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My experience at Nobu Milano was surprisingly cold from the moment I arrived. Both the reception desk and the waiter lacked any warmth or welcoming energy. No smile, no facial expression, just a very flat and transactional tone throughout the interaction.
What immediately stood out was the attitude of the waiter. He approached the table in a way that almost felt confrontational, more “what do you want?” than hospitality. For a restaurant operating at this price point and brand positioning, the service felt strangely detached and uninterested.
Oddly enough, one of the details that bothered me most was the chopsticks. Simple disposable wooden chopsticks completely changed the perception of the experience. It instantly made the meal feel far less refined, almost closer to a casual fast-food chain than a luxury dining destination. Combined with the heavy red tones in the interior, the atmosphere unexpectedly gave off a commercial, chain-restaurant feeling rather than something elevated or distinctly Milanese.
The seating experience also left a bad impression. I was initially placed in an isolated corner seat, and when I requested a proper table instead of the bar seating they seemed to expect me to accept, the reaction felt visibly annoyed rather than accommodating. Ironically, after eventually moving to the bar area instead, I found it poorly maintained as well. There were still used plates left behind, and the counter itself had not even been wiped down properly.
As for the food itself, the tuna toro tartare was fine but entirely unmemorable. Nothing about it stood out in flavor, texture, or execution, and the plating overall felt very dated, almost frozen in a 2010-era luxury dining aesthetic rather than something contemporary or refined.
The California roll was honestly the low point of the meal. Serving imitation crab in a €30 California roll at a restaurant positioned as global luxury dining felt genuinely absurd. It immediately cheapened the experience and made the dish feel more like airport sushi than high-end Japanese cuisine.
The oyster kataifi was also unpleasant to eat and felt more focused on visual novelty than actual balance or texture.
Even the famous miso cod, arguably one of Nobu’s signature dishes globally, arrived severely overcooked. Instead of being delicate and buttery, the fish was dry, chewy, and lacking the luxurious texture the dish is known for.
The strangest moment of the evening came when I ordered squill sashimi and it arrived cooked. When I asked the waiter about it, his response was simply: “You ordered this.” No explanation, no attempt to clarify the dish, no effort to engage constructively, just a blunt response that perfectly summarized the overall tone of the service.
What made the experience even more frustrating was that I had specifically mentioned twice while ordering that I wanted certain dishes to arrive together and at the same time. This was ignored entirely. To make matters worse, one of the dishes I ordered was apparently forgotten altogether and only prepared after I reminded them about it myself. For a restaurant at this level, that kind of oversight is difficult to excuse.
Perhaps the most shocking part of the evening, however, was witnessing a bartender openly behaving in an unhygienic and unprofessional manner directly in front of guests. At that point, the experience no longer felt careless, it felt unmanaged.
At this pricing tier, where dinner can easily exceed €200 per person, guests expect far more than brand recognition alone. Luxury hospitality is built on detail, warmth, attentiveness, cleanliness, and making guests feel valued. Instead, the overall impression here was one of indifference, as though management has become complacent and no longer particularly concerned with maintaining the reputation the brand was built on.
