No Sushi for You! :-(
As I suspected, we woke up early and well, I woke up even earlier as Mel tries to be slick by pulling her laptop under the covers (like I am not going to see the screen still!!! LOL). We wander over to the registration area for our free breakfast which wasn't bad - Mel and Julz both made belgian waffles! They had eggs, sausage, potatoes, oatmeal, cereals, and danishes. It was pretty good although we had a little problem finding a place for us to all sit initially.
We hurried up and got ready, heading back down to Irvine for our sushi date and to do our post meet activities. Julz, Angel, and I stopped by Angel's house to drop off the luggage and change cars and we were off. Alice called me a couple times - she got there early but Jamie took a wrong turn.
Angel gets a call while we are parking from the restaurant, Maki Maki, indicating part of our group showed and then left. They said they were going to give our table away. Angel told them we were parking and would be in there in less than 5 minutes. We all get there and get seated in the entirely empty restaurant (give our table to who???). Anyways, we get the menu and the waitress comes out to ask whether we are here for all-you-can-eat or just ordering off the menu.
So we headed out to the Yard House, where they could easily handle our party and we could choose whatever we wanted off the menu! LOL. I love the Yard House and used to hang out regularly at the one in Long Beach. Next to my love for wine, I am quite the micro beer lover! 250 beers on tap is my kinda place!!! :D I ordered the Ahi Steak sandwich, RARE, and one of my fave local beers, Lost Coast, Downtown Brown.
We enjoyed lunch and great conversation, and it was time to head to Dave and Busters for a little fun! Should've known since Jamie plays video games all the time that he would be prepared with his own Dave and Busters card. HA HA. Upon entering the place, we spot the security guy who's name is Jules. LOL!! Had to get a pic of our Julz with their Jules. :-) We played for a quite a while, including basketball, skeeball type horse racing, trivia games, regular skeeball and Tracy boxed, Julz and Jamie shot things (Jamie was a little intense with that gun...see the pics). Although he couldn't figure out how to reload his gun andJulz had to help him.
It was a great time and we used all our tickets to get Sebastian something to remember us all by. He couldn't figure out what he wanted so we wandered around and made him take pics with all the pink things in the store to match his new shirt!! HAHA. We ultimately decided on the Dave and Busters Bear and Angel said we could sign his shirt just like the TB shirt! LOL. Yeah, we are goofs I know.
We hurry out and scatter to head to the beach since we are now running behind schedule for our planned excursion of the boat rental on Newport Harbor...........
Angel had made reservations for a group of 11 and as we were pulling in the parking structure they called wanting to know if we were still coming (we were a couple minutes behind schedule). Angel explained we were in the parking strucure trying to find someplace to park and that there were several members of our group that were supposed to be in there already. They said they were just calling to verify we were still coming otherwise they would give our table away.
We rush inside thinking they are packed and there are only about two occupied tables in the entire restaurant! We had several non-sushi eaters with us which is part of why we picked this location as they serve non-sushi items on their menu.
As we were perusing the menu, the waitress came over and asked whether we were there for the all-you-can-eat or regular menu. We told her we had several that would be ordering off the menu as they do not even eat sushi. What I heard next caused my jaw to drop. She said that we cannot order different things and everyone either must order the all-you-can-eat or no one can. We asked why and she said they were worried about people sharing. We tried again to explain that we had non fish eaters so it would be pretty obvious if they were eating sushi. We offered to split the tables even and put all the "menu" ordering people there. They told us no once again.
At this point, Melanie and I looked at each other since we both go to all you can eat sushi places which are very busy and popular, where it would be completely easy to share and even they let the table order individually.
Melanie asked to speak to the manager on duty and when she came over (I believe her name was Kim) she was completely apathetic and almost cold. She didn't care that they were about to lose 11 peoples' business not to mention the subsequent negative reviews which would follow! I was very disappointed in her complete disregard for customer service. We were very respectful and questioned whether they were willing to let that much business walk out the door and she said yes.
Their website touts they have the largest hot kitchen and for those who have not yet caught the sushi craze, they offer NY steaks, fresh oysters, teriyaki, tempura, and shabu shabu. Guess that offer only stands if the whole table is not filled with sushi eaters!
Not sure whether the other locations would have the same silly rules, but note they have another location in Riverside and two new ones coming to Los Angeles (Farmers Market/Grove) and the Gas Lamp District in San Diego.
Although it was excellent the first time I eat there and no matter how much I continue to crave the Masquerade Ball, I will find a way to duplicate it or go without before I ever give them my business again.
