09/28/09

USED to be best happy hour prices, always bad service

by montrosetx

I've been going here for about five to six years. When I first began coming there was nothing to complain about. Great service, great fish, great price. Gradually though, I began to notice the quality of service go down. I have atleast twice waited for over an hour to get my food with maybe six to seven other tables all together in the restaurant. I've had orders forgotten and received my fried dishes cold at times. Needless to say, I kept going back for their prices. Happy hour ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. That was one of the ONLY things keeping me around. Well, I'm sorry to say they recently ditched this offer. HAPPY HOUR ALL THE TIME - NO MORE. They not only went back to their regular happy hours, they shortened it by 30 minutes a day. Can't get anything past 6:30 on most evenings.

Do yourself a favor - If you must eat here, don't pay full price. Try to manage making it for happy hour. That's all it seems worth for now.

• Pros: consistent fish quality, worth it when it's happy hour
• Cons: slow, unattentive service even when they're empty

05/26/09

VERY IMPRESSED!

by TexREgal

I have been driving past this place for forEVER! The sign never grabbed me, Miyako and Sushi King are close by, and i had never heard about this place otherwise... The chef's combos are genius, flavors are fabulous, happy hour till late, can't go wrong... PLUS, they were playing smooth jazz the whole time, I lingered for a while and will have some excellent leftovers tomorrow! The sampler is great if you do appetizers...

• Pros: Specials, Combos - so different, unique, and yummy!
• Cons: Didn't know it was this good sooner

05/15/09

terrible restaurant

by daisylee

i worked at cafejapon for less than 2 weeks as a server. they prepare salad with fingers. they just grab everything without gloves or tools. as well as the miso/daily soup... it's disgusting. oh, they grab(with fingers) lemon and put it into water and iced tea , too. the boss and manager(female) are the meanest ppl i've ever worked for.

• Pros: no
• Cons: no sanitation

05/03/09

THE WORST SUSHI - EVER EVER!!!

by PhoenixStarr

bad service, poor hygiene & smell, bad music, BAD management who dont answer e-mails about bad service, slow food even though we were he ONLY people there!

came her second time to see if they were just having a bad day before - NEVER AGAIN. and i NEVER complain!

• Pros: cheap sushi, but thats not a 'pro'
• Cons: everything else!

11/21/08

Love this place...

by iheart2eat

This is a nice, inexpensive sushi spot. The sushi is always great tasting... excellent for large groups, or late night sushi!

• Pros: Extended hours, good value
• Cons: Service sometimes below par.........

11/11/08

Wow!

by sushiguru78

Wow! Wow! Just have to drop a comment on this little hole in the wall sushi place. As you can tell from my username. I do not call myself sushi guru for nothing. ha. Anyway, I eat sushi 3-4 times a week. Travel a lot and have been to many sushi restaurants all over the States. Cafe Japon has always been my favorite spot when I stopped by Houston. Last weekend was a neat surprise! They had redone the whole interior. I noticed the new walls, tables and chairs. Very Nice. Makes the place look real cozy and comfortable. Not to mention the $1 sushi specials and $2 hot sake all day and everyday. I like the fact that they do not compromise on the size nor quality when they have specials. Service was very prompt and the manager is definitely very knowledegable and friendly. Anyway, it was a pleasant dining experience! Cant wait to stop by Houston again for my sushi feed!!!

• Pros: Inexpensive Quality Food
• Cons: Cheap Prices! Ha!

07/23/08

Best Happy Hour in town!

by wizzdude

My friends and I are giving this restaurant a big Thumbs Up. We were on the way to Bond and decided to meet up for sushi before partying. We ended staying till 2am. The Happy Hour drinks $3 U CALL IT was not helpful in making us leave. Not to mention the sushi prices. Had a great time. Love the cozy setting and service. We are making this spot our favorite stop before getting down every weekend!

• Pros: Happy Hour!
• Cons: Give us some club music!

07/20/08

Great Experience as always!!!

by hotstuff255

My husband and I have been eating at this restaurant since forerver. I was surprised by the negative reviews written. Anyway, we dropped in for a dinner last weekend. The restaurant was packed. I did see a lot of new faces. We also noticed a change in menu. I decided to try the seared peppercorn tuna and my husband had the chicken california. It was definitely a very nice surprise. The california roll is wrapped in chicken and lightly fried. it was delicious. Also love the presentation of the seared tuna. The seared tuna was drizzled with parika mayo.Wow. Very innovative touch. We had a great time. Service was wonderful as always. In fact, we also had the opportunity to speak to the manager working that night. He was in fact very polite and attentive. From him, we found out that there was recent change of management and chef.

Basically, we were extremely pleased be dinning at our favorite restaurant.

• Pros: Ambience, Service

04/15/08

Mediocre sushi, but it's ok because the service is really slow.

by cougaboutown

For some reason, the concierge at Hotel Zsa Zsa recommended this place. I'm somewhat new to Houston and mostly know the handful of places downtown. I took a friend of mine from San Francisco. We both know good sushi. We've eaten good sushi. Good sushi is a friend of our stomachs. This was really pretty marginal and definitely overpriced. There were plenty of empty tables and it was only 7:00 pm, albeit a Thursday. The service was incredibly slow. My friend and I both travel a lot. I think we are pretty reasonable when it comes to understanding a place that is busy. But Japon was not. The wait staff acted annoyed at our presence. They got his drink order wrong. How hard is it to make a gin and tonic? Despite asking everybody in sight that we were ready to order, it took them 35 minutes to finally get around to us, and, like I said, you would have thought we were asking for the moon. To top everything off, we couldn't get another drink for asking or money. Incredible. I wonder if the owner knows what is going on there. Anyway, it took us another 45 minutes after eating to get our check. Horrible, couldn't-care-less service. If you have wheels, I recommend Ra Sushi on Westheimer or Azuma downtown. Ra has way, way better atmosphere especially in the evening and better sushi by far, although more expensive. Azuma is better sushi and ok atmosphere. Either has much better service.

• Pros: Well, it is sushi, I guess.
• Cons: Bad service, so-so sushi.

02/22/08

crapass service - manager-horibble

by imlazy

food was alright, toook ALONG DAMN TIME.

we first entered and said "12" when the manager asked for a number, he made an ugly face as we walked to go set up the tables. after that was unbelievable. about 10-15 min a waiter came to ask for drinks. it took about 30 minutes before someone returned to take the order. and it took another hour for food to come out (this is a SUSHI place) come on now. and when the food came out only half of us got our food. took another 15 minutes for couple of more plates, but still couple of us didnt' even get out food. by now it was about 2-2.5 hrs and we had to get back to work. when we got there it was NOT busy. and yet when thsoe that never received food asked what happened, the manager had the nerve to say "the host didn't tell you we were backed up?".. we respond with "no".. and manager's response "they should have". HELLO YOU SAT US DOWN!" yes that manager, who had made the face, was the one to seat us. then when it was time to pay we asked for an itemized bill (containing details of what was ordered) instead the manager gave us an attitude "you were laughing at me"... first off no we weren't laughing at you (him), we were there laughing and talking the entire time cause it was a co-worker's birthday. then responding to the "itemized bill" the manager says "you want free meal for everyone" - our response , no we didn't say "free" we said "itemized bill-with all the orders on it" instead he kept talking saying that we wanted a free meal.. no we all had our money out ready to pay. that manager is an idiot, he should be fired. i dont recommend this place, there are three other sushi restaurants right in the area: Azumi Sushi, Rickshaw Bambu (definitely recommend), Bambu Lounge, Sushi King, Tokyohana Grill & Sushi Bar,. take your pick.

• Pros: variety of food to choose from.
• Cons: service was slow, manager was horrible (extremely rude and at the same time acted like a baby-"you were laughing at me" in a whining tone, no joke)