2 /5 James Edge: My wife and I visited MyUmami for a Valentine’s dinner and unfortunately the experience didn’t live up to expectations.
When we arrived it quickly became clear that something wasn’t running properly. The WiFi and ordering system were down, which meant communication between front of house and the kitchen had effectively broken down. It also appeared that only two staff members were left to manage the restaurant on what was clearly one of the busiest nights of the year.
To their credit, the two girls working that evening did their best under a lot of pressure and remained polite throughout though obviously stressed. However, without senior support and with systems offline, service became very slow, and quite chaotic.
We were told on arrival that we would only have the table for 90 minutes, but we ended up being there for around two hours and still only received four of the seven dishes we ordered. Communication during the evening was minimal, so we were left unsure whether the remaining dishes were coming at all. Several other tables around us also seemed frustrated and some left visibly and vocally unhappy.
It’s a shame because the food we did receive was actually very good. Unfortunately, when service and organisation break down to that degree it really affects the overall experience.
I didnt wish to leave a negative review immediately and instead contacted the restaurant directly, as I genuinely want to support local businesses. The response I received was polite but ultimately dismissed the situation as something outside their control without offering any gesture of goodwill, which was disappointing.
I walk past the restaurant daily and had been looking forward to trying it for quite some time, so this was a frustrating first experience. I hope it was simply a very bad night and that the restaurant is able to improve the way situations like this are handled in future.
