November 20, 2008
Kanda Sushi (or, Where Did Our Money Go?)
We’ve now had the opportunity to experience two of the Kanda sushi restaurants in Montreal, and after this second experience, I know we are never going back (you can read about the first experience here). Not because the food is bad – the sushi is actually pretty good, given it’s an all-you-can-eat sushi place – but the way we were treated that night was embarrassingly bad, and I think the reason why is just because it’s an all-you-can-eat sushi place.
Now, Kanda charges you $1 for any piece of sushi you order that you do not eat. That’s fine with me; otherwise, people would be wasting copious amounts of food. However, if you read my first review of Kanda (the one at 2045 Bishop), you know I was already suspicious of their sneaky ways. Our first order of sushi brought us, for example, about 4 pieces. We liked it, so ordered it again – however, this being the second round, and we’re obviously getting full, the same exact order suddenly yielded eight pieces. Makes you go hmmmm, no?
But that could’ve been an accident, right? No, apparently not. The Kanda on St-Catherine street, are not as subtle, and proved the blatant trickery they are attempting.
I really wished I had taken a photo of this, because it was such a desperate grab for our money that it was pathetically humorous. It wasn’t as though an extra piece or two of sushi slipped onto our plate come the second round – oh no. We order for the second time (so yes, we’ve eaten a ton of rice and fish already), and out comes this platter with about 18 pieces of tuna sashimi on it.
Okay, we know how to order sushi. We know to not order 18 pieces of the same thing on the second round of eating. And if we were going to order 18 pieces of the same thing, it would not be mediocre tuna! Soli called our server over, asked to see our menu, where the tuna order was now a big scratchout, with no clear number. Nice try. Soli told the server, you’re not charging us for this. The server humbly agreed.
When it comes time to pay, we’re told they don’t take Interac. No problem, there’s an ATM two feet away from the cash register. I forget the exact amounts, but let’s say the bill was $57, and (for some bizarre reason) I felt the need to give a $10 tip. I go to take $80 from the machine…I then take the one step from the machine back to the cash register, my $80 still in hand because a ¾ second step doesn’t necessitate you putting your money in your pocket just to pull it back out, and give it to her. I tell her, just give me $13 back. She tells me, you only gave $60. I look at the two feet of space, look back at her. We say no. And you know it’s no. Because you know you’re lying and you didn’t get the $1/sushi from us and you’ll get it any way you can, won’t you?
But, this is a food blog. So how was the food? Good enough that I would’ve gone back, if they hadn’t treated us like imbeciles.
Kanda Sushi
537, rue Sainte-Catherine O
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djou said,
November 20, 2008 @ 5:45 PM
sounds horrible… i would’ve probably thrown a fit and demanded to speak to the manager.
have you tried ginza on st-denis? it is now my preferred spot for all-you-can-eat sushi.
noble pig said,
November 20, 2008 @ 11:57 PM
OMG, that is unreal, what absolute money-grabbers. I would be so disgusted I am not sure what fit I would have thrown. Geez, that is so, so terrible and bad, bad business.
Vincci said,
November 21, 2008 @ 5:12 AM
Ugh! What a horrible experience! I personally don’t like Kanda anyway because I’m one of those spoiled people from the west where Japanese restaurants offer more than salmon, tuna, and “oilfish”, but this really seals the deal! I think good Japanese food is hard to come by in Montreal—keep looking!
PS: Love the pics, and is this a new layout?
Deborah said,
November 21, 2008 @ 8:41 AM
Oh my goodness! Yeah, I wouldn’t be going back either, no matter how good the food was. What a joke!
kimberleyblue said,
November 21, 2008 @ 10:41 AM
djou – i haven’t, but i remember reading about it on your site, and plan on going! sounds delish.
vincci – hehe! i agree with you there – our personal favourite is uni, and it’s hard to find spots in montreal that stand up to the quality and variety of sushi in certain western provinces. and thanks for the compliment!
deborah and cathy – i’m definitely happy i got to write about this experience, and i hope no one ever goes to eat there, ever! grr!
grace said,
November 21, 2008 @ 12:57 PM
what a scam! i’ve never heard of charging for uneaten food, and while it does seem like a good idea, i can’t believe they’d be so bold as to try to pull one over on you like that. ridiculous.
Tai said,
December 31, 2008 @ 1:38 AM
That explains everything!
I went there the other time with a girl friend.
I was the one to order, and after we finished eating the three plates we had ordered, a server came by and dropped another plate onto our table and left really fast.
As soon as that happened, I told my friend to hold it and not eat it because I clearly remembered not ordering that much. Finally, we just ate the whole thing because we were going to order more anyways, but just the fact that they tried something like this is completely appalling to me.
I am going there tomorrow with a couple of friends because we want to eat cheap sushis, but this time, I am bringing a note pad and I’ll write down our order. When they’ll try their little trick, I’ll shoot it back in their faces. They are effing disgraceful and I plan on making them know that.
Carrie said,
January 9, 2009 @ 11:02 AM
This is the Kanda on Bishop that did that? Wow. I’m too addicted to salmon sashimi not to go there, but thank you for the warning! That’s especially sad, because I’ve been to four Kandas including that one, and the service there is faster than anywhere else.
Also, is it just me, or are waiters and waitresses at almost every sushi restaurant really bad? I find they’re too focused on getting everything done fast than on giving good and friendly service and getting a better tip.
Luba said,
April 17, 2009 @ 7:29 PM
It’s funny how this happened,
I read this blog and went to Kanda on Bishop right away, I was thinking, well, each cutomer has their own experience, it doesn’t mean everyone will go through it.
So we eat, food was a little cold but no problems there, random plates full of makis and so on were put on our table, but we told them we never ordered them and they’d leave with it, again no problems there.
now it’s time to pay,
2 people were paying together, and I was paying alone, the lady at the cash prints 3 bills for creditcard payments, so the person who was paying for 2 decided to add the tip on only one of them (for BOTH amounts) , then the lady at the cash freaks out and says “you know the tip has to be from 10 to 15%” . So we explained to her but she obviously didn’t like it anyway, at the end of it all she says “i wish you never come here again” right infront of the manager, we look at him and asked him if this is away to treat people, he simply nodded, god knows whether he meant no or yes, in any case,
we’re never going back there again, their services is just horrible !
Branon said,
August 30, 2009 @ 3:54 PM
you guys have got to be kidding i have eaten there many times and it is nothing that you make it out to be have you been recently it was amazing and the quality og the food was great to
Alex said,
September 13, 2009 @ 9:09 PM
Hey guys, come on, this is so full of sh?t. if that was so bad, they wouldn’t have stayed open for over 8 years, i’ve been there since beginning, and never happened anything like this before
Kenny said,
September 13, 2009 @ 9:29 PM
lol, people always like to exagerate. First, they don’t even offer the tuna in sashimi, i wish they would thow… and they have much more than tuna, salmon and oilfish… for sure, you don’t count these, surf clam, squid, shrimp, crab, beef sashimi, eel, smoke salmon, right Vinci!
i’ve been to many all you can eat, and kanda’s much better than odaki and tokyo
kimberleyblue said,
September 14, 2009 @ 5:30 PM
just because it didn’t happen to you doesn’t mean it never happens to anyone.
they never treated me decently, but i’m not going to tell you that you’re lying. you’re just lucky.
and vincii is right – if you’ve eaten sushi in b.c., nothing here in montreal compares.
just for the record, i don’t like ANY all-you-can-eat sushi place in this city. after all, you get what you pay for,
Meg said,
December 23, 2009 @ 7:38 PM
i went there once before and im probably going there tomorrow. the last time i went i remember that the service was a bit odd and slow. . . I dont mind that they give us more to eat. saves me time to order it. but i think they noticed that the ppl i was with (including me), we eat a lot. and i mean a LOT, so maybe thats why they were a bit relunctant on letting us order again and again lolXD…
what i didnt like from the service was definatly paying… we decided to pay separately. the funny thing is, everyone had like the exact amount, except me. I had a 20 bill on me so i had no choice but to pay with that. but they didnt give me back my change. i was like ‘what gives?’ and i asked the waiter. he looked i dont know, dumbfounded? from the looks of it they took the tip out of MY payment only. we were all like wth, cuz everyone got their change back except me, so i was gonna loose like 5-7$ of money. i was ognna put the tip of the table! its just how im used to giving tips and everyone was gonna do the same. they RELUNCTANTLY gave me back my money and i left like a dollar or two on the table. i felt like giving ZIT byt the way they served, but… man. Im a sucker for sushi so im going back, cant help it