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| - On Friday night, after a lovely round of drinks at Robinia Courtyard, a group of friends and I had a hankering for Sujeo. We walked across the street and wandered in to the restaurant at 8:30 PM. The hostess informed my friend that she couldn't seat the six of us for dinner- not "there's a wait," but that we would not be able to be seated for dinner. Dumbfounded, I looked around the dining room and saw that several of their huge booths only contained 2 people- one only had 1 person seated in it!- these booths can accommodate 6-8. The restaurant wasn't overflowing by any means- it looked like there were a few parties finishing their meals; nobody else was waiting for a table; the bar was about half full. Yet she explained, in a disinterested, unapologetic manner, that their dinner menu ended at 9, and our only option was to wait 45 minutes to an hour and then order from what she described as their limited late night noodle bar menu. Since several in our party had dietary restrictions, the noodle bar menu didn't work for us, so we left, hungry and dismayed.
It pains me to write negative reviews, but I found the whole experience so confusing and inappropriate. Confusing because this is a Tory Miller restaurant and I would expect the highest standard of food and service (a la Graze). Inappropriate because a hipster noodle bar appealing to a young professional crowd (given its location and press) shouldn't feature country club hours or attitude. A restaurant serving dinner til 9 should seat for dinner until 9. (and a restaurant in Madison might rethink starting a "late night" menu at 9 PM on a Friday) An experienced floor manager would not have filled every large table with ridiculously small parties. Moreover, there were various ways they could have tried to accommodate us (for instance my friend noted that two people seated in one of the big booths were clearly staffers who were eating after their shift, and there was enough room for us at the bar) but nobody there seemed remotely interested in having us stay for dinner. Which strikes me as downright bizarre; we probably would have spend around $150 altogether.
I've been to Sujeo about a dozen times and had varying experiences... their noodle dishes are fine, the atmosphere is cool, I do think it tends to be more greasy/oily than I'd expect. I love Graze, so I want to love Sujeo. But I'm certain we never would have been treated so dismissively at Graze. Because Sujeo is not downtown or along a busy dining corridor i.e. Willy Street or Monroe I have to make an effort to go. Friday night's poor service was a disappointment that will prevent me from returning.
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