black for a reason

Food Review: Nagisa Japanese Restaurant

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Warning: This post expound on one of the worst Japanese buffet restaurant in town. Read at your own cost.

It's always a joyous event when a person complete his thesis and submit for 1st review. This is me. I was motivating myself during my struggles in writing out every single sentence for my thesis, by telling myself I will get a sumptuous Japanese buffet upon my completion of my thesis. Indeed, today is the day that Me goes for Japanese buffet.

Few of us (Ivan, Angelynn, Vincent and I) were rather indecisive upon which restaurant should we go. As a pure authentic Malaysian, we feel that it is our responsibility to spend every single penny (I mean.. Cents) on worthy food. Sadly, Gen of Legend Hotel was fully booked. Instead of going all the way to Shogun, we decided to pay a visit to Nagisa Japanese Restaurant. The first thing on our thought is, "Heck, pay few more bucks and get a Sunway buffet. Not bad what". Well, the following story proves you (and us) wrong.

The start was good. We were welcomed by a lady who was kind enough to let us choose a table at a corner. We're a crazy, noisy bunch. We wouldn't want to interrupt other guest enjoying their moment of sashimi, sushi, etc.

Then, things weren't that right. We noticed there's little choice for cooked food. Very normal salad section (we didn't know there's such thing as salad corner for Japanese buffet), nice looking compartments with different kinds of food (sushi bar, teppanyaki, and tempura), and a nice little ice cream section just fit Angelynn's taste. We first went over to the sushi bar, and amazingly discovered that most plates are practically empty (Well, supposedly somebody raided the place earlier than we do). We're in good mood, heck, why not wait for 2nd round? So we separate in our own ways and hunt for the right food, and gather back on our table - of course, share the food ;) (Communion is our practice)

Next round, I went over to the sushi bar. Amazingly, things weren't the way it should be. They did "top-up" the food, but somehow... STINGY. Frankly, I don't expect to see such ridiculous attitude happened in a hotel such as Sunway. I guess three sane malaysian can practically wah-lap the whole sushi bar food in an instance. Still, I took half of what's available on the baby octopus serving, and went back to my seat. Serious, I took nearly half plate of it only. Take note, half plate. And the plate size should be slightly smaller than those KFC dinner plate.

I told myself, heck, maybe this is more towards an ala-carte style. Just ask from the staff at sushi bar and they will serve you more food. Nevertheless, the next thing was ridiculous. Two of us, Ivan and I, went to wait for Oysters. We practically stand in front of a big boat filled with ice, with nill oysters. The old uncle was slowly opening up each oyster one by one, wash it and put it on our plate. The whole process, we only took four. Each one. (four of us ma ;) Remember about our philosophy of communion?)

We started wondering, is this so call ala-carte, or just merely slow and stingy. Without spoiling our mood, we move next to the tempura and teppanyaki section. Tempura section was great, as there's many top-ups. Teppanyaki was the most unpleasant experience, minus the sushi bar thingy. Three cooks were present there. Two were talking, in cantonese, and one were cooking slowly. One question I would ask, I am not really particular in atmosphere, nor I have any prejudice against anyone who speaks cantonese, however, don't you think chit-chatting like nobody's business in front of a customer, in a Japanese restaurant (I reemphasize, Japanese restaurant) is rather stupid?

After few rounds of survey, I finally gave up practically and went for dessert straight. We had a great time, chit-chatting and laughing at many silly jokes that we shared. However, the food didn't pleases us at all. Strictly speaking, this shouldn't be the SUNWAY EXPERIENCE that we suppose to receive. Heck, maybe this is the real Sunway experience that everyone gets.

Of course, the waiters are great. They are attentive and nice to us. But the cooks, the food, unjustify the note that we pay. I mean, Ivan's credit card. A RM80 (after tax) Japanese Buffet is simply overpriced, and unjustifying with the level of food quality and customer satisfaction.

In simple terms, it sucks.

If you ever consider going to this "Japanese restaurant", think twice.

If you read through many positive comments through other positive blogs, read mine again.

If you are the manager or CEO of Sunway, please buck up your food, at the least. minus the chit-chatting cooks in teppanyaki section. ah.. minus the slow-mo and stingy sushi bar staff. It's unacceptable for what we paid.

Heck, now we know why Nagisa has so many empty seats on a Sunday night, unlike Gen in Legend, or even the infamous pasar malam Shogun/Saisaki Japanese Buffet.



One funny thing, we left only around 10pm, which they already packing up and ready to go home. The buffet time suppose to end only at 10.30pm, but we don't really care, since we have no much appetite for the food anyway. When we left, Ivan was joking about the staff just can't wait for us to leave. Since we're the last group of people who leaves the restaurant. Then I told him, "Heck, we didn't pay RM80 for the food. We pay for the seats".


Will stick some photo up soon.


Updated:


(My appetizer...)


(Tempura...)


(Beans, Eel and something I can't recall)


(Sushi, Sashimi, and my favourite baby octopus...)


(Some deco...)




Summary
Restaurant: Nagisa Japanese Restaurant, Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel
Price per pax: RM69++
Rating: 3 (without considering the price factor). 0.5 (consider how much we fork out for this buffet)
Comment: Unacceptable.
Slogan: Nagisa, Tak Kisah.

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4 Comments (Post a Comment)

Blogger fishtail
12:17 AM


For that amount of dough, you could have a VERY nice buffet at the Palace of the Golden Horses. Worth the money.
Blogger kiawin
1:37 AM


just never expect my sun & surf experience is totally crushed in the hand of nagisa :) i used to enjoy sun & surf much.
Anonymous Anonymous
10:27 AM


Guess that's why Japanese are always slim lor... And and and...

I found a book at Kinokuniya, but can't really recall the title of the book. Sounds like "Why Japanese are slim and ...". There's another one which applies for French women also. Kakaka
Anonymous Anonymous
4:46 AM


hm, try out da japanese restaurant @ sunway pyramid called Zen...it is just 1 floor up from Kim Gary..the buffet only on sunday n starts at 12..da buffet is by order, so da sashimi is freshly cut n the foods are oso freshly cook...the price oso reasonable...only 55++ n i think it's better than shogun....
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