After a 3 year absence from Beijing, we decided to take the kids to Hatsune Sanlitun for a weekend lunch. The Guanghua Lu restaurant used to be one of our favourites when we were last here. The minute we walked in, I knew they had become too big for their own good. The lady at the reception asked whether we had made reservations and when we said no, she told us then there were definitely no tables available. I looked right in a saw at least 3 empty tables! In fact, there were 5 empty tables, 2 very large ones at that.
Service was brisk and when we placed our order, I specifically asked the waitress to made the kids' dish, a chicken donburi first since the kids were hungry. Well, our first, second, third fourth items arrived, all at different times and none were the chicken donburi. At this point, I asked one of the wait staff to check, she got back saying it will be ready very soon. Our fifth item arrived and we had already finished the other four, and still the donburi had not arrived. This was some 30 minutes after our order. We alerted a more senior staff and she said it will be ready soon and explained that donburi takes a long time to cook. I was quite insulted by her lame answer. Anyone who knows Japanese cuisine and what a chicken donburi is would know that it is one of the easiest dishes to cook. Its just chicken and eggs and onions fried together. That's why its popular as a lunch dish and that's why we ordered it for the kids. After 40 minutes, our seventh dish had arrived and still no signs of the donburi. We alert the same senior waitress again and she offered to serve the kids their dessert first. What?! We alerted the the waitress who initially took our order, she scrambles to the kitchen, comes back apologising, saying that it will be ready very soon. The kids get their lunch 50 minutes after we placed the order. It was the last item to arrive. By then they were screaming and making a scene and we were getting stares from all the trendy diners in the establishment. It had occurred to me that no one had actually bothered to check with the kitchen the status of the dish. Within 1 minute after the donburi arrives, another waitress serves the kids's their dessert! They want to kick us out that quickly!
I have no idea why anyone would think this is a good restaurant. The food is mediocre, decor is nice, but certainly not fantastic, service is just astounding, and the staff are arrogant (I know that's a strong word, but I clearly got that feeling). From the minute we walked in to the minute we walked out, we never received a single smile from any of the staff. This restaurant had a great name but unfortunately the owners did not bother to retain its core values when it expanded. Sure, it will always be packed full of people who want to see and want to be seen, but it has and will continue to lose the customers who helped make it big in the first place.
I'm sad to say that Hatsune Sanlitun was a huge disappointment, and I will never go back, not even to the one on Guanghua Lu. If you're looking for good Japanese food in the Sanlitun area, go to La Sushi in the Patio instead. Its nowhere near the size or 'hipness' of Hatsune, but the food and service is 100x better.
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