Canada Trip Day 19: A terrible experience at Sushi Crescent, Montreal

1 July 2010 - After the parade, we were walking along Rue Sainte Catherine looking for Subway to have lunch at. A lady overheard us and tried to help even though she was not quite sure where exactly it is. After giving us some possible directions, she took off. She came back to us a few minutes later with more definite directions. We turned into Rue Crescent and got tempted by the menu posted outside Sushi Crescent for an all-you-can-eat buffet. We enjoyed the meal for the first hour but after that, everything went terribly wrong. The tempura prawns we had did not come with sauce and the service became horrible. The waitresses were rude, wearing looks of unhappiness and contempt, carelessly flinging dishes on the table when they served us. When we wanted to make more orders, the waitress was giving us attitude. We were being asked for the bill when we were still eating. The management seemed to want to shoo us away. The green tea ice cream tasted horrible. Overall, the food was not great. The ambiance would have been nice if not for the horrid manners of the staff.

While I was paying the bill, the manager punched in an additional 15% charge. When asked, he explained it was the tip and that the usual charge is 10%. I asked why was it 15% and had it changed to 10% since he too was awfully rude. He spoke rudely and shoved the bill at the counter. When I asked for the 10% change, his showed a scowl. In the end, we left the restaurant feeling cheated and extremely dissatisfied.

I got the impression that Sushi Crescent serves a fake all-you-can-eat buffet to attract customers by offering lower cost. You do not serve an all-you-can-eat buffet and expect your customer not to eat all they can, just because you are worried of making a loss. Back at a similar type of restaurant in Surrey, we had the utmost enjoyment of staying as long as we wish, making as many orders we like for a price a little higher than Sushi Crescent. Not to mention, they had many more choices including different sashimis which was offered none in Sushi Crescent's menu.  I would rather pay more to avoid such a terrible experience of the worst service in a restaurant than be cheated into thinking this restaurant is genuinely offering such a buffet for that price. And charging their customer tips at any rates they decide without consulting them is so wrong. Apparently, we were not the only unhappy customers.

My experience at Sushi Crescent was the worst ever in my trip to Canada, and in my whole life of going to any eateries, food stalls included. There are plenty of nice all-you-can-eat Japanese buffets in Canada to help anyone interested with their choices. Sushi Crescent should not be considered a choice at all.

The entrance to Sushi Crescent at Rue Crescent. Any pretty food pictures can fool a famished passerby