Teru Japanese Cuisine

May 1st, 2022

Great quality sushi prepared masterfully; a varied sake selection with good quality and items you don't find everywhere else. They offer a thin cut roll with uni on top, I have not seen that elsewhere in the Santa Barbara area. Very nice to get uni without a lot of ornament or other things in the way. The specials offered were fantastic, the tsuri aji ( special horse mackerel) was the best I've had outside of Japan. The other items were just as good. The variety of fish they serve from Japan is not something you see very frequently; for instance, when it is in season, summer, they will have hamo. I would have eaten three meals a day here if they were open early.
Apr 28th, 2022

Apr 27th, 2022

Apr 25th, 2022

Summary: really delicious food, ridiculously slow service and genuinely confusing experience EDIT: Found out that they also overcharged my card. I called the restaurant to resolve this and had the same kind of experience -- confusingly slow service from people that seem kind. The person seemed like she wanted to help but it took 3 phone calls over the course of 2 hours to get a refund. I had the physical copy of my receipt with a check number and the time of the transaction and I also gave her my name and the last four digits of my card. When I actually insisted on the phone that she just find the receipt, it took less than a minute to find. So why was I told twice that she would have to do something else and then call me back later? When we talked through the items on the receipt, there were two things on the receipt that were ADDED AFTER I RECEIVED MY CHECK Let me repeat that. I signed a receipt with my 4 rolls listed and after I left, THEY ADDED TWO MORE ITEMS TO THE BILL. That shouldn't even be possible. The order should be closed after we leave and all that should happen is a total adjustment for tip. I continue to be so disappointed and confused and unfortunately I'm knocking off the last two stars for this. It's just unacceptable to run a restaurant in this way. Starting with the positives: The sushi we ordered (4 rolls) were all delicious. From the basic sake maki (plain salmon) to the special Caribbean roll, all had high quality fish and there were some unique pairings. The atmosphere of the restaurant is intimate and charming. The chef (who I assume to be Teru based on other reviews) was genuinely friendly and the servers were kind. We didn't try it but the omakase offering is also unique to Teru from what I've seen. Moving on to the (unfortunately numerous) negatives: My boyfriend and I left Teru hungrier than when we arrived. Part of this is the small portion sizes but overwhelmingly the issue is the astonishingly slow service. We entered the restaurant at 6pm on a Sunday. There were approximately 6 tables of 2-4 people already seated with around 6 more empty tables. It would take us just over 2 hours to leave and some that were seated when we arrived were still there as we left. It seems that all the sushi is prepared by the one chef alone which slows down the food service and leaves the servers stressed but without tasks. The 3 servers, who were constantly pacing the dining space, would swiftly take away an empty plate but were also difficult to get ahold of for more water, the check, or any other questions. Our order was missing one of the rolls and between the servers rushing about and the chef's pace, it was an extra 30 minutes before we had it on our table. It then took more than 20 minutes from receiving the check to getting my card returned to me. I really wanted to love this place and I have no anger towards the staff. They were so personable, you couldn't get upset at them. I do enjoy a relaxed laidback dinner out but this wasn't that. Our experience was both slow and frantic. I'm just so confused and disappointed from the evening that it doesn't make sense to ever come back. If management happens to see this: Please don't take delivery or pickup orders and remove half the tables in the dining area. That seems to be the amount of patrons you can reasonably serve.
Apr 28th, 2022