I have dined at quite a few Japanese Steak houses, including the Benihana on 44th St in NYC. For those of you who dont know, the chef cooks at your table on and prepares your food in a very entertaining manner, flipping your food around and doing acrobatics with his knife and fork.It is a little disconcerting to have a Japanese Steak House chef with a Virginia accent, but he made an excellent show and an excellent dinner.
Our party ran the gamut from chicken and steak to the shrimp and scallops. The opening soup is French Onion which was good, not special, but good. The House salad had that Japanese dressing which someone should bottle and sell, with crisp lettuse and other assorted vegetables.
The chef came to our table now and fired up the tabletop. While it was heating he poured out two sauces, one a mustardy flavor and the other a soy-ginger. The food was prepared in front of us with an appetizer of shrimp, which was cooked very nicely, not overdone and flavored delicately with soy sauce. He then prepared our fried rice, not as good as some of the other fried rices I had but not an embarrassment. As his knife whizzed, he unleashed some very corny one liners, made a "volcanoe" and flipped shrimp tails into his shirt pocket to be discarded. The chicken and scallop itself was above average. The shrimp and steak I tasted were also in the same category, above average. Finally he cooked up a mound of vegetables for everyone which were unexceptional but again, flavorful.
This is the type of restaurant where the food is kind of secondary. It is a very enjoyable evening out with the family or friends and is full of laughter. The prices are a little lower than the Sarasota Japanese Steakhouses and the quality is similar. All in all, a good value.
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