Jamie G

Review of Shogun by Saisaki Restaurants

First of all, I'm a local. I use to go to Harpoon...

First of all, I'm a local. I use to go to Harpoon Larry's a lot and I always took my out-of-town guests for dinner here. The food is excellent, which is why we loved it, but after my last visit I am nothing but disappointed and pissed.

My husband and I, along with our 3 out-of-town guests, arrived early enough that the dinner crowd hadn't really started. The hostess said 20-25 minutes and we went to wait thinking it would be even faster since it looked pretty bare. 30 minutes (and 1 big group that showed up after us) past ..one of my guests went in ask and was told we were next. Another 20 minutes (and 2 more big groups that showed up after us) past...guest went and asked again and was told we were next. Another 10 minutes and a 4th big group that had been there less than 5 minutes was called. I quickly intervened and expressed that we were being forgotten and it was getting ridiculous. The hostess was completely disrespectful to me and proceeded to finally take us to our seat. Fuming mad, yes, but I calmly expressed to our waitress that our experience thus far was not grand and I'd like to talk to a manager. We proceeded to go about our meal (our waitress was great and so was our food, btw). We get the check and proceed to pay but I yet again asked to speak with a manager. Our waitress seemed shocked that he had not come by earlier (only to later find out that the one she told decided to LEAVE for the day)...the new manager on duty came over (which I know his name if anyone from Harpoon Larry's wishes to contact me over this) to talk. I calmly expressed all my issues from the night, explaining we came there often and that night was a particular embarrassment for my guests that I promised a nice evening.....only then was I boldly dismissed as "the hostess is usually very good" and then further ignored while he discussed beer with 2 of my male guests. The manager proceeded to ignore me and my husband as we tried to talk, and then ignored my 3rd guest as she requested more coffee. The manager brought out 2 free beers for my two male guests, leaving me, my husband, and my 3rd guest just sitting there.

Keep in mind, I wasn't looking for a free meal but we did just drop $150 on dinner, a little respect would have been nice. There are a lot of things I can tolerate but bad service is not one of them. Before leaving I quickly reminded the manager again that he screwed up; my husband and I were the pissed off locals and it would have been in Harpoon Larry's best interest to make me feel better, not ignore me and discuss beer with my 2 guests.

Big, big mistake. I can forgive a bad hostess, but there is no excuse for bad management.