Neural Fraud

Ever plan to visit Sarasota? You know - where all these supposedly famous people come to retire and DIE... Well don't eat at DaRuMa - a trendy Japanese Restaurant in trendy ass Sarasota Quay. What a misake. First of all, I reserved 15 seats for my wedding party - I asked if they had any sort of private seating areas.. why? Well, back in New York - in Schenectady -- where I am from, there is a very nice Japanese restaurant there - Hiro's. This place makes you feel like you've just landed in the Japanese countryside and wandered in a nice restaurant, with the exception of the tableside cooking, I'm not Japanese so how do I know they do all this fancy shmancy shit over there? Hmmm..

Either way, the tables are all separated in a nice area, there is no foot room since the seating area is all tatami mats - therefore they require you to remove your shoes. You sit cross-legged and there is just enough room and its enjoyable.

Not here. Not in Sarasota. No - People are too goddamn UPSCALE for anything like THAT.. The "Tatami" section was in fact nothing more than a cheap imitation and with no privacy whatsoever. What is the world coming to? Not only this, but the cooks aren't even Japanese. WTF? Do you go to a mexican restaurant to get served by white motherfuckers? white people can't make mexican food because white people aren't fucking mexican, just like these imposters aren't Japanese. WTF is the point of going to an EXPENSIVE restaurant to have some fat american guy cook for you? The whole thing that makes it Japanese is the experience of having an authentic, trained Japanese cook do the magic.

Oh well, I guess it's too much to ask for authenticity in a city like this.. My bad, yo.

If this wasn't annoying enough, We could not even order a regular sushi order.. Why is this? Are we in some kind of special zone that makes it that much more difficult to get sushi to? No. The fucking sushi bar was 12 feet away. Any other restuarant I can go sit at a teppan-yaki booth, and order sushi until my stomach explodes. Not at DaRuMa.. No - they have a LIMITED SELECTION - and some of it is as vageuly worded as a software patent.. For example - one of the items was simply called "Sushi - $8.95"

What? Rice? I get fucking rice for nine bucks???? are you kidding me?

"Hey - can I get a sushi menu?"

"Uhh, Normally we can't order sushi over here"

"Well why not?"

"It takes time to make"

"So?"

"Well" .. stops, looks at the fact that there are 15 fucking people infront of him .. "I can do this for you, but what ever you order from the regular sushi menu has to be charged under this item here -- It's more expensive but you usually get a little more sushi too."

WTF? So because I'm sitting in a fucking booth not only can I not order sushi from the sushi menu, I have to pay nearly DOUBLE for the privelege? And my order of spicy tuna looked normal to me, 8 peices - or ONE ROLL. NINE DOLLARS FOR ONE ORDER OF SUSHI.

To be comparitive, I can go into ANY OTHER Japanese restaurant in sarasota/bradenton and order teh same thing for $4 to $5 TOPS.

There is NOTHING about this restaurant that makes it special other than the fact that it is in a trendy spot of town .. BFD.

If I go to a fancy restuarant I expect FANCY RESULTS, not bullshit, fat american cooks, and ripoff sushi prices simply because we're not sitting in a normal table.. Fucking sushi chef too lazy to work? Well fuck him, He could have gotten a nice tip.

I've been to many other Japanese restaurants in Sarasota/Bradenton, and I honestly cannot explain WHY - of all the better options around me, that I decided to waste not only my precious money, but everyone elses at this disgrace of a restaurant..

For your reading enjoyment - here is a list of much better japanese restaurants:

Utamaro - St Armands Circle - not as expensive as DaRuMa - certainly in a more upscale area though. Very nice experience and delicious noodles.

Hana Japanese Steakhouse - right in the middle of town, good food, japanese cooks, excellent sushi ,, all around good, decent prices too.

Saga Japanese Steakhouse - South sarasota, the traditional seating area is good, but the tableside cooking area sucks, you sit on regular shitty old chairs.. kills the experience, however the food is great.

Sam Oh Jung - Korean joint but the owner makes fantastic sushi, and it is the least expensive place to get sushi. Very nice sushi bar, family run, very casual atmosphere.

There are more but I haven't gone to those places yet.

Moral of the story is - You get what you pay for.. oh, wait, no you don't - not in Sarasota anyway.. noo. The more expensive it is, the lousier the quality, go figure. Damn I'm pissed off. ARG!#