How is the Sushi Restaurant Famous?

I used to work as a server in a Japanese restaurant owned by a Chinese in Chicago for a half year. The restaurant was one of the most famous restaurants in Chicago. I was wondering how the restaurant could become so popular if no Japanese sushi chef nor kitchen chef work in the restaurant. I assumed that the manager had received the training of how to make sushi and other Japanese dishes in Japan for long time, so that he could teach other people.
I asked the manager if he had been to japan before. Then, he said he had visited to japan twice in his entire life and both visits were only for a week. Then, i asked where he learned how to make sushi and other japanese dishes on the menu of his restaurant. He said he never learned from anyone, but he just made japanese food in his original ways.
When i tasted California role, I was so shocked that the rice did not taste anything. When Japanese make sushi, they always flavor rice with vinegar, but he didn't. I also tried Miso soup, but it was way too salty. I thought, how did the restaurant become so popular with the terrible foods?
When I was working, most customer order a lot Sake or other alcohol and little bit of sushi. Then, I realized that the customers did not really come to eat Japanese food in the restaurant but came to drink. One customer told me that "I really like the atmosphere in here." The decorations inside the restaurant was not like typical Japanese restaurants, which simply have wood made tables and chairs and sushi bar with a few other decorations of Japanese traditional ornaments. But the inside of the restaurant was more like a bar, which put glass made tables and steel made chars with playing the U.S. pop music.
The manager said, "People come to my restaurant because they like Sake and the atmosphere." When I heard that, I became sad that he didn't even talk about Japanese foods. I really wanted to say, "If you call your restaurant a Japanese restaurant, you have to think that your restaurant represents Japan and learn about how to make REAL Japanese dishes from Japanese chef!" But I was not brave enough to say that to him and sacrifice the job.