Travis Center: 2900 Travis St.

[swtsig]

and you're ignoring the fact that you've already received customer complaints regarding the valet parking. guess the club kids who pay $15 are "better" customers.

they only have 20 spots, so how bout you give them a break? i mean the guy is giving you a valid explanantion but apparently you'd just rather be ---- about it.

i'm sure they won't miss you if you decide to never go again.

Edited March 28, 2009 by Subdude
language

[sevfiv]

You can disagree and whatnot, but let's please not resort to that..

[Furious Jam]

Hi Musicman,

We have not ignored any customer complaints on site. Every parking issue there has been resolved by me personally.

I have personally paid out of my own pocket, not Crave's pocket, for customers parking in the past and recently.

And no one is better than the other. I'm sorry if you feel that way, but our intentions are not to make any person better than the other.

If you have dined here, you would know that we treat everyone with the upmost respect regardless of anything.

The solution we have now has had minimal complaints.

And minimizing this situation is all we feel we can do for the time being until something better arises.

Without valet around 10pm to 2am on Friday or Saturday, Crave customers will have "zero" parking.

Please forward me any suggestions you may have to help with this issue.

john@wecravesushi.com

Thank you!

Hi John,

I started the valet parking rant, so I appreciate your offering a response. Now that I know that Crave only has valet parking on Friday and Saturday nights, my wife and I will be sure to visit you guys on another night.

Nevertheless, we were ready to eat at your restaurant on a Friday night at 10, but we were put off by all of the blocked off spaces. And because I did not observe a single vehicle in your lot at that time, I have to assume that other potential patrons were also turned off by all of the unwelcoming cones. I'm worried that your policy may be costing you diners on critical nights and creating an overall negative first impression.

I'm a real estate attorney, and I know from personal experience how parking can be a major issue for tenants. I respect that you're trying to make the best of a difficult situation. But that being said, forcing everyone to valet is an atypical solution. Much more common are the warning/towing signs you see all over the city. The standard sign provides that if your vehicle is parked while you are not (or you are no longer) patronizing the business which has provided the parking, then your vehicle is subject to being towed at your expense. Granted, monitoring who is properly parked and who is not can be more of an art than a science. Your host(ess) might need to keep an eye out. Adding a 2 hour limit to the signs would be a good idea as well. You'll still have some people who will beat the system, but I suspect most would simply pay to park somewhere else rather than risk ruining their evening by having their vehicle towed.

All that being said, it does strike me as somewhat disingenuous that you profess a desire to preserve parking for diners while freely admitting to selling your spaces at $15 a piece to non-diners. John, that's like trying to have your sushi and eat it too. In theory, you could sell the entire lot to club-goers and shut out everyone else. I know there's the idea that someone who comes back to their vehicle from a club is a potential diner, and I recognize the benefit to you of selling that person both a space and a meal. And that's fine.

But now we come back to Musicman's statement that, on Friday and Saturday nights at least, club-goers are the "better" customers that you are catering to. Given the real alternative of using warning/towing signs, it seems that by employing your valet system instead, you are tacitly admitting that on those particular nights club-goers are your preferred customers, and that you want to be in the business of selling parking to them as much as you are in the sushi business. Again, that's free enterprise and your choice to make - I don't have a problem with it. All the same, be up front with the choice instead of coming on to this board and claiming that your "intentions are not to make any person better than the other". Obviously you've made a conscious decision to cater to club-goers on Friday and Saturday nights.

As for me personally, when I get hungry I'm looking for a restaurant and not a parking concern like the one Crave operates on Friday and Saturday nights. Therefore, I won't be your customer on those nights, and I suspect that many other people will similarly pass you by. Once more, that is the result of a business decision on your part, one that you may end up reevaluating in the future.

The foregoing notwithstanding, my wife and I will stop by during the week sometime soon. We're right around the corner from Crave and we'd like to see you and many other Midtown businesses succeed. I wish you all the best.

[CraveSushi]

Hi John,

I started the valet parking rant, so I appreciate your offering a response. Now that I know that Crave only has valet parking on Friday and Saturday nights, my wife and I will be sure to visit you guys on another night.

Nevertheless, we were ready to eat at your restaurant on a Friday night at 10, but we were put off by all of the blocked off spaces. And because I did not observe a single vehicle in your lot at that time, I have to assume that other potential patrons were also turned off by all of the unwelcoming cones. I'm worried that your policy may be costing you diners on critical nights and creating an overall negative first impression.

I'm a real estate attorney, and I know from personal experience how parking can be a major issue for tenants. I respect that you're trying to make the best of a difficult situation. But that being said, forcing everyone to valet is an atypical solution. Much more common are the warning/towing signs you see all over the city. The standard sign provides that if your vehicle is parked while you are not (or you are no longer) patronizing the business which has provided the parking, then your vehicle is subject to being towed at your expense. Granted, monitoring who is properly parked and who is not can be more of an art than a science. Your host(ess) might need to keep an eye out. Adding a 2 hour limit to the signs would be a good idea as well. You'll still have some people who will beat the system, but I suspect most would simply pay to park somewhere else rather than risk ruining their evening by having their vehicle towed.

All that being said, it does strike me as somewhat disingenuous that you profess a desire to preserve parking for diners while freely admitting to selling your spaces at $15 a piece to non-diners. John, that's like trying to have your sushi and eat it too. In theory, you could sell the entire lot to club-goers and shut out everyone else. I know there's the idea that someone who comes back to their vehicle from a club is a potential diner, and I recognize the benefit to you of selling that person both a space and a meal. And that's fine.

But now we come back to Musicman's statement that, on Friday and Saturday nights at least, club-goers are the "better" customers that you are catering to. Given the real alternative of using warning/towing signs, it seems that by employing your valet system instead, you are tacitly admitting that on those particular nights club-goers are your preferred customers, and that you want to be in the business of selling parking to them as much as you are in the sushi business. Again, that's free enterprise and your choice to make - I don't have a problem with it. All the same, be up front with the choice instead of coming on to this board and claiming that your "intentions are not to make any person better than the other". Obviously you've made a conscious decision to cater to club-goers on Friday and Saturday nights.

As for me personally, when I get hungry I'm looking for a restaurant and not a parking concern like the one Crave operates on Friday and Saturday nights. Therefore, I won't be your customer on those nights, and I suspect that many other people will similarly pass you by. Once more, that is the result of a business decision on your part, one that you may end up reevaluating in the future.

The foregoing notwithstanding, my wife and I will stop by during the week sometime soon. We're right around the corner from Crave and we'd like to see you and many other Midtown businesses succeed. I wish you all the best.

Hello Furious Jam,

Thank you for your comments. And I will take these into consideration.

Again, we do not cater to one specific crowd. We have to try our best to cater to everyone.

It is hard to please everyone. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so to each their own.

To answer the towing sign question, The lot is only ours for the time being because we're the only tenants in the complex currently.

Once or if a new business decides to occupy any of the units in the complex, those signs will not be valid.

We don't want to open us up to any lawsuits for illegally towing cars.

Those signs will only be valid if we had the whole complex to ourselves or if we could negotiate a deal with the neighboring businesses once they're occupied.

The landlord will most likely frown on this as well considering he wants these other units occupied soon. And with signs like that, it might lead to some discouragement to a potential tenant.

And having someone regularly monitoring the lot from the inside is just too difficult. Especially considering I cut my hostesses around 10 or 11.

This situation is just a real difficult and touchy situation.

Thank you again for your suggestions.

[LTAWACS]

I'm well past my times of eating out anywhere near 10pm, so if you keep your current valet policy it won't stop us from dropping in during happy hour times. And I like the idea of squeezing more money out of the club rats!

I concur. Make them pay for their sins.

[CraveSushi]

Parking issue resolved! Customers are always first!

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render...dMXgL6wUPJPM%3D

Thank you for all your support! See ya soon!!

[sowanome]

Sounds good...I'm visiting in a few months and plan to stop by

[eastdowner]

While I like the interior decor, your prices are astronomical compared to your competitors. Zake, Soma, Fish, Blue Fish and Uptown Sushi all have much better pricing. Zake runs a happy hour with $3 rolls and $2 domestics. I had trouble finding a specialty roll of yours under $20. 25% off happy hour isn't quite cutting it. I have only been there three times, but the place has always been scarcely populated. Any chance of lowering prices in this economy?

[smurf]

While I like the interior decor, your prices are astronomical compared to your competitors. Zake, Soma, Fish, Blue Fish and Uptown Sushi all have much better pricing. Zake runs a happy hour with $3 rolls and $2 domestics. I had trouble finding a specialty roll of yours under $20. 25% off happy hour isn't quite cutting it. I have only been there three times, but the place has always been scarcely populated. Any chance of lowering prices in this economy?

Soma (Washington @ Shepherd) has the best sushi happy hour pricing on Sundays. It's almost half-price including drinks. Ask for Sunday specials. I think it runs from 4 to 9pm. I have been impressed thus far.

On another subject, I think Houston need some simple good urban sushi places like they have in JAPAN and west coast cities like Seattle, San Fran etc. None of those $15 dollar fancy rolls. I just fish, udon bowls, yakatori etc. There used to be a nice one in downtown few years ago where a bar now sits across from House of Blues. Oiishi is the closest simple but good Japanese place I have found in the city area but it is far away (Richmond @ Timmons) for a regular outing. I am not sure if the pretenious elements moving to Midtown lately will ever concieve of such concepts.

[ToolMan]

Try some of these places Smurf.

Osaka

Sushi Jin

Nippon

Kaneyama

[midtownuser]

While I like the interior decor, your prices are astronomical compared to your competitors. Zake, Soma, Fish, Blue Fish and Uptown Sushi all have much better pricing. Zake runs a happy hour with $3 rolls and $2 domestics. I had trouble finding a specialty roll of yours under $20. 25% off happy hour isn't quite cutting it. I have only been there three times, but the place has always been scarcely populated. Any chance of lowering prices in this economy?

retracted

Edited May 4, 2009 by midtownuser

[stilettoninja]

On another subject, I think Houston need some simple good urban sushi places like they have in JAPAN and west coast cities like Seattle, San Fran etc. None of those $15 dollar fancy rolls. I just fish, udon bowls, yakatori etc. There used to be a nice one in downtown few years ago where a bar now sits across from House of Blues. Oiishi is the closest simple but good Japanese place I have found in the city area but it is far away (Richmond @ Timmons) for a regular outing. I am not sure if the pretenious elements moving to Midtown lately will ever concieve of such concepts.

You're referring to an izakaya! A Japanese tapas-style restaurant. I loved going to those when I used to live in Japan! The one they used to have in downtown was called Daiji's, but has been replaced by Reserve 101.

[smurf]

Try some of these places Smurf.

Osaka

Sushi Jin

Nippon

Kaneyama

Thanks for the Nippon advice! I keep forgetting about that place. Osaka is good too.

Kaneyama & Sushi Jin are too far away. Last time I tried Kaneyama, it was actually excellent.

[smurf]

.... After ordering around about $50 of sushi and $40 of wine, I requested ponzu sauce (which is similar to soy sauce) to dip my sashimi into. When the bill came I noticed what seemed to be an abritrary charge for the ponzu sauce. Seems a little ridiculous to charge $.50 on a bill that is reaching near $100. .....

That is low!!! It is like a Tex-Mex place charging for chips & salsa or ice tea refills.

Also, so does this mean people with celiac disease have to pay extra to get a soy replacement?

[LTAWACS]

When I open my business later this year, remind me to not post about it here.

[diggity]

seriously!

whine, complain, complain!

Edited May 1, 2009 by diggity

[CraveSushi]

While I like the interior decor, your prices are astronomical compared to your competitors. Zake, Soma, Fish, Blue Fish and Uptown Sushi all have much better pricing. Zake runs a happy hour with $3 rolls and $2 domestics. I had trouble finding a specialty roll of yours under $20. 25% off happy hour isn't quite cutting it. I have only been there three times, but the place has always been scarcely populated. Any chance of lowering prices in this economy?

Thank you for your input. We introduced the 25% off the entire menu because most of the restaurants that you mentioned above offer a restricted menu or a seperate happy hour menu. We did not want to restrict our customers to a specific menu. We are working on something right now that will be very SPECIAL or HAPPY for our customers. Please stay tuned.

[CraveSushi]

midtownuser,

I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed with our happy hour pricing. The 25% off our entire menu was not to restrict you to certain items. Almost if not all other restaurants have a seperate happy hour menu or drink specials. This method is used to push out overstock inventory or offer foods that are at lower price points which is why they only offer certain items to their customers. We wanted our customers to be able to have an import beer or a vodka-soda with premium vodka such as grey goose or belvedere at happy hour prices. Also, to be able to order any appetizers, salads, or soups with our discount. If you strongly feel that this is unfair, I personally would like to sit down with you over a meal and hear your opinions. Please email me with your contact information at lp@wecravesushi.com. My name is Linh and I am the owner of Crave Sushi. I would like to be transparent about my business and your patronage is very imoortant to me. I would like to hear your ideas and what you think will make my restaurant better. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Linh Hoang.

ps. we are working on new specials that will be introduced shortly.

Edited May 8, 2009 by CraveSushi

[CraveSushi]

While I like the interior decor, your prices are astronomical compared to your competitors. Zake, Soma, Fish, Blue Fish and Uptown Sushi all have much better pricing. Zake runs a happy hour with $3 rolls and $2 domestics. I had trouble finding a specialty roll of yours under $20. 25% off happy hour isn't quite cutting it. I have only been there three times, but the place has always been scarcely populated. Any chance of lowering prices in this economy?

forgot to add...

All of Crave's Special Rolls are under $20 except for the Tiger Lily. we priced the Tiger Lily at $20 because it is a large roll (10 big pieces) and has crunchy soft shell crab, salmon, ebi, and avacado.

Our special rolls range from $10 (dynamite & tiger eye) to $20 (tiger lily). Our best sellers are the Perfect Roll ($16) and Crave's Cheetah Roll ($15).

[midtownuser]

midtownuser,

I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed with our happy hour pricing. The 25% off our entire menu was not to restrict you to certain items. Almost if not all other restaurants have a seperate happy hour menu or drink specials. This method is used to push out overstock inventory or offer foods that are at lower price points which is why they only offer certain items to their customers. We wanted our customers to be able to have an import beer or a vodka-soda with premium vodka such as grey goose or belvedere at happy hour prices. Also, to be able to order any appetizers, salads, or soups with our discount. If you strongly feel that this is unfair, I personally would like to sit down with you over a meal and hear your opinions. Please email me with your contact information at lp@wecravesushi.com. My name is Linh and I am the owner of Crave Sushi. I would like to be transparent about my business and your patronage is very imoortant to me. I would like to hear your ideas and what you think will make my restaurant better. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Linh Hoang.

ps. we are working on new specials that will be introduced shortly.

I deleted my rant from this thread. I don't think it is necessary to make my experience public. I think the restaurant has wonderful food and the service is great. What makes it even more special is that it is locally owned and the owner is trying to work out the kinks by taking suggestions from the customers. I love how your happy hour menu is not limited to a small menu like every other place. If it was my preference, I would like if you guys kept it that way (just lower the original prices). Please keep us updated with the new specials. I would suggest that you delete my quote from your reply post. Good luck

Edited May 4, 2009 by midtownuser

[CraveSushi]

So here is the special Crave Sushi is presenting... copied from my facebook group message.

Hey Guys! Summer is upon us and I'm excited! In the last months since I've opened Crave Sushi. I keep hearing "In this economy...", you can pretty much start any sentence with "In this economy.." So that being said...

"In this economy, Crave Sushi is bailing you out with $1 Chicken Yakitori!"

What is Chicken Yakitori? Chicken Yakitori is a chicken skewer grilled & glazed with a sweet soy garnish with scallions & spicy sesame

This special is all day, any day (except late nite). So stop by, check it out, and help us spread the word!

Linny

Crave Sushi

2900 Travis St.

Houston, TX 77006

wecravesushi.com

For reservations call 713-527-8744

[CraveSushi]

The word is that a Greek Deli will be going in next door and a lounge on the other end (nxt to Camden Travis). Also, the plans are at the city for the rendering for the building. This will be great for us I hope!!!

Linny

ps. does anyone know when Camden Travis will done? my guess...3 more months?!?!

[LTAWACS]

Not sure but the faster the better. Too bad they couldn't make it a 50-story highrise.

[fatesdisastr]

Yeah i talked to one of the guys at the camden midtown about camden travis and he says they will be finished by the end of the year. so thats cool

Edited June 11, 2009 by fatesdisastr

[midtownuser]

any updates on this restaurant?

[CraveSushi]

Just an update...

check out our new website (www.wecravesushi.com)

Wednesdays we have tons of ladies for happy hour

new happy hour specials (listed below)

hope everyone is well! we are growing as a business and making improvements daily. Thanks for the support and we appreciate your word of mouth

Introducing Crave Sushi's New Happy Hour Specials!!!

5pm to 7pm Daily, All Night Sunday (5-10pm)

Reverse Happy Hour Fri and Sat 12am to 2am (food only)

$1 Chicken Yakitori (chicken skewer grilled)

$1.50 All Nigiri (excl. mkt items)

$3 Edamame (lightly salted soy bean)

$4 Gyoza (pork dumplings)

$1.50 to $4.50 for ALL Regular Rolls (Half-Off Regular Price)

$2 Domestic Beers

$3 Import Beers

$3 Hot Sake & Flavored Hot Sake (vanilla, melon, pineapple, pomegranate, lychee, banana, apple, raspberry, & peach)

$4 You Call Its (Exc. Cordon Bleu)

$4 House Wines (glass)

$5 Crave Special Drinks, Mojitos, Martinis, Long Islands, Mimosas

$15 Mimosa Pitchers

The word...

"A sushi restaurant lives or dies on the freshness of its fish, and Crave passes the test, with dishes that are pristine as they are beautiful." ~ Texas Monthly Magazine

"Crave Sushi is the "Hidden Gem" of superior sushi in Houston. So don't go around telling everybody! Sssshhhh! It's our secret." ~ Out Smart Magazine

"There is only one word to describe the fish here: Luscious!" ~ Envy Magazine

"Crave Sushi has a sleek, sexy look with teal walls, dark stained woods, and two bars: one for fish and a larger for a drink!" ~ 002 Houston Magazine

"The hottest new restaurant in our area!" ~ Midtown Paper

"Crave Sushi, the newest addition to the midtown restaurant scene at 2900 Travis. C.I.A.- trained Chef Robert Garay is top toque! ~ Papercity

"Midtown's newest place to get a raw deal is open late till 4am on weekends, quite cleverly mixing things up!" ~ Houston Modern Luxury Magazine

[LTAWACS]

I've been meaning to take one of my gfs to this place. She loves sushi!

[CraveSushi]

Just to keep you guys informed. We received notice today that our Exterior Rendering will begin next week Aug. 31st. We are crossing our fingers. Its been a LONG wait!

[CraveSushi]

any updates on this restaurant?

We've been told that its still moving forward with the Greek Deli as of yesterday. We will see.

[Subdude]

Note merged the Crave Sushi topics started by Crave Sushi.