| rev:text
| - Its not often that one finds it actually painful to write a review, but this is one of those times.
Ninja has been one of my favorite places for years for all-you-can-eat sushi. OK, so the fish isn't exactly what you'd get at Takashi in Manhattan, but it is always fresh and clean, making the $20 for all-you-can-eat one of the great bargains anywhere and the service was always quick, friendly, and helpful.
Unfortunately that all ended a couple of months ago. A sushi restaurant can only be as good as it sushi-yas and it seems that Ninja has been having staffing issues.
My wife and I went there as usual a few weeks ago on a Saturday night, and as usual, the place was packed. What was different was that I didn't recognize any of the sushi chefs. They only had 2 guys working the sushi bar.
Shortly after being seated, a large group came in for teppenyaki and what do you know? The 2 sushi chefs became 1 as the other guy left to do his Benihana routine. All you can eat is only significant if you can actually get some food. There is no way in the world 1 guy can supply a room of 40 or so. Simply can't be done.
I won't even go into how terrible our waitress was because she was new, avoided all contact with the tables because there was nothing she could do about the massive wait to get anything, and it is my understanding that she is no longer there.
OK. So anyone can have a bad night. My wife and I went there again last week. This time it was a Thursday and the room was nearly empty. A different two sushi-yas behind the bar. Should be OK, I thought. I was wrong.
The first plate took over 45 minutes. The reason is that although they had 2 sushi chefs, only 1 was actually producing anything. The second, a very large bearded white guy in a black nylon do-rag produced a grand total of 1 roll during my first 45 minutes there. But he was having a grand old time talking to one of the busboys so I got the impression that he couldn't be bothered with customers.
And in a repeat of our last visit, the service was also pathetic. I sympathize with servers who are getting screwed by the kitchen, but that is no excuse for completely disappearing. When our first plate finally did appear, it sat on the sushi bar for 10 minutes until my wife finally got fed up, got up and retrieved it herself.
That said, what we did get was great tasting as always. If you go, you've got to try the 911 roll. The fresh wasabi in it will make it hard to live with the powdered green horseradish ever again.
Can Ninja be fixed? Absolutely. It is a staffing problem, not a food problem. Coincidentally, there have been numerous Help Wanted postings on their Facebook page recently.
Also please note that this review does not include anything about the teppanyaki. In all these years, I've never had it there. For all I know it may be the best thing on the planet.
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