Spencer Williams, Contributor

Buying fresh Jamaican fruits and vegetables is always better for our local economy than going after imported varieties.

Restaurant Japan, located inside the Hilton hotel in New Kingston, has been open for a while. Therefore, I feel that theyhave had ample opportunity to correct their less than impeccable timing. Alas, I am now officially fed up! I have counted all the hours I have waited in that restaurant to be brought my sushi, and the flight to Japan from here works out to be less! So why do people like me even bother going back? There's little choice when it comes to ordering raw fish in town, and when East Japanese (in Market Place) is full (which is often), there is nowhere else to get my sashimi and nigiri.

The food is not bad. I mean if it were, I would not go there at all. But I keep telling myself that this time won't be like the last, and when I get that craving for uncooked tuna, yellowtail and sea urchin, there really is nothing else that will satisfy me. Okay, so the menu is not as interesting as eating in one of the top Japanese restaurants in New York (Jewel Bako comes to mind), but what we can get there will have to do.

Slow service

Why is the service so slow at this snug little location? Is it the waiters who are taking their sweet little time to bring us our meals? Or is it the chefs who need to step on the gas somewhat?

Let me explain how you make sushi. The rice is cooked - now they should be doing this in advance to allow time for it to cool to room temperature. But let's assume they start cooking it when I arrive for dinner. It takes approximately half an hour. Then they have to season it with rice vinegar and leave it to cool down - another half an hour. In the meantime, I would think that they could prepare the remaining ingredients. So then they take another half hour to assemble it all. Well the total time is now one and a half hour. What are they doing in the other hour I had to wait? Catching, scaling and gutting the fish?

So I haven't had to wait that long every time I've been there - but there has not been an occasion when I have been given my order within an hour! Even the miso soup is always late, and when it's not, I've had to send it back a few times for them to re-heat it. How can you send broth out at a tepid temperature? And when it's returned, this is repeated three times in the same seating!

Listen, I know things get busy in there, but please bear in mind that this is normal for an eatery. It is a prerequisite that you account for, and ensure you employ staff who can cope. And don't go telling me that since the place is full, people must not mind waiting. Believe me they do. They just will not say anything because Jamaicans don't realise that they should not have to stand for bad service. You receive a lot of customers because they can't get tables at East, which is overbooked, and there is nowhere else that serves the exact same cuisine.

But trust me, even though they may not be complaining to you, your patrons are asking each other the same question over and over again: "Why are we waiting?"

Restaurant Japan, Hilton Kingston hotel, 77 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5

Telephone: 906-4447 Opening Hours: Monday: 6:00 p.m.-9.30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday: noon-2.30 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.-9.30 p.m. Look to spend: $2,500 per head for a LONG night out on sushi and drinks.