Nagasaki Inn

I come here every year with my Dad's family. We come here to relax, rewind, and celebrate family after a long, hectic day of Christmas shopping. The food is great of course, but the people are better. Our chef is always amazing, making it a personal objective to allow us to enjoy our night through great food and a show.  The staff is constantly working hard, showing us the true meaning of customer satisfaction.  All in all, this is one of, if not the best, Japanese steakhouses that I have ever been to. I look forward to coming here next year and seeing the fishes... Oh, and eating the food.

Four stars for food quality, presentation and decor. Zero stars for service. My wife and I were out of town and decided to celebrate our anniversary dinner at the locally famous Nagasaki Inn. I'm from the city and had always heard great things about the restaurant. The dinner boat of sushi and sashimi exceeded our expectations and was fun to explore and eat. The wait staff left much to be desired and we had clues this would be the case shortly after we sat down. The first waiter (manager?) asked if anyone had helped us yet and then took our drink order. He brought our drinks and we ordered an app just before he asked, or seemed to insist we immediately decide if we wanted soup and salad. We were leaning this way but had yet to parse the 8 page or so menu but his urgency rushed us into this decision. (It was a near empty restaurant so no urgency was needed to seat waiting customers and we were in no rush either.) Kind of off putting, but whatever. The salad then came out and it was overrun with their house dressing to the point of making portions of the salads inedible. (It should have been described as dressing with a side of lettuce.) Finally the appropriate waiter arrived, took our dinner order, delivered our delicious food and disappeared. When she appeared again the TV was apparently more interesting than we were as she watched ESPN while asking if we were ready for our check. We were ready for the check and ready to give her a minimum tip. Again, great sushi and sashimi (we want to check out the hibachi next time), but when I spend more than $30 per person for dinner I expect better than average service and certainly not below average.

Where do I start?  I was looking forward to some good sushi whilst in Evansville.  Great reviews and proximity lead me to Nagasaki.

Arrived, interior decor was very cool.  I took a seat at the sushi bar.  Wednesday evening, not crowded, but not dead.

The waitress was very pleasant and friendly.

Don't get me wrong, I do not have super high standards.  Ask anyone that knows me.  But I do draw the line some places.

I had just decided on the sushi dinner and laid the menu when... what to my wondering eyes appeared... a little teeny baby.... roach!! Walking right towards me.

I understand restaurants have bugs.  That's life.  However after being in the pest control business for a time let me share with you what this means.

Roaches hate light and open spaces.  When a teeny little baby roach ventures into the wide open in the light it means one thing.  There are so many roaches where they were that they had to get out...

And there my friends is low part of my standards.  I left.

You may check out my review for Zuki, which is where I ended up.