Originally Posted by
Pickles
Ouch. Sounds like a mess. On the substitutions, you must have had some Japanese Dr. No running the show that day. It is very typical for set menus in restaurants in Japan not to accept substitutions, but I remembser distinctly doing that myself. I believe the Maitre D' (the French Algerian guy, was he there?) had no problem with that, except they charged me a bit more money because of the price differential on the substitution.
The service lapses are inexcusable. Was the place full of young Japanese couples on closing dinners? Reminded me of the fancy dinner scene in Tampopo.
I didn't make a fuss about the substitution because I suspected substitutions might not be done much in Japan. I was more concerned with convincing Mr. Megatop to order what he really wanted and not worry about anything else. I didn't see a French Algerian fellow, and the guy who showed us in and showed us out was Japanese.
I didn't see that many young Japanese couples. A few under-dressed young guys who seemed to be in very mixed groups (age, gender), so I'm guessing they were with their families. A couple of tables of six or eight, which could have been business types but also seemed more like families. The one or two couples I had a good view of were not that young, more like mid-30s to mid-40s range. I think more of those closing dinners (such a good term) took place the previous two nights.
What is Tampopo?