My final meal in Santiago was one I’d been looking forward to for months, ever since Osaka made the list of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants and I reached out for a reservation immediately. And as the time of our dinner approached, I grew even more excited, due to the additional wonderful things I’d been hearing about their food. Unfortunately, though the food at Osaka was indeed for the most part excellent, we ended up not feeling welcome there.

We arrived a few minutes before our 7:30 reservation and found that the door to the restaurant, inside the W Hotel, was closed. When it slid open exactly at 7:30, no one seemed ready to greet quests. The person who’d opened the door ignored us and walked off, and no one else even looked up. I had to interrupt the bartenders who were busy polishing glassware to get anyone to acknowledge or interact with us.

The servers seemed baffled we were even there, and questioned several times whether we actually had a reservation. I assured them that we did, but they didn’t believe me, and when one of them checked the computer screen at the maitre di’s station, he could not find we had one, even though I’d received a confirmation email way back in October. It was only because I remembered the name of the employee who’d emailed me that we were eventually allowed in to what was an empty restaurant, where none of the employees appeared eager to have us.

The food which followed was delicious, and the sushi was excellent, but the totally unexpected “who are you and why are you here” vibe instead of the warm, welcoming greeting we anticipated was a negative start to the meal. I’m aware that 7:30 is an early time for dining in Chile, but if Osaka hadn’t wanted us there at that time, they should never have accepted the reservation. So … a less than stellar experience.

After I returned home and contacted the restaurant, they apologized and explained that because our reservation had been taken in 2013, it failed for some reason to be transferred over in their system when the new year began, which is why no one expected us. While I can understand mistakes like that can happen, it sadly resulted in us feeling like intruders rather than customers.

Let’s hope you don’t have to go through anything like that, and can be free to focus solely on the food.

We began with sushi, some of the best I’ve ever had. I ordered Naka salmon: Salmon belly, crispy quinoa, and su miso sauce …

… Unagi: River eel with crispy foie gras …

… and Kani tako: Crab meat and octopus with mayo, tagarashi, and lemon. It was about as good as sushi gets.

Irene was taken by the crispy quinoa: Shrimp batayaki, crab and avocado covered with crispy quinoa and bathed with Japanese butter and lemon.

For our entrees, I chose Chanchito Nikkei: Crispy tender pork confit, flavored teriyaki sauce, served with tacu tacu nigiris and sprouts …

… while Irene ordered the Pato mochero: Duck confit over caramelized onions and tumbo honey.

Both the pork and the duck were quite good, and by that time we were starting to feel less disgruntled. But why did we need to be gruntled in the first place? A well-trained staff would have known how to deal with the situation without leaving customers feeling unwanted. But even through the meal we felt more tolerated than welcome.

For side dishes, we chose Arroz Thai …

… and Sautéed vegetables.

I loved them both. Irene was less enthused by the vegetables, though, because it contained some spices she doesn’t happen to care for, so your mileage may vary.

Then we come to the desserts, about which we’d heard so much. I ordered Dim sum: Crunchy chocolate and mango dumplings and banana with caramelized almonds, vanilla yogurt and coconut ice cream …

… while Irene chose Crema helada: White chocolate frozen cream over peanut crumble and lemon sorbet with berries.

Sadly, while the quality of the individual components of each dish was excellent, the whole was not larger than the parts, and seemed confused.

Irene kept wondering—why are these berries with this sorbet? Why is any of it with the white chocolate? According to her, the flavors just didn’t seem complementary. As for my dim sum, I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to do with that glass of yogurt. Dip each dim sum? Pour it over them? Eat it with a spoon? I ended up doing a bit of each, but didn’t feel the concept truly cohered.

Everything from the sushi through the appetizers and side dishes was truly excellent, though, so if the only thing off about the night had been that I was somewhat let down by the desserts, well, I’d still have been happy, because not every dish can be a winner. Absent the way we were treated upon arrival, we’d still have left thinking it was a great meal and would have wanted to come back to try the place again.

Unfortunately, I can’t forget that initial treatment. It colored the whole experience, was there with us throughout the meal, and will forever be part of the fabric of my memories. So instead, we headed back to our hotel unsettled and confused.

Don’t let that stop you, though, because the food is worth it. Just hope that the computer system doesn’t let you down, too. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.