Kobe Japanese Steak and Seafood House
In January, we were looking at the social shopper website for some ideas and savings. Kobe Japanese Steak and Seafood House was listed on there and with neither of us having ever eaten there before, we decided to buy it. The deal was a meal for two. We finally found time to use this promotion and boy, was it a real disappointment and probably one of the weirdest experiences ever. If you eat here, keep your jacket and wear one that you wouldn’t be afraid of stinking up from the aromas — this restaurant is COLD!
Once we entered the restaurant, there were stairs right in front of us leading upstairs and an alcove on the left. Having never been to this restaurant before, we weren’t quite sure where to go or how the restaurant worked. Standing there for a few seconds while the host just looked at us without offering assistance, we decided to turn left. The host asked us whether we wanted to eat upstairs or downstairs and not knowing the difference, we decided upstairs. The waitress asked us whether we wanted to leave our jackets with the coat service and we declined. The waitress then sped up the stairs and disappeared without any regard for her patrons. Under the dim lighting, the waitresses all looked the same and blended in with the patrons and decor. She finally made she contact with us, guiding us to our seats. She then abruptly left without offering to bring us a beverage. We were lucky enough to flag down another waitress and decided to tell her that we had purchased the social shopper deal, at which time she told us that we were supposed to be downstairs. She brought us downstairs and told the host that we’re supposed to be downstairs. The host then rudely told us “next time, you should tell us so it doesn’t cause all this trouble”. Under what circumstances would a host be justified in saying something like this to a patron? Here’s an idea: put it on the social shopper instructions!! At the first chance I had I told the server I had a Social Shopper deal, it’s not like I was hiding this information.
We discovered that upstairs is the teppanyaki area and downstairs is the izakaya with a different menu. Once we sat down, we were brought our menu and got to select 6 appetizers. We figured out which ones we wanted and when the waitress came by to take our order, she informed us that the short ribs were sold out….well, that sucks because it was one of the ones we selected. One of the other items we ordered was the spicy dynamite roll. Since my girlfriend is allergic to avocados, we asked them to substitute cucumbers instead. The waitress said she needed to check with the kitchen and came back to inform us that they can’t do that because the kitchen makes several rolls in advance. What’s wrong with telling a customer something like this? One, we’ve been to many restaurants and made the same request. Each restaurant is more than happy to accommodate the dietary restriction without so much as a hesitation. Second, why would you tell your customers that you make food in advance and that what they’re getting is not fresh? After we expressed the fact that my girlfriend is allergic to avocados, they went back to express that it was a dietary restriction, not just a preference. Upon this request, they accommodated our request. When the menu only has about 10 or 12 items and one of them is sold out, ruling out another option really limits the choices of the customer. It’s not like we were asking them to substitute something of significantly greater value for something else….
The food: not bad but not worth $80+ (As advertised on Social Shopper). These are items that are designed to be starters/appetizers. One of my pet peeves is when restaurants don’t disclose that they garnish onions, green onions, garlic, and parsley on their foods. My reason for this pet peeve is that my girlfriend is allergic to most of these items and we have to manually pick off these garnishes which are usually finely chopped/diced. These are the items we ordered:
Ebi Mayo: green onions garnished on top, which sucks because we did spend a fair bit of time picking out the green onions. This item came last, which also sucked because we were too full to enjoy them all. The batter and mayo sauce were delicious and deep fried to perfection.
Spicy Dynamite Roll: after the fuss surrounding the avocado, the roll didn’t have any greens in it after the waitress said “we can do that, it’ll just take a bit longer because they have to make it” to the cucumber substitution. It was literally seaweed, rice, spicy sauce, and shrimp tempura. When this arrived, I wasn’t quite sure whether this was because they genuinely made a mistake or they were thinking “after that table made our lives difficult, let’s just not include any cucumber or avocado and laugh at their reaction”. I’ve never had this roll with the rice inside and the seaweed outside.
Sashimi: DELICIOUS! I can eat this all day every day!
Chicken Karaage: I loved how it was deep fried to perfection, once again. The sauce drizzled on top wasn’t too bad. I believe it was a teriyaki sauce.
Spicy Tuna Roll: finished this like nobody’s business. It went perfectly with everything else we ordered and it had just the perfect amount of spiciness.
Calamari: YUM! The batter was perfectly seasoned with salt and pepper. And, like all the other items, it was deep fried and delicious!
After we ate as much as we could, we just relaxed and talked a bit (maybe 20 minutes). I will not soon forget the snarky comment that one of the waitresses made “enjoying the movie date?” My thoughts were “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that the flat-screen you had hanging on the wall wasn’t for customer entertainment.” It is very cheesy to have a TV playing a movie without audio and without subtitles, if anything it was a distraction.
There’s a fine line between good customer service and harassment. When you ask a table how they’re doing 4 times in 5 minutes, I consider that as “you’ve been here long enough, time for you to leave”.
Rating: I usually rate restaurants based on whether or not I will return and how long before I return. This restaurant, while the food was good, is a solid 4 out of 10. I can get the same food at other places for the same price, much better service, less attitude, and a warmer venue. My girlfriend and I were joking that this place would only receive business so long as it continues with its participation in a “special deals” program.
If you absolutely insist on eating at this restaurant, click here to visit their website. Please feel free to comment on this post with your own experiences at this restaurant. We’d love to hear from you. We also hope that your experience is better than ours!
Discount Ticket Service is your ticket hub if you want to buy and/or sell your tickets. We are truly never sold out.
Discount Ticket Service
Toll Free: 1(866)459-9233 (24/7 Support)
Website: www.discountticketservice.com
Email: clientcare@discountticketservice.com