages, i tried to re-engage the guys on the line. the second-in-command was quite pleasant and approachable, but when i started talking to the prima-donna 'chef', i was offered a cab home and told not to condescend him. my friend and i were floored. we have both been in the restaurant industry for over twenty years each and were sincerely asking this fellow how his night went. to drop over $100 bucks on middle-of-the-road sushi that i could've paid a fraction for at infinitely better establishments like i love sushi or syun izakaya and then to be offended on top of it was pretty hard to swallow. obviously this person is in the wrong industry. perhaps he doesn't get out much, but it is sort of expected that the sushi chef has some sort of interaction with the patrons at the bar, and that sometimes, these folks will have had an adult beverage or two. i cannot state strongly enough that this establishment is not a recommendable destination. there is WAY too much good sushi and customer service in this town.
Pros: next to c-bar
Cons: horrible customer service, all the ambience of a greyhound station
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