I have been coming here for awhile now. Every time I'm in durango. I always wanna eat here even when other don't. I love their happy hour prices and the amazing service every time. We sometimes bring the whole family and WOW I couldn't ask for more. Can wait to go again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nadia V
Food was okay, so definitely order the sushi here! Our server was either new, or tweaking because he was so nervous the whole time and kept disappearing on us. He kept forgetting things and was skitzing on something or having a mental breakdown, not sure...If I come back I will stick to the sushi! Oh and the shishito peppers are sooo good!!! Warning: we tried the wagyu beef hot rock and know that it does not come with any sides....you are basically paying extra for the hot rock plate and you cook it yourself but the sauce is what brings it together nicely, just pricey for the amount of food you actually get. I ordered the pork ramen but I ended up liking the spicy chicken ramen better, but I guess I'm not a huge ramen fan because I much preferred the sushi rolls here!? ❤ Good luck on getting a crazy server!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Lily Forsythe
Love love love! One of our favorite sushi restaurants!!
The food was great! Some of the rolls were big enough to share , which was awesome. The timing of the food wasn’t great, they should have brought out everyone’s food at once but I was done eating mine by the time my husbands finally came out. Also the parking situation sucked.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Tiradito Roll
Kenneth French (Ken Do11)
Food poisoning by the end of it all. It took waay over a hour to get our food, charged us extra for side sauces after our food took forever, waiter didn't understand the menu, the rolls were rushed and some had so little fish them to the point of being a veggie roll. The menu lacked diversity in ingredients in the sushi rolls. And I ended up with food poisoning. Will never return.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Jeanelle W
I realized last night that my husband and I have been going to East by Southwest for 10 years! We are never disappointed! The wait was long but it was a holiday weekend, the place was packed, and I heard they were training new staff. That being said, the service was great, our waiter checked on us many times, and the food was delicious as always. We’ll be back again soon!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
AlanS
1 of 2 entries arrived before the appetizers, the second entries arrived cold. We were seated next to the front door on a cold and windy nite, we wore our coats throughout dinner. BTW, we arrived 20 minutes early, the receptionist forgot about us and we were not seated until 30 minutes later... all the 5:30 crowd arriving after us were seated... away from the front door.
LoraP
As locals, we have been long time customers of East by Southwest. We managed to get early reservations on Valentine's day. Ordered appetizers and drinks. Our appetizer was delayed due to malfunctioning kitchen equipment. We ordered our entrees. My first choice was apparently no longer served by the restaurant despite being on the menu. I asked for the menu back so I could choose another entree. My entree arrived before the appetizer and I said I would rather have it after I enjoy the appetizer. They took my entree away, arrived about 15 min later with the appetizer as well as well as my husbands entree. We gave up, said just bring the food, including my now luke warm entree. We knew it was busy, equipment malfunctions happen and were pleasant about everything. When we had finished eating, we had spent about $160 between apps/drinks/entrees. We were brought the check and we asked if instead, we could see a dessert menu (after all, it was Valentine's Day and we had been looking forward to a nice treat all day!). The waiter left and returned with...the check. He told us they needed to turn the table. I asked, "Seriously, you are not going to let us order a dessert"? The answer, was no, they needed the table. (It was a longer than normal meal due to their errors and issues, not ours) Well, no dessert for us on Valentine's day then...so disappointing. I did write to EbySW to tell them of the experience, hoping they would reach out with at least an apology. That was a week ago, and so far, crickets..
Kyle Bishop
This place has been epic for at least 20 years.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Michaela Grubb
My friend and I decided to go here on our lunch to end our week on a good note. We both got the hamachi bento box and were amazed with how delicious the hamachi collar was. I think it's the best food I've ever had in this town, most places I go here are just fine and fill my stomach but I actually enjoyed this. the only reason it gets 4/5 stars is that the food took forever to come out, but it was delicious so it's worth it.
We had an unfortunate experience. We made a reservation but were not sat for an hour after our reservation. We then waited another 30 minutes without any servers approaching our table. We left feeling hangry tonight.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Tim Kasovac
We had heard OK things about this place. We wanted a nice dinner out for our family of 5, 3 older teenage boys. We beat the rush and ordered right away. Place was full within 5 minutes. We ordered sushi & hot food. Our waitress mentioned food would come out at different times. We knew that as this was not our first time at a place like this. Over the course of the next 30 minutes, most of our food came out, except 2 sushi rolls that were the meal for 1 of the boys. Our son kept an eye on our waitress, LeAnne, from across the room. She saw he did not have his food and did nothing but keep talking to another server. Knowing sushi, we saw both rolls he ordered go to a table across the room that ordered 15 minutes after us. When our waitress can to "check on us" she still seemed clueless and/or didn't care that not all the food came out. She quickly blamed it on being busy. No apology just diversion. When she finally brought the food, same thing, no apology.That was just the service. The food, especially the hot food, totally lacked any flavor. The "spicy" did not even have the spice heat of regular pepper.Like others we spoke with a "manager" that like the others, he didn't care.We left a better than appropriate tip for the crummy service.All I know is that it is not a place we will recommend nor visit again.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Laurence Bacon
If it were Boulder review would be different. Morenlike 3 stars. Five stars is a rarity. So, four in my book is pretty good. The food was very good and all confidence in the quality. Thought it came to the table super fast but well presented. Spider is my favorite roll but this one was the only disappointing part. Service was kind prompt and courteous. There For Happy Hour and the deals were exceptional. The atmosphere was a bit like a chinese restaurant hey it's durango. I can think of better window decor than a Kirin neon sign. lol
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Jonathan Richards (Jon Cahill Photo)
Wonderful happy hour specials and rolls! Make sure to get in early or have a reservation. The atmosphere isn’t what I am used to in a sushi place, but not unpleasant, just different. Good food and service, quick too!
I waited about 2 weeks to write this review. I wanted to see if the owners would contact me on their own accord, considering that I made some complaints the night I was there. If I were the owner, I definitely would have followed up with a customer that head such a bad experience at my restaurant. Clearly, the owner of East by Southwest doesn't care.I also wanted to wait to see if if my opinion of the evening would change over time. Sometimes it does. Sometimes I have a bad experience and then I think about it later and I am less upset about it. But, that did not happen here. In fact, the more I thought about it, and the longer I waited, The Worst it got.I think of myself as a pretty fair but mostly easy reviewer. You see, I enjoy just about everything that I try and every place that I go. You really have to do something pretty seriously wrong to get a bad review from me. This restaurant gets a bad review.First let me set some background. I came with my family. We were coming to ride The Polar Express, the train that the Durango Silverton train runs in the winter to give families The Polar Express experience. We wanted to have a special night out. And we really thought that picking East by Southwest would be a slam dunk. I mean how could we go wrong, really, based on everything we heard. But the truth is they just didn't care whether we had a good time or not.So let me give you the bottom line up front. (BLUF). From the get-go, our waitress did not listen to us, and the result was bad service. The food tasted bad. The food did not come out all at once. In fact, one meal came out 45 minutes after all of the other meals. It only came out at all because we brought it to their attention. They had completely forgotten to feed one of their guests. The food was enormously overpriced. The quality of the food was low. In one case, the sushi tasted extremely fishy like it had been sitting around too long. And at the end of the meal, we discovered that the owners charge a surcharge it is not listed in the prices, does not go to the staff, and isn't apparently attached to any particular service or food quality. In short, the owner decided to keep prices low by adding a surprise surcharge to the meal.Now some details. Our server wasn't very attentive. She couldn't remember what we ordered. She couldn't get our meals out on time. She forgot one of our meals all together. And then she left before we were done eating. Someone else had to come and take over her station.The food was pretty poor quality. Frankly, we didn't enjoy it. The worst of it was a spider roll with fish that tasted so bad we didn't finish it. The other pieces of sushi were edible, but nothing special. The teriyaki chicken was pretty good, but everything that they put on the plate with the teriyaki chicken was pretty bad. I can only even know if I could identify what some of the things were. It was some kind of Southwest Asian egg roll thing that didn't taste like integral, and didn't taste like southwestern food. It just tasted blah. Even the fried rice we ordered came out Bland and flavorless. I would say it had no texture, but the truth is it had a mono texture to it - mush. That's not really what you want in fried rice. And I would have thought that a restaurant with as much hype as this one could get something simple like fried rice correct. Then additionally, they forgot one of our party's meals. It was another 45 minutes or possibly an hour before my son-in-law was able to eat his dinner. So, the food was bad, the food didn't come out, the staff really didn't care, and all in all it was a terrible experience.Then, they tacked on a surcharge just to put an exclamation point on the end of a bad experience.Bottom line, just don't go here. You will be disappointed if you do.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Shrimp Tempura Roll, Japanese Fried Rice, Spicy Edamame
I have been coming here for awhile now. Every time I'm in durango. I always wanna eat here even when other don't. I love their happy hour prices and the amazing service every time. We sometimes bring the whole family and WOW I couldn't ask for more. Can wait to go again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was okay, so definitely order the sushi here! Our server was either new, or tweaking because he was so nervous the whole time and kept disappearing on us. He kept forgetting things and was skitzing on something or having a mental breakdown, not sure...If I come back I will stick to the sushi! Oh and the shishito peppers are sooo good!!! Warning: we tried the wagyu beef hot rock and know that it does not come with any sides....you are basically paying extra for the hot rock plate and you cook it yourself but the sauce is what brings it together nicely, just pricey for the amount of food you actually get. I ordered the pork ramen but I ended up liking the spicy chicken ramen better, but I guess I'm not a huge ramen fan because I much preferred the sushi rolls here!? ❤ Good luck on getting a crazy server!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Love love love! One of our favorite sushi restaurants!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Edamame, Cotton Candy, Tempura, Tiradito Roll, Spicy Tuna, Seaweed Salad, Miso Soup
The food was great! Some of the rolls were big enough to share , which was awesome. The timing of the food wasn’t great, they should have brought out everyone’s food at once but I was done eating mine by the time my husbands finally came out. Also the parking situation sucked.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Tiradito Roll
Food poisoning by the end of it all. It took waay over a hour to get our food, charged us extra for side sauces after our food took forever, waiter didn't understand the menu, the rolls were rushed and some had so little fish them to the point of being a veggie roll. The menu lacked diversity in ingredients in the sushi rolls. And I ended up with food poisoning. Will never return.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
I realized last night that my husband and I have been going to East by Southwest for 10 years! We are never disappointed! The wait was long but it was a holiday weekend, the place was packed, and I heard they were training new staff. That being said, the service was great, our waiter checked on us many times, and the food was delicious as always. We’ll be back again soon!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
1 of 2 entries arrived before the appetizers, the second entries arrived cold. We were seated next to the front door on a cold and windy nite, we wore our coats throughout dinner. BTW, we arrived 20 minutes early, the receptionist forgot about us and we were not seated until 30 minutes later... all the 5:30 crowd arriving after us were seated... away from the front door.
As locals, we have been long time customers of East by Southwest. We managed to get early reservations on Valentine's day. Ordered appetizers and drinks. Our appetizer was delayed due to malfunctioning kitchen equipment. We ordered our entrees. My first choice was apparently no longer served by the restaurant despite being on the menu. I asked for the menu back so I could choose another entree. My entree arrived before the appetizer and I said I would rather have it after I enjoy the appetizer. They took my entree away, arrived about 15 min later with the appetizer as well as well as my husbands entree. We gave up, said just bring the food, including my now luke warm entree. We knew it was busy, equipment malfunctions happen and were pleasant about everything. When we had finished eating, we had spent about $160 between apps/drinks/entrees. We were brought the check and we asked if instead, we could see a dessert menu (after all, it was Valentine's Day and we had been looking forward to a nice treat all day!). The waiter left and returned with...the check. He told us they needed to turn the table. I asked, "Seriously, you are not going to let us order a dessert"? The answer, was no, they needed the table. (It was a longer than normal meal due to their errors and issues, not ours) Well, no dessert for us on Valentine's day then...so disappointing. I did write to EbySW to tell them of the experience, hoping they would reach out with at least an apology. That was a week ago, and so far, crickets..
This place has been epic for at least 20 years.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
My friend and I decided to go here on our lunch to end our week on a good note. We both got the hamachi bento box and were amazed with how delicious the hamachi collar was. I think it's the best food I've ever had in this town, most places I go here are just fine and fill my stomach but I actually enjoyed this. the only reason it gets 4/5 stars is that the food took forever to come out, but it was delicious so it's worth it.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
We had an unfortunate experience. We made a reservation but were not sat for an hour after our reservation. We then waited another 30 minutes without any servers approaching our table. We left feeling hangry tonight.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
We had heard OK things about this place. We wanted a nice dinner out for our family of 5, 3 older teenage boys. We beat the rush and ordered right away. Place was full within 5 minutes. We ordered sushi & hot food. Our waitress mentioned food would come out at different times. We knew that as this was not our first time at a place like this. Over the course of the next 30 minutes, most of our food came out, except 2 sushi rolls that were the meal for 1 of the boys. Our son kept an eye on our waitress, LeAnne, from across the room. She saw he did not have his food and did nothing but keep talking to another server. Knowing sushi, we saw both rolls he ordered go to a table across the room that ordered 15 minutes after us. When our waitress can to "check on us" she still seemed clueless and/or didn't care that not all the food came out. She quickly blamed it on being busy. No apology just diversion. When she finally brought the food, same thing, no apology.That was just the service. The food, especially the hot food, totally lacked any flavor. The "spicy" did not even have the spice heat of regular pepper.Like others we spoke with a "manager" that like the others, he didn't care.We left a better than appropriate tip for the crummy service.All I know is that it is not a place we will recommend nor visit again.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
If it were Boulder review would be different. Morenlike 3 stars. Five stars is a rarity. So, four in my book is pretty good. The food was very good and all confidence in the quality. Thought it came to the table super fast but well presented. Spider is my favorite roll but this one was the only disappointing part. Service was kind prompt and courteous. There For Happy Hour and the deals were exceptional. The atmosphere was a bit like a chinese restaurant hey it's durango. I can think of better window decor than a Kirin neon sign. lol
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Wonderful happy hour specials and rolls! Make sure to get in early or have a reservation. The atmosphere isn’t what I am used to in a sushi place, but not unpleasant, just different. Good food and service, quick too!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Southwest Sushi Dishes, Cotton Candy, Dragon Roll, Tuna
I waited about 2 weeks to write this review. I wanted to see if the owners would contact me on their own accord, considering that I made some complaints the night I was there. If I were the owner, I definitely would have followed up with a customer that head such a bad experience at my restaurant. Clearly, the owner of East by Southwest doesn't care.I also wanted to wait to see if if my opinion of the evening would change over time. Sometimes it does. Sometimes I have a bad experience and then I think about it later and I am less upset about it. But, that did not happen here. In fact, the more I thought about it, and the longer I waited, The Worst it got.I think of myself as a pretty fair but mostly easy reviewer. You see, I enjoy just about everything that I try and every place that I go. You really have to do something pretty seriously wrong to get a bad review from me. This restaurant gets a bad review.First let me set some background. I came with my family. We were coming to ride The Polar Express, the train that the Durango Silverton train runs in the winter to give families The Polar Express experience. We wanted to have a special night out. And we really thought that picking East by Southwest would be a slam dunk. I mean how could we go wrong, really, based on everything we heard. But the truth is they just didn't care whether we had a good time or not.So let me give you the bottom line up front. (BLUF). From the get-go, our waitress did not listen to us, and the result was bad service. The food tasted bad. The food did not come out all at once. In fact, one meal came out 45 minutes after all of the other meals. It only came out at all because we brought it to their attention. They had completely forgotten to feed one of their guests. The food was enormously overpriced. The quality of the food was low. In one case, the sushi tasted extremely fishy like it had been sitting around too long. And at the end of the meal, we discovered that the owners charge a surcharge it is not listed in the prices, does not go to the staff, and isn't apparently attached to any particular service or food quality. In short, the owner decided to keep prices low by adding a surprise surcharge to the meal.Now some details. Our server wasn't very attentive. She couldn't remember what we ordered. She couldn't get our meals out on time. She forgot one of our meals all together. And then she left before we were done eating. Someone else had to come and take over her station.The food was pretty poor quality. Frankly, we didn't enjoy it. The worst of it was a spider roll with fish that tasted so bad we didn't finish it. The other pieces of sushi were edible, but nothing special. The teriyaki chicken was pretty good, but everything that they put on the plate with the teriyaki chicken was pretty bad. I can only even know if I could identify what some of the things were. It was some kind of Southwest Asian egg roll thing that didn't taste like integral, and didn't taste like southwestern food. It just tasted blah. Even the fried rice we ordered came out Bland and flavorless. I would say it had no texture, but the truth is it had a mono texture to it - mush. That's not really what you want in fried rice. And I would have thought that a restaurant with as much hype as this one could get something simple like fried rice correct. Then additionally, they forgot one of our party's meals. It was another 45 minutes or possibly an hour before my son-in-law was able to eat his dinner. So, the food was bad, the food didn't come out, the staff really didn't care, and all in all it was a terrible experience.Then, they tacked on a surcharge just to put an exclamation point on the end of a bad experience.Bottom line, just don't go here. You will be disappointed if you do.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Shrimp Tempura Roll, Japanese Fried Rice, Spicy Edamame