Personal Hibachi Chef — Local services in Atlanta

Communication is key! At the start of planning, it was good. I communicated to the chef what time the party was starting (5pm). Once we finalized the amount of guests (est. 70) for my husband's 40th birthday and the time we wanted to food to be served. I thought we were set. Because we had such a large group, the chefs came early to prepare the food. I met Jospeh at the start of everything. He was polite and friendly and was communicating with me, but about half of the way in, I met another chef who was also cordial, but that's when things started fall apart. The second chef began to rush me on getting everyone seated to see the show, before they were even scheduled to have the food completed. I informed them that I may not be able to corral all of the guests, but give me 5 minutes to get "the birthday boy" down to see it since it was all for him. I began to be rushed by the second chef about having to make it to another client multiple times (still not time for them to leave). So much so, that it appears that he was more concerned about the next client than the one they were currently serving. Five minutes later, my husband and girls came down to an empty space. They were gone. My husband got no show. So very disappointing! I had to call to see where they were. They had left! I called and spoke with the second chef who then said that the show has to happen while they were cooking. However, they knew what time the party started, which was 5. They also pre-cooked the food without a show. So, how can the show both happen while they are precoooking and also at the end? Very confusing! They also knew what time I wanted the food prepared, which was 530. Knowing that, they should have communicated that my guest would have to either arrive at 4 or 430 to see the hibachi show portion (if it was to happen during pre-cooking). That was never stated. What was understood was thay the food would be pre-cooked.However, they did not give me any details or logistics about when the hibachi show part would start, etc. This is all my husband had requested for his birthday and he did not get a chance to enjoy it at all! We have spent thousdands of dollars on this meal to be enjoyed by my husband and his guests and this was definitely the sore spot of his event. There was no remorse for the way everything was handled, we did not feel that we were treated with the high quality service they claim to present. And side note: there was not even enough yum yum sauce left for each plate of guests. The guests said there was about 2 or 3 per a table of 10. I have never had an event where an vendor was so lacking in communication, concern, or care for their clients. The food was good. That is all. However, I will never use this service again and I will not...

Like others expressing their discontent here, our party also had a very negative experience with Personal Hibachi Chef, and the family that owns and operates this experience.

As with other reviewers, they were also 45 mins late to our event keeping our 30+ guests waiting. Upon arrival, I was asked to pay my $2500+ balance in either cash, Zelle or PayPal Friends and Family so they would avoid fees. I do not use Zelle, and did not have access to $2500 in cash (particularly on a Sunday when banks are closed, but also, what a pain to go to the bank during the rush of a birthday party!) My only option was to pay using the PayPal friends and family method, but this was against the rules: they were providing a service and were not friends OR family. Under the gun and with few options to serve my hungry guests I proceeded with the payment. They do not advertise the essentially "cash only" policy on their website so, before booking please take note!

The older couple's son was perhaps the most difficult to deal with and not willing to accommodate guests' simple requests. On multiple occasions our basic requests were answered with disdain and annoyance. At one point, when asking if a serving of white rice could be turned into fried rice (the grill was still on they only had to add butter and soy sauce - no veggies or eggs were added to any of the fried rice) I was chastised and told "we are not a restaurant, you can't just order what you want."

Customer service is NOT their priority! Only lining their pocket is important to this family and this business. Save your time and money unless you are prepared to have an...

Awesome idea, but business practice could be better.

I’m deducting 1 star because of payment issues. I made my deposit with a credit card using this company’s website. 3 days prior to my event I’m contacted by text advising the remaining payment is due, but now I can only pay with cash app, Venmo, Paypal, or Apple Pay because they said the square credit card system is down. I don’t have either of those options and also I pay everything with my AMEX to get miles. They were not accommodating for this inconvenience. And to tell me 3 days before my event is just terrible. I had to create a venmo and send money to them under a personal account. So weird for a business to do business like this.

The 2nd star I’m deducting is because they were late. I was contacted via text like 10 minutes before the event to let me know they would be late. If I’m spending 1k with you shouldn’t you reach out to me the day of to let me know everything is on schedule? And if you are late, a call with an explanation would be great. I ordered a game truck for a party earlier this year and they were 30mins early. That’s 5 star service.

The food was delicious and the chef was entertaining.

They have now updated their website to say cash app and venmo only. But when I booked that was not listed.

A competitor can come in and make this a better overall experience. My party enjoyed the chefs but I would not book again because of my...