JMK Nippons Sucks

I remember the days when JMK's in Rockford was still a little hole-in-the-wall place on Mulford, where you could go and get awesome sushi and hang out with the likes of Rick Nielsen. It was fun and funky and the food was good. Then they opened their big place on Perryville and really started packing the place nightly...and with these changes came the downward slide in food and service.

My first bad experience happened out on their patio during lunch time - it was not a busy afternoon there and yet our server repeatedly ignored us. I had to go inside to get our drinks from the bar myself...twice. This was a couple of years ago. When I finally complained at the front counter (quietly, I might add) all I got was a blank stare from the guy at the counter.

So I started noticing on return visits that the service was really sinking - and continues to do so.

Finally - (read: thankfully) a new Japanese restaraunt opened in Rockford: Shogun. Still a bit hit or miss in the service department but the food is always excellent. The servers are always nice (unlike Nippons) but a bit slow sometimes. We began to divide our sushi outings between the 2 places.

See, the catch is that Nippons serves Carpaccio - our favorite! - and Shogun does not. Hence our even bothering to return. But return we did - just gluttons for spending our sushi money foolishly, I guess - we returned a number of times to experience shoddy service and less-than-wonderful food.

The second to last straw was when my man & I went there late one evening and sat in the sushi bar area. We ordered a number of rolls and nigiri sushi and got some tuna that looked like the leftover scraps. Really - just tell us that you're out of it - don't serve us something that looks and tastes like bait. The tuna had a string of tendon or something tough running through it that made it completely inedible. That really should have been the last straw, except...

Our friends Dave and Michelle came to town this summer and they really wanted to go - so back we trudged, somewhat reluctantly, though we didn't want to tell them that. Our server was again horrible - first she was all over us every 5 minutes but then when we needed her, she was nowhere to be found. So we got some nigiri and rolls and Carpaccio and other things. This time the salmon shows up looking like something I picked up at the clearance bin in our local supermarket. And sadly, it tasted just as bad. And once AGAIN the tuna was terrible - what the hell? What's with with scrap fish being served as sushi?

So that's it - that's our last time giving our money to JMK Nippons - it's just not worth it. Especially when I can make Carpaccio at home (and I do!) and we can go to Shogun and get MUCH better food and service.