| rev:text
| - **2.5 stars** visited Jan 17, 2013
Let me start by saying that Kirei's rating suffered due to service. This is my first visit to Kirei and I'm big on service (having worked in hospitality for 6 years) so doubt I'll be back. Too bad for Kirei, I live AND work within a 5 min walk of the restaurant.
Service: 2/5
Server was nice (but seemed inexperienced); I do have a couple of service complaints, may or may not be connected to her.
Issue #1: Made opentable reservation ~75 min prior to arrival, requested a window table if available. Kirei has a rectangular floor plan with windows on 3 sides, 2 of which have tables (1 side is bench seating tables while the other one are the private rooms). There are more window seating than non-window seating. Upon arrival all bench window tables were taken and we were led to one of the private rooms - the only 1 of 4 that does NOT have a window (the ones w/ windows did not have people seated either). Didn't make a big deal, just assumed the others were reserved for bigger parties, but when a party of 3 got seated at one of the private rooms w/ windows half an hour after we were seated, I questioned our server on why we didn't get a window table. She left to "look into it" and a few min later a different server (manager?) came by and said our server must've seated us here because he accidentally took our window table and apologized. Still doesn't explain why we weren't given the other private rooms with windows and then he said something about perhaps our server was frazzled. At this time I told him that it's my first time at the restaurant and he said something about "oh it's your first time? Well if I remember you next time..." didn't really say what will happen at this "next time" though.
Issue #2: I don't eat salmon. My bento box comes with salmon sashimi and I asked if I could substitute for surf clam. On the menu there are 3 kinds of salmon sashimi priced at $7/8/9, and surf clam was $6, so I didn't expect this to be a problem. Our server checked and said the chef will charge an extra $2 for the substitution...AFTER she had already started serving the soup and salad that comes with the bento boxes. What if I wanted to change my order based on their refusal? I said this was my first time at the restaurant, noted the price points and said straight up (but nicely) that this is not a good first impression. She smiled and apologized, which is all she can do as it's not her call. It's their right to be inflexible, but I am annoyed that a request to substitute for a cheaper item free of charge was denied, as many restaurants will accommodate such a request (for example Bikkuri @ Yonge & King will give you all broccoli tempura as the veggie tempura free of charge - and this is a higher cost substitution, broccoli replacing potato/yam/root veggies). I would like to think that had I questioned about the window table fiasco before this request, I would've been allowed the substitution...but then again I would also like to think that when you ask for a window table when one is available, you would get seated at one...
Food: 4/5
Meal started with a complimentary amuse-bouche of garlic ramen. I ordered the Kaki (oyster) fry as an app ($8 for 4 pieces) and the sashimi bento box lunch special ($13), and my DC ordered the maki bento box lunch special ($10). The kaki fry, while small, was cooked perfectly. My sashimi bento box came with: miso soup, typical japanese restaurant green salad, bit of edamame, 2 pieces each of: yam tempura roll, california roll, spicy crab roll, 4 pieces of dynamite (shrimp tempura) roll, and 2 pieces each of: tuna, butter fish, some other white fish, and 3 pieces of salmon (which my DC got to eat). A pretty good value for $13. The lunch specials were pretty good especially considering pricing, so it's too bad about the service.
Ambiance: 4/5
It's a nice place, but not super fancy.
Overall, staff did acknowledge my complaints and apologized, so that's a plus, but the lack of remediation efforts left a bad taste in my mouth. It's vexing when you REQUEST A WINDOW TABLE but are the ONLY TABLE in the restaurant seated at one WITHOUT A WINDOW. When I tell you about the error and also tell you that it's my first time at your restaurant, I'd expect a better response than "well, if I remember you next time...". I'm here now, so why not take care of me now? I don't think it would've made a difference to them financially to, say, comp my $1.50 for the green tea, and the gesture would've done a lot in terms of client satisfaction. Or, offer me something like a complimentary dessert for my next visit - then they wouldn't lose anything unless I came back (to spend more money), but would've shown an effort toward client satisfaction. I would still recommend that people give this a try, as my review is based on one visit, and everyone has an off day. I just got to be the one to experience it :)
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