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FW: Nobu Bait and Switch

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Welcome back to the Eater Complaints Dept. where Eater readers are invited to vent, gripe or praise at will. Got something to say? We're here for you.

From: Anonymous
Date: Thursday, March 20
To: eater complaints dept.
Subject: Nobu Bait and Switch
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We popped in to the new Nobu mainly to see the space and have a drink, then figured we’d try a bite of sushi. Asked the waitress what was freshest, best that day. She checks with chef (i.e. doesn’t know offhand), and comes back, of course, with Toro, which is listed as M.P. We asked how much it was and were quoted $18 for two pieces. Ok, that’s a little pricey, but it’s Nobu, so not a shocker. What the heck, we ordered it. A few minutes later she comes back with the sushi and says, that they didn’t have Toro, so they are giving us Otoro. Then sort of breezes by the fact that it’s $24 and starts to walk away. I’m thinking that she’ll cop to her misquote earlier and give us the proper price. When I inquire, she says “no, that’s the price for Toro, this is Otoro. It’s better.” And then tries to convince us she understands the difference.

We basically said that, yes, we understand Otoro is better, but she should honor the price she originally quoted. She said there was nothing she could do, that was the price, that was it. She could take the fish away and bring us a different one if we wanted. We asked her to check with a manager. So, she hesitates, looks around, picks up the fish, puts it back down, then picks it up again and walks over to another waitress, literally leaving her holding our plate hostage in the middle of the bar area for about 5 minutes while she disappears. Eventually, she comes back, apologizes and gives us some fried edamame to help make up for the situation. Long story short, what this says to us is that there’s bad management here. Servers should be empowered to correct situations like this without first having to make the customer feel uncomfortable. Not to mention that sushi should be eaten right away, not 10 minutes after it’s made.

Annoyed,
Anon