We visited Happy Sushi on Sunday, August 16, around 6:30 PM. Unfortunately, there was nothing particularly “happy” about the experience.
A friend who is visiting from out of town and I decided to go out for sushi and were looking forward to a nice dinner. The moment we walked into the restaurant, however, I noticed a very strong and unpleasant odor that smelled like sewage, a drain, or something rotten.
I mentioned it to both my friend and our server as soon as we arrived. My friend didn’t notice it immediately, so rather than make an issue out of it, we sat down and tried to give the restaurant a chance.
Within a few minutes, though, the smell became impossible for me to ignore. I had completely lost my appetite. Shortly afterward, my friend noticed it too and commented on how bad the odor was.
At that point, we decided we simply couldn’t eat there and told our server we wanted to leave. Unfortunately, an appetizer had already been ordered. We asked if it could be canceled, explaining again that we were leaving specifically because of the odor, but were told that they had already started preparing it.
Rather than argue, we paid for the appetizer and left without eating dinner.
What was especially disappointing was that the manager appeared to be within earshot of the entire conversation and never came over to acknowledge the issue, apologize, ask what was wrong, or offer any solution.
I’m not someone who enjoys complaining at restaurants, and we weren’t looking for free food or special treatment. We simply didn’t want to eat sushi in a dining room that smelled strongly of sewage/drain odor.
Restaurants can have plumbing problems. Things happen. But when the smell is strong enough that customers lose their appetite and decide to leave, I would expect management to take the concern seriously rather than insist on completing and charging for an appetizer the customers no longer want because of the condition inside the restaurant.
We paid, left, and found somewhere else to have dinner.
Unfortunately, we won’t be returning.