Otani Restaurant & Sushi Bar

11/09/09

A Great Sushi Place

by Wat at Citysearch

My wife and I have been frequenting Otanis for over a decade and have never had a bad meal or any other reason to be disapointed with Columbus' original Sushi restaurant. The seafood is always fresh and unlike many of its competitors this establishment is careful to always have a few newer items supplementing a menu filled with entres that will become old favorites. It is locally owned by a family here in Columbus, so if you're looking for the same old Americanized McSushi experience, this place is not for you. If you want an unpretentious, authentic Japanese meal, served in a relaxing atmosphere by some of the best housestaff in town you won't be let down. It's a nice place for a couple but it serves enough non-sushi items that you can bring your kids too. We have two children under the age of twelve who have grown up at this place. So much so that the older one was in 3rd Grade before he realized that sushi is not traditional American fare. While there are some pricey gourmet inspired dishes available, you can plan to have a memorable meal for about $20 per person. However much you decide to spend, this place will make sure it's worth the price. If you like real Japanese food you'll be glad you came.

• Pros: Great Food. Great atmosphere. Friendly service.
• Cons: None.

04/19/09

used to be good, last night was terrible

by columbusbarreview at Citysearch

I used to go to Otani at least once a week for Karaoke, sushi, and drinks. I had fond memories of it and thought it would be a good place to get a few friends together last evening,:boy was I wrong.

The Karaoke Jock Matthew was so, so, so rude. When I arrived at 10 he made an announcement that he only had 4 songs in, and asking people to please sing. I put in a request for 2 songs, tipped him $3 when I put the songs in and tipped him $5 when I went up to sing my first song My boyfriend tipped when he sang, as did our other friends. Throughout the night there were several rather inebriated girls that were singing over and over again, and there didn't seem to be any noticeable rotation going on. At times it seemed as though he was scanning the room for who he wanted to watch next, rather than going in any order.

I asked the KJ if I would be able to sing my second song before the night was over, and he said that I would be up soon. I sat back down and waited patiently. Eventually he walked past our table on the way to the kitchen and said that he called my name several times, and then figured I had left so he threw my song out. I had not left the table, except once to go to the bathroom, and that was mid-song, so it was obvious to me he was lying. I asked him again nicely to see if he could get my song in before the end of the night, and he assured me he would.

About a half-hour before closing I went up again to inquire about my song, Matthew literally rolled his eyes at me, shook the tip jar and said "I don't know...can't anyone at your table afford a tip...?"

I was livid, but being the pushover I am and really wanting to sing my song, I threw in another $5. Well, the end of the night came and went, and I never got my song. I felt like grabbing his tip jar on my way out the door, but I'm not that kind of person.

Otani is still a great bar, but you can bet I'll be calling ahead to see if Matthew is working before I go.

• Pros: good drinks, fun atmosphere
• Cons: Matthew the Karaoke Jock!

03/29/09

Doesn't even deserve the 1 star rating

by stock2mal at Citysearch

My girlfriend and I went to Otani for the first time last night, and it will definitely be our last time. We were seated immediately, and the waitress came to take our drink order relatively quickly, but after that the experience was horrible. After getting our drinks, it took her almost 20 minutes to come back and take our food order, although she only had one other table to take care of. I attempted to order chicken teriyaki, but I wanted to substitute fried rice for the steamed rice. "Yeah, we don't do that," she said. Ok, why you can't substitute fried rice is beyond me, even if you charge extra for the substitution, but what really angered me was that the other table she was waiting for substituted MULTIPLE kinds of sushi (I heard one of the diners specifically say "subsitute this for this" 3 times with no hassle whatsoever. If you can substitute sushi, why can't you substitute rice? It makes absolutely no sense at all! So after this I ordered the build your own plate with fried rice and chicken for $13.00. I also ordered vegetables, but she neglected to write that down. Fast forward 20 minutes and we have our food. My "build your own" plate consists of fried rice and a few pieces of chicken, what a great bargain! My girlfriend's dinner consisted of two salmon filets with 4 or 5 green beans. Although they were seasoned well, the filets had not been deboned properly as she was getting bones in almost every other bite. The green beans were pretty tasty though. The sake was also pretty good, but sake is sake for the most part no matter where you go. The waitress came back right as we were both finishing and asked if my girlfriend was enjoying her fish, to which she replied bluntly with "no."

Surprised, the waitress said something unintelligible, and walked away. We assumed she was going to return with someone we could speak with, but she only returned with the bill, which took her yet another 15 minutes to come and collect.

The only reason we even tried Otani was because it was listed in our Entertainment book and we had a buy one get one free credit on the card. Even with the free dinner ($13.00 chicken fried rice) it was not worth the time, money or experience we received. The waitress even took the time to write the original total of our bill on a sticker that stated we should tip based on that total and put it on our receipt. Now, both my girlfriend and I have worked waitstaff jobs in the past, so we DESPISE bad tippers. We always make it a point to tip 20% or above when we go out, but in this case we left around 12%.

This place may be good for sushi, but the service and quality of food we received was bad enough to prevent us from coming back.

• Pros: Suspense
• Cons: Everything