Hibachi Teppanyaki & Bar (Hamilton) — Restaurant in Hamilton

Unfortunately I am unable to comment on several of the starred elements (food and atmosphere) here as this location has demonstrated a HUGE issue with their reservation system.

I will give them grace in the fact that they are a newer location and this is possibly one of the busier times of year (Valentine’s Dinner) that they have not had the opportunity to iron out the kinks. However, the experience we had this evening was just mind bogglingly poor.

First. I made this reservation on January 23rd using their online portal (three weeks in advance). I received their text confirmation of my date and time, also had a physical phone call the day before (where the server tried to offer alternative times for me to arrive (5 or 530)), and also received a text reminder a few hours in advance of our 6 PM reservation asking us to confirm; which we did.

We arrived at the location and had to park at an alternate lot. To be fair (once again), there was a large snowfall recently and the snow was piled very inconveniently across a number of spaces, which affected the parking. Overall the parking at this location looks small.

We arrived ten minutes before our reserved seating time and the main lobby was PACKED with waiting reservations. We were told to “take a seat” and we would be brought to our table in five minutes. Several other guests went to the hostess to enquire about their wait as they had earlier reservation times than 6 and were still waiting.

This continued for several guests, and we noticed that there were other reservations that arrived after us, some even with later reservation times than 6 o’clock who were seated before us due to the “squeaky wheel getting the grease”. By 6:25, we saw a party of 5 people be seated with a reservation time of 6:15 while my husband and I were still waiting. There was also another customer who came up to enquire and had a 5:30 reservation time for 3 people.

At this point we had planned and made other engagements for the evening and no longer had time to wait for our non-existent table. The hostesses and manager were doing their best to clear, but the fact that reservation names and numbers were written on sticky notes most likely did not aid in their progress through the evening.

Overall, their management system regarding reservation requires complete overhaul. I had made some plans to bring a larger party here in the next few weeks for a event we are celebrating, but seeing their lack of consistency when it comes to numbers, reservations, and approach to time management, I am EXTREMELY hesitant as we would need to stick to a schedule.

We cancelled our reservation and moved to the McDonalds across the street where I am happy to report that they took a record 4 minutes to make two meals! Happy...

We had a terrible experience with our Valentine’s Day reservation at this restaurant. We booked well in advance—on February 2nd—to ensure a smooth and special evening. This was supposed to be our first time trying hibachi, and unfortunately, that entire experience was ruined.

Our reservation was for 6:30 PM, and we arrived at 6:25. The parking lot was completely full, which was surprising given its large size. After circling multiple times and even checking other nearby lots, we finally managed to find a spot far from the restaurant.

When we walked in, we were met with a chaotic scene—tons of people crammed at the entrance, many of whom were clearly frustrated. A kind family noticed us looking around and asked if we had a reservation. They warned us that they had been waiting since 5:15 and still hadn’t been seated. That was our first red flag.

We approached the host to check in, and she told us there was a wait. While some delays are understandable, it quickly became apparent that they were severely overbooked and unprepared. She quoted us a 20-minute wait, but based on what we saw and what other diners have since shared, that estimate seemed completely inaccurate.

The waiting area was packed, with no seating available, leaving guests awkwardly standing around and in the way of servers. After waiting for a while, we realized this wasn’t just a minor delay—it was a complete failure in organization. Feeling frustrated and seeing no end in sight, we decided to leave.

What really disappointed us was the lack of care or effort from the staff. When we told them we were leaving, we received nothing more than a sarcastic “sorry.” No attempt to make things right—no offer to rebook us for another night, no compensation, not even a sincere apology. Considering people made reservations weeks in advance specifically to avoid this kind of chaos, a little compassion would have gone a long way.

After leaving, we tried two other restaurants, but as expected, they were also packed. We ended up getting pizza and heading home—shoutout to Hiline for never letting us down.

This experience has completely turned us off from trying hibachi, and we won’t be returning. If you’re considering this place for a special occasion, I’d strongly...

I am giving 3 stars for the chef only. He was great, put on a fun show and his cooking was great. If I was rating based on service and atmosphere I would give a 1 star. I will start with, it was Monday evening and not busy. We ordered an alcoholic beverage and a pop, 3 appetizers, the chicken won tons, the sweet potatoes fries and the coconut shrimp. We ordered an entree to share and we were talked into paying an extra 15 dollars for my husband to have his own soup, salad and rice with the entree. We had to remind the waitress to bring our drinks, by then she had forgotten what we had asked for to drink, told her and eventually got our drinks. Mine was not as described on the menu so they replaced no charge which was nice, except that I had to again ask for my drink to me brought over after waiting a while and our dinner starting to be cooked. We had to ask for my husband's soup and salad to be brought to him after they only brought mine. The chef began cooking the entree and we were a little confused as our appetizers had not been brought out, but we thought maybe it was because the chef was cooking for all the guests at our table, or maybe he would also be making the appetizers. When I was able to get the waitress attention we asked her and she told us we didn't order appetizers. We definitely did. And not just one but 3, she offered to put the order in then, we declined as the entree was almost ready. Once the entree was done everyone at the table got their rice put it in a fancy bowl, except my husband who got the bit of leftover rice dropped on his plate. So I can only assume she didnt place the order for the 15$ add on for our own rice/soup/salad- but she did remember to add it to our bill. To top the evening off another staff member who was cleaning the other grill had his own music playing on his phone. Super unprofessional, ruined the atmosphere and took away from the whole thing. We weren't offered anymore drinks or desert. Extremely pricey for the lacking experience. Wouldn't recommend and definitely...