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| - I want to like this place so badly. The interior is modern and cool. This music creates a club-like feel while the endless anime on the large plasmas makes for a playful vibe. There is some bar seating available, both at the drinks bar and the sushi/salad bar, but the mix of tables out on the floor is where most of the action is.
More importantly, though, this place has some of the most adventurous and quality take on a fascinating cuisine that, in Charlotte, is otherwise usually left to a take-out menu's order-by-number system.
The problem, however, is in the execution. From the service to the food prep, this restaurant has timing issues that drag this place down into an evening of frustration you won't soon forget.
On our recent trip here, our drinks didn't come out until well into the night, after several courses of food had already arrived. We were told the bar was short staffed, but our server didn't even offer to bring water to the table in the meantime. By the time our drinks arrived, they were pointless.
Courses arrive in an unpredictable fashion, some much later than others. We were told the tempura fry station was running much behind the others, which is why we had to wait longer. Food is served by any server as soon as it comes out of the kitchen, but that is little consolation when you have no idea whether you ever got all that you ordered.
By the end of the service, our waitress had all but given up, you could tell she was frustrated. She said we could just tell her anything that did not arrive and she would take it off the bill- she was totally clueless as to what food we had received or eaten. What was really sad was that I expected her to offer to comp all or part of the meal, or at least the drinks- no dice, which just made my experience all the more sour.
Sadly, the food is, for the most part, very good. Everything is served tapas style, which means small bites OK for one or two, but not enough if you are a party of three or four. I don't even mind the higher price tags because of the quality and presentation. Too bad getting to it is such an exercise in bad service and frustration. I'd be very reluctant to go back.
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