Iron Chef Grill

Reviews 4

DA

Daniel Foster

Unfortunately, this was a very unpleasant experience. The typical hibachi grill should be entertaining with skilled chefs, pleasant with a nice atmosphere, fresh tasting and seasoned, and lively with attentive staff. This Iron Chef fulfilled none of those, and had several disappointments along the way. The outside of the building looked ominous. Overgrown grass (tall and sprouting), weeds throughout the landscape, and four large unexplained buckets sitting next to the parking lot grate. Walking inside, the place sadly smelled like an IHOP. The walls were a dim beige, with looks of smoke on the walls as if they had once had a fire. Very little decoration on the wall to even suggest this was a hibachi/sushi restaurant. Sadly, 0 points for atmosphere. There was no hostess at the front for 10 minutes, and no one acknowledged anyone in passing. By then, there were well over 20 people standing in the lobby, at which point a nice lady appeared and asked how many. I told her we had reservations for 7:30 (it was 7:40); she turned away without saying a word, and didnt return until 5 minutes later, all the while more people were walking in. When we were finally seated at 7:45, we gave our drink and food orders; and no drinks arrived at the table until 8:00. One of the drinks was wrong, so we requested that they give us the correct drink. This did not come back until 8:15, which is when the salad and soup arrived. If youre keeping track of the time, thats 45 minutes from walking in that we got the initial part of our food. The chef came out at 8:25 and prepared our food. We finished all of our food and paid for the meal, able to leave at 9:10 PM. Sadly, zero points for attentiveness and speed of service. The food was not really seasoned, except for the large slabs of butter they put on everything, and some of the soy sauce put into the fried rice. No salt or pepper or spices added into the food beyond that. All in all, it was pretty bland. It was not over/undercooked, so they did okay with that, but it was not what we expect from a restaurant with as high a price tag as $22 for a shrimp and scallop dish. The flair that you typically see in a hibachi grill (spinning utensils, spinning and balancing eggs, onion volcano, interaction with customers) was all but missing. They lit a large fire at the beginning, flung some dry unseasoned chicken into everyones mouth, but beyond that, the chef just cooked, then walked away, not even cleaning or tidying up afterwards, so there was leftover food on the griddle when it was complete. This is not a big deal for me personally, but if you are expecting the entertainment that comes with a hibachi grill dinner, you will likely not receive it here. There were a number of very odd customer service flubs as well. No one acknowledged anyone at the door for that long, drink orders were wrong or forgotten; the bartenders reply to a customers polite "excuse me, sir?" was "whats up?"; one of our orders was completely forgotten; when I told the server that I had a groupon, he grabbed my phone/wallet with the voucher on it (which also had my cash, credit cards, ID in it), turned around without a word, and walked away with everything I had on me (except my keys). It is clear there is no stress on customers being a priority, and lets be honest, this is a large part of what we are paying for when we go out to eat. All in all, the price of food and drinks are pretty much the same in other nearby locations (Geisha and Soho, both only about 5 miles away), but the quality of food, service, and atmosphere are so much better there than at Iron Chef. We wont be returning here unless a significant change occurs, and I really have to discourage others from trying this out.

CA

Carl Duvall

Have to say probably one my worst restaurant experiences and definitely the worst japanese steakhouse experience i have had. Got there about 2 hrs before closing, not many people. Host had trouble finding me a seat because all the tables were dirty. Finaly he sat me at a table behind a column, but assured me he would tell the waiter where i was.... So i waited...and waited...finally, he came by and was surprised to find me there. I brushed it off and told him i would like a beer and water. He brought the beer in short order and took my order (filet and chicken, filet to be medium), told me hed be back in a min with silverware and water...that didnt happen. He came back about 15 minutes later with my fork, soup and salad...no water. He left and came back in about 2 minutes with my food. The food was lukewarm, the chicken didnt have any teryaki on it, and guess what, steak was well done. At this point i had enough. I signaled the waiter over, asked for a manager politely. Yep, he just left. So they brought over the second guy in charge i guess. He apologized and made ezcuses and offered to take the steak back and cook a new one. By now i told him not to worry about it because who knew when i would actually get to eat. I told him i didnt want any money off or anything, i just wanted someone to know how bad the service had been. In the end, they gave me half off and that is the only reason they are getting 2 stars instead of 1. I would not recommend this places to anyone i know, and if it is a chain, i wouldnt ever go to another one based on how this one was.

A

A Private User

NO HALF OFF SUSHI and TERRIBLE SERVICE! After making the half hour drive on a Thursday for the sushi special, a print off on the door says NO HALF OFF SUSHI. We were tempted to leave, but decided we came that far, and would stay. After all, were not cheap, but who couldnt stand to save a few bucks these days? The host said, "Sorry" and laughed at us for driving so far for a deal that didnt exist. Again, we were very tempted to leave. After sitting for 15 minutes a server from another part of the restaurant finally took our drink order. 15 minutes later, our semi-hot Saki finally is delivered by another server. 10 minutes later our actual server arrives, with a dumbfounded look, as though weve just appeared out of thin air. Finally, our sushi order is placed. This is the third time that we are tempted to leave. Luckily, the food came fast and was very tasty. I give the sushi 4 out of 5 stars. It wasnt the best Ive had, but for our first sushi experience in Ohio, it was very good. This was the single shining aspect of this place. The service continued to suck throughout the night, as we were only able to refresh our drinks once during the entire meal. We quickly realized the wait staff was much too busy hanging around and talking to their friends sitting at the sushi bar. I would have only given 1 star, if not for the quality of the sushi. I do not believe we will return, even if half-price sushi does. This was disappointing, as we are typically very loyal to our sushi spot. This was a missed opportunity by the Iron Chef Grill.

CA

Carrie Keller

This is going to be the worst review I have ever written. Typically I can find some redeeming quality. Good service. Friendly service. Clean. Something. I got nuthin. The beer was cold. Thats it. My husband and I sat at the bar on a Saturday afternoon. We didnt want hibachi or to smell like it so we opted to eat at the furthest place from the smells. There were two tables occupied when we arrived and only one server so we expected it would take him a minute to get to us. We waited patiently to be noticed. Someone came out of the back on the phone, perhaps a manager or owner, and saw us but did not acknowledge us. Perhaps he had something more pressing to focus on so we dismissed it. Our server came by when he was grabbing drinks for one of his tables and took our drink order. There was a dirty glass sitting in front of me, which he left. I ordered the vegetable bi bim bap and my husband ordered the yaki soba. Our soup was served slightly above room temp. Salad was good. Actually, the salad was the best part. My bi bim bap was served in a ceramic bowl and was 90% white rice. The vegetables were cold. The only heat was from the rice. My husbands noodles were stuck in inedible clumps. Both dishes were beyond flavorless. His chicken and mushrooms seemed reheated and not fresh. The only flavor in our dishes came from the sauce that came with my meal. If I die tonight and this was my last meal, I will haunt this establishment.