Cafe Japon Restaurant

Altough I read some really bad reviews about this place I can say nothing more than good things... more

I've been going here for about five to six years. When I first began coming there was nothing to complain about. Great service, great fish, great price. Gradually though, I began to notice the quality of service go down. I have atleast twice waited for over an hour to get my food with maybe six to seven other tables all together in the restaurant. I've had orders forgotten and received my fried dishes cold at times. Needless to say, I kept going back for their prices. Happy hour ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. That was one of the ONLY things keeping me around. Well, I'm sorry to say they recently ditched this offer. HAPPY HOUR ALL THE TIME - NO MORE. They not only went back to their regular happy hours, they shortened it by 30 minutes a day. Can't get anything past 6:30 on most evenings. Pros: consistent fish quality, worth it when it's happy hour Cons: slow, unattentive service even when they're empty more

I have been driving past this place for forEVER! The sign never grabbed me, Miyako and Sushi King are close by, and i had never heard about this place otherwise... The chef's combos are genius, flavors are fabulous, happy hour till late, can't go wrong... PLUS, they were playing smooth jazz the whole time, I lingered for a while and will have some excellent leftovers tomorrow! The sampler is great if you do appetizers... Pros: Specials, Combos - so different, unique, and yummy! Cons: Didn't know it was this good sooner more

i worked at cafejapon for less than 2 weeks as a server. they prepare salad with fingers. they just grab everything without gloves or tools. as well as the miso/daily soup... it's disgusting. oh, they grab(with fingers) lemon and put it into water and iced tea , too. the boss and manager(female) are the meanest ppl i've ever worked for. Pros: no Cons: no sanitation more

bad service, poor hygiene & smell, bad music, BAD management who dont answer e-mails about bad service, slow food even though we were he ONLY people there! Pros: cheap sushi, but thats not a 'pro' Cons: everything else! more

This is a nice, inexpensive sushi spot. The sushi is always great tasting... excellent for large groups, or late night sushi! Pros: Extended hours, good value Cons: Service sometimes below par......... more

Wow! Wow! Just have to drop a comment on this little hole in the wall sushi place. As you can tell from my username. I do not call myself sushi guru for nothing. ha. Anyway, I eat sushi 3-4 times a week. Travel a lot and have been to many sushi restaurants all over the States. Cafe Japon has always been my favorite spot when I stopped by Houston. Last weekend was a neat surprise! They had redone the whole interior. I noticed the new walls, tables and chairs. Very Nice. Makes the place look real cozy and comfortable. Not to mention the $1 sushi specials and $2 hot sake all day and everyday. I like the fact that they do not compromise on the size nor quality when they have specials. Service was very prompt and the manager is definitely very knowledegable and friendly. Anyway, it was a pleasant dining experience! Cant wait to stop by Houston again for my sushi feed!!! Pros: Inexpensive Quality Food Cons: Cheap Prices! Ha! more

My friends and I are giving this restaurant a big Thumbs Up. We were on the way to Bond and decided to meet up for sushi before partying. We ended staying till 2am. The Happy Hour drinks $3 U CALL IT was not helpful in making us leave. Not to mention the sushi prices. Had a great time. Love the cozy setting and service. We are making this spot our favorite stop before getting down every weekend! Pros: Happy Hour! Cons: Give us some club music! more

My husband and I have been eating at this restaurant since forerver. I was surprised by the negative reviews written. Anyway, we dropped in for a dinner last weekend. The restaurant was packed. I did see a lot of new faces. We also noticed a change in menu. I decided to try the seared peppercorn tuna and my husband had the chicken california. It was definitely a very nice surprise. The california roll is wrapped in chicken and lightly fried. it was delicious. Also love the presentation of the seared tuna. The seared tuna was drizzled with parika mayo.Wow. Very innovative touch. We had a great time. Service was wonderful as always. In fact, we also had the opportunity to speak to the manager working that night. He was in fact very polite and attentive. From him, we found out that there was recent change of management and chef. Pros: Ambience, Service more

For some reason, the concierge at Hotel Zsa Zsa recommended this place. I'm somewhat new to Houston and mostly know the handful of places downtown. I took a friend of mine from San Francisco. We both know good sushi. We've eaten good sushi. Good sushi is a friend of our stomachs. This was really pretty marginal and definitely overpriced. There were plenty of empty tables and it was only 7:00 pm, albeit a Thursday. The service was incredibly slow. My friend and I both travel a lot. I think we are pretty reasonable when it comes to understanding a place that is busy. But Japon was not. The wait staff acted annoyed at our presence. They got his drink order wrong. How hard is it to make a gin and tonic? Despite asking everybody in sight that we were ready to order, it took them 35 minutes to finally get around to us, and, like I said, you would have thought we were asking for the moon. To top everything off, we couldn't get another drink for asking or money. Incredible. I wonder if the owner knows what is going on there. Anyway, it took us another 45 minutes after eating to get our check. Horrible, couldn't-care-less service. If you have wheels, I recommend Ra Sushi on Westheimer or Azuma downtown. Ra has way, way better atmosphere especially in the evening and better sushi by far, although more expensive. Azuma is better sushi and ok atmosphere. Either has much better service. Pros: Well, it is sushi, I guess. Cons: Bad service, so-so sushi. more

food was alright, toook ALONG DAMN TIME. Pros: variety of food to choose from. Cons: service was slow, manager was horrible (extremely rude and at the same time acted like a baby-""you were laughing at me"" in a whining tone, no joke) more

I have waited tables before at a sushi restaurant (in a different city) so I am more understanding about the service of a restaurant and very tolerable. However, when I think a restaurant has bad service then it really is THAT BAD, and this restaurant is one of those. My coworkers and I came to Sushi Japon for the first time after work at about 11PM because we were craving sushi and this was the only place we knew of open that late. The place was quiet with only a few tables. We sat down and began looking at the drinks. 20 minutes passsed and no one had even greeted our table, much less taken a drink order. So I got up and went to the ""bar"" which was the manager and ordered our drinks. Instead of makign it right then for us, he had someone come back to our table to retake the order and that took another 20 minutes for the drinks to come out. When they had come out, they were wrong but we drank them anyway because we were tired of waiting. The drinks were DISGUSTING. One friend described it as drinking urine. We then proceeded to eat the less than mediocre sushi we had ordered with the server never comng to our table to ask if everything was ok. We waited around for another 20 minutes or so for her to come around to ask for our check and to also inform her that she had forgotten a few rolls. Our emtpy plates were never cleared, we were never offered more drinks, nothing. The sad thing is, they were not busy at all. And on top of everything, 2 of my coworkers were extremely sick the next day from the food. So a warning to all... DON'T COME TO THIS PLACE. IT IS AWFUL. Pros: open late Cons: everything else more

I went to Cafe Japon for the happy hour on a Saturday night at 11 p.m. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the nigiri sushi pieces which are just $1.25 each. I tried several pieces, and though not huge in size, most of them were impressively tasty. They also offer creative hand rolls for non-nigiri eaters. If you are strictly a roll eater, you may not be as entertained, but if you are like me, who enjoy eating nigiri, this is a must-try place. Their drink specials include $2 asahi as well as some sake mixed drinks and domestic beer. Some appetizers are also available at happy hour prices. Pros: Good sushi, good service, good ambience Cons: Hard to find off of I-59 more

after work i love going here for happy hour! the handrolls are so good. also the happy hour app. the waitress was always smiling no matter how late and she seem to always remember what i like. this place decent compare to other sushi places. good price and sushi (for the price you pay) so nice and quiet also and romantic. and the handrolls are good did i mention that? :) Pros: everything Cons: n/a more

Sushi is excellent - great creative menu (ask what is off the menu), good portions for a great price. Pros: good menu, great price, great portions, fresh sushi. Cons: Tired decor. more

Cheap lunch with big portion for some dishes. Pros: Cheap Lunch Cons: Service and missing item more

a friend took me here because they couldn't stop raving about this place. honestly, upon first impressions, the ambience is much to be desired of and there was no touch of character that really makes it stand out from all the other sushi places. to me, it felt like any other not-so-great sushi restaurant. the sushi was decent, but i had a whole lot better quality elsewhere. the only highlight i can think of is that it's a hotspot to go during after hours or after clubbing, since they close at 2am on friday and saturdays.* Cons: ambience more

I just moved to Houston and went into this restaurant and inquired about a dish. I was instructed about a dinner special of the dish I wanted, so I ordered it thinking by her explanation it was the right food. Apparently, the woman misunderstood what I wanted and gave me the wrong dish completely. Instead of offering to rectify the situation and make me the correct dish, they decided to blame me for the mistake and refused to do anything about the problem. I asked to speak with the manager. When the woman that was blaming me informed me that she was the manager, I was in shock. She then offered to make me the new dish for no charge if i accepted the fact that the server would have to pay for the mistake. So if you want food you don't order, with a side of guilt, this should be your choice of dining experience. If you want superior customer service and good food, I would stay far away from this restaurant. Pros: no pros Cons: everything more

Of all the places to eat sushi in Houston, this seems to be my standard. Comparing to other similar restaurants, this one is priced about the same, has a decent selection of unique rolls, and has been consistently good. Service is about average - don't have any complaints, and the atmosphere is fine, if a little white-bread. I am never dissapointed with my experience and would recommend it to anyone looking to try a different place. Pros: Food more

The temperature had to be 50 degrees in there. They probably don't need a refrigerator for the food. My friend reports it is always that cold in there. I ordered a 'wonton miso' soup. It came after mine and everyone elses dinner had already arrived. A bit late. I froze to death while everyone else ate their appy's. They told me that they had to cook the wontons. I think they just forgot. Lame. The sushi rolls were good but not great. The ambience was pretty sterile and chain restaurant-ish. Next time I'll go somewhere with more character, better service and a liveable temperature. Pros: Decent Rolls Cons: Too Cold in Room, Lame Service, Boring Atmosphere more