So here it is, my first bad review.
And it's not as hard to write as I thought it would be. Here goes...
I took my parents to Roka Akor for my Mom's birthday, thinking it would be perfect. We all love Japonais and Sunda and Roka is supposed to be the new "hot spot" in River North. I think whoever wrote that is delusional.
It wasn't all bad, but the good definitely did not make up for the bad.
To start, my mom and I were a little early, so we sat at the bar to grab a drink. It took about 5 minutes to get the bartenders attention and I would not say that they were busy - I mean, we were able to get a seat at a bar that seats about 10. They were having a promotion where if you bought a certain drink, a portion of it would go to Breast Cancer research. I thought that was pretty awesome - so I opted for their Pink Ribbon Cocktail, which had some sake, st. germain liqueur (my fave - champagne/st germain is to die for), some strawberries and oranges and various other liqueurs and juices. The drink was fantastic - unfortunately it took about 10 minutes for me to get it.
Once we were seated, the waitress did a good job of telling us how the restaurant and menu worked - explaining all the specialties of the chef and that we should order everything at once so the food comes out at just the right time. I am not the biggest fan of this, but since it was recommended by the restaurant, we obliged - mistake. We spent some time looking over the menu - which took quite a bit longer than usual as it was approximately size 5 font and the lighting in the restaurant is not that great - it all comes from the centralized kitchen so if your back is not to the kitchen, you get almost no direct light on your menu. It was probably a good thing it took a while though since our waitress was MIA for about 30 minutes. This turned out to be a common theme for the remainder of the night, despite the feeling that the restaurant was completely overstaffed.
We ended up ordering Sashimi, Sheshito Peppers and a Softshell Crab Roll for appetizers; my mom ordered cod (their specialty), my dad ordered the skirt steak and I ordered scallops and asparagus. All of the food was good - not great - and I probably wouldn't be giving the restaurant a bad review based on the food alone. I may have even thought it much better had the service and atmosphere not immediately set me off.
Throughout dinner, about every ten minutes or so, there was this very strange, pungent smell that was overtaking the restaurant. All of us noticed it right away, but didn't really say what the smell actually was. Towards the end of dinner, it was simply unbearable and my mom made a comment about the smell and I couldn't hold it in anymore. It was marijuana. After saying this, all of us were in agreement that the restaurant smelled like marijuana and how it was completely unappetizing (ironic, right?). I am not sure if it was actually marijuana or some strange thing they were cooking - but it was downright repulsive.
Aside from the malodorous aroma permeating throughout, the overall atmosphere of the restaurant was uncomfortable to say the least. I felt like I was in Grand Central Station while eating my dinner! There were people running all over the place - servers, busboys, hostesses, the quirky little manager in his fedora. I felt like I was constantly in someones way even when I was in my seat. I would understand the need for all this staff if the restaurant was super busy - but there were open tables, not many, but they were there. It was by no means packed. I would also understand this if the service was phenomenal, but it was far from it. After our bar experience, I probably should have known the service would be sub-par.
The whole ordering all at once so your food comes out at just the right time? Well, it started off well with the appetizers, but then we waited about 30 minutes between app's and entree's, begging the question - why did we order them all at once???? Also - our entree's all came out at different times - a good five minutes apart. Again - why did we order all at once?? Again, this is something I would not normally get THAT upset over - but the waitress told us to do this so that the timing would be perfect. The only reason it was good we ordered everything at once was because the waitress rarely came to the table, so we probably would have been there for 4 hours had we waited to order our entree's. I ordered a glass of wine - it probably took 30 minutes to get it - no exaggeration. All of this made me feel obligated to put my mom on the spot and let them know it was her birthday so that we could get our complimentary dessert - I mean, it was the least they could do :)
I know this seems like a rant, but really not all was bad. The food was good (nothing to write home about, but good), it was simply the service and atmosphere that made this a very bad experience.
The one very good thing to come out of this is that I found my new fave type of wine! Aberiño - a Spanish White - sweet and savory and delicious!
For those looking to visit Roka despite this review - I would sit at the table surrounding the kitchen and stick to sashimi/sushi - then you won't have to deal with wait staff and the rest of the restaurant.
Overall - Sunda and Japonais are WAY better and also not as expensive.
Happy Halloween! Stay tuned for a delicious pumpkin post coming soon!
Ciao,
Aly
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