Wow. After eating lunch at Sakura today, I am just embarrassed for them. I've been a handful of times with friends and family and always had at least decent if not really good experiences. In fact, it's just a few blocks for my house, so it's the easiest place for us to get take-out or when we are in the mood for asian. I have even written a 5-star review for them the first time we tried them.Today, I went in with my brother, because he was in the mood for fresh sushi and had never been to Sakura. I asked the waitress for recommendations for tofu dishes and she seemed confused by my question and kept directing me to this one tofu appetizer. When I suggested that would be too small for a meal, I asked what I could order for an entre. I then looked around the menu and for some reason (my fault) was having trouble finding the vegetarian section of the menu. I asked the waitress if I could get something like general tso's chicken but with tofu instead or the hot and spicy chicken but with tofu in stead of chicken. She said quite matter of fact that this was not possible. I was confused because I had ordered multiple tofu dishes in the past...I finally found the section I was looking for and decided to try the "Spciy Bean Curd." When she brought it out, I noticed that it was covered in something that looked like ground meat. I called her over and asked if it was meat and she said it was. I apologized (for the confusion?) as a polite gesture and told her that I was vegetarian. The description in the menu didn't say anything about meat. She told me that this style of tofu comes with meat, as if I should have known that as common knowledge. She then said I should have told her I was vegetarian when I ordered. Lol. I guess I didn't directly state "I AM A VEGETARIAN." but it should have been fairly obvious, if not by how many times she has waited on me and vegetarian friends in the past, by all the talk just before of tofu and substituting meat dishes. I politely told her I wouldn't be able to eat the meal to which she replied with a sweet smile, "you should have told me you were vegetarian when you ordered." Lol. Well that was that. I got to sit there and stare at a meal that I couldn't eat while my brother finished his sushi.She seemed to avoid our table after that for obvious reasons, even though there was only one other table dining in the whole restaurant. When we got the check she asked if I wanted a to-go box, and I said "no," which didn't seem to bother her one bit. I don't know what good it would have done me taking it home, except maybe to feed it to the dogs. She sure did charge me for a meal that I wasn't even able to touch. What blows my mind is both that she had to know that she was permanently losing customers with this plan to what?...punish me for my lack of using the right phrase during my order? Also, how much would it have cost the restaurant to remake my tofu dish without meat? $1? $2? Tofu is way cheaper than meat and that is all this dish was - even it would have been even cheaper still without the added ground meat. Not only that, there was never any apology or expression of concern. Any restaurant of quality would have sent out a manager or would have at least dialogued the misunderstanding with the customer rather than simply cutting it off at with a tone of it's-too-late-now.I have never once in my life (and 20+ years of being vegetarian) seen any restaurant make a customer go without being able to eat their meal regardless of the reason. What type of establishment makes their repeat client sit in front of a meal (especially meat in front of a strict vegetarian!) for 20 minutes until they pay for their uneaten meal and then leave?Honestly it was just super awkward for me and embarrassing for the waitress and restaurant. Goodbye, Sakura. Good luck staying open. My friends, family, and online veggie/vegan community will no longer be visiting your establishment. Hope it was worth the uneaten meal y