Yakitori HANABi — Restaurant in Amsterdam

I’m changing my review based on some later response from the owner to one of my friends. I had given one star to the service due to the restaurants unwillingness to refund partially our deposit due to one of our group not able to show up. I am also choosing to forgive the owners earlier quasi-sarcastic reply to my review, since it has been deleted later, I’m willing to believe they have realized it was not appropriate from a business owner. They’ve also offered compensation (not to me, but to my friend), which I truly appreciate.

Here are some thoughts about this incident: The cause of this conflict seemed to be a 10 eur deposit, but actually it wasn’t. It’s not hard to see that, 10 eur barely matters to either the guests who are spending 350+, or a business of this pricing level. To us customers, it was the coldness and stubbornness of the waiter, and his tone that infuriated us. Using “policy” as an excuse to refuse any sort of solution focused , constructive conversation, showing no effort to any compromise, was not an altitude any customer wanted from a business. Yes, the policy was there, but it was a unilaterally concocted policy from the side of the restaurant, which in practice should always allow certain level of flexibility. In our case, we didn’t cause ANY WASTE of your space, service or ingredients, we caused NO extra cost to your side, instead we were charged of extra 10 euro for ONLY the sake of policy. For example, if only 6 of us came and 2 no show, we would acknowledge that we caused an empty table and we would not argue about being charged.

I myself manage 3 restaurants in De Wallen area in Amsterdam, so I know all the reservation apps and systems inside out. So when the waiter said “there’s nothing I can do about it”, it was plainly an insult to my knowledge. The deposit could be manually waived easily, and it was this dishonesty that really made me, and my friend group angry.

After all this, I do appreciate the owner has realized hard forcing this policy with zero tolerance, probably isn’t the best for the business. I read other reviews, we’re not the first or the only ones complaining about this rule. Others have given 1 star for very similar reasons. Again, I don’t believe anyone who choose to eat here really cares about 10 euros, but whether it is being charged properly. Actually, yesterday most of us discussed among ourselves that we’d be willing to give more than 10 euros tip, but to have 10 euros charged as non refundable deposit. As a business owner, it is always in your best interest, to try to understand the psychological process of your customers, other than brutforcing what you believe is “just” or “entitled”. Yesterday At the end of my conversation to the waiter, I asked “would you really rather lose 7 customers and their friends as potential customers forever, than refund 10 euros deposit?”, he said “ok.”, with no emotion. That really shocked me. But now I’m at least a bit relieved, perhaps after all that’s happened, the owner will give this a second thought, which is for the better for both sides. Thus my re-rating of the service...

Yakitori Hanabi

This place is so unbelievably cute. We were having a shopping day in Utrecht and the planning was to have a home cooked meal. And on the way to home my girlfriend told me about a place she saw on Tiktok. Since the traffic was jammed in highway A10 North and A10 West we changed our plan to go to the centre and try it out. Because we were incredibly HUNGRY. And before we were having dinner at home, we would starve to death. So Yakitori Hanabi it is!

Food: We have ordered 3 skewers, Teriyaki Gyu-Yakiniku Don& Miso Soup set. The yakitori and kushiyaki were godly, the rice was fluffy and the miso soup was tasty. I would recommend the same set, the skewers were the Gyu-harami Oroshi-Ponzu, the Shio-Negi-Gyu-Tan and the Negima. DE-LI-CIOUS!!! Soft, chewy, juicy, meaty, so nice.

Service: This is a real Japanese restaurant, which means the chef and the waiters are Japanese. Although the man that served us spoke Japanese. They have bottled Coca-Cola and he served it to me with 2 icecubes and a part of lemon. The best way to present Coca-Cola.

Atmosphere: It is a cute restaurant like I said, really Japanese. The toilets are alright and the seats/couch gave enough legroom and space in general.

Conclusion: If you ever crave skewered Japanese meat or vegetables, go to Yakitori Hanabi. Or are you having a traffic jam just like us.. change your plan and go to Leidseplein where Yakitori Hanabi is located. The food, service and spot is very interesting. Have a good day over there...

We booked for early dinner and we were there at the very first table in the restaurant. The service was excellent, I think either owner or manager even comes out to welcoming and said thank you to visit their restaurant at the table. It may be normal in Japan but this is very special when you see this in Europe.

We ordered several dishes but didn’t take a lot of pictures as we were enjoying the meal and conversations with friends.

We ordered unagi-don, karage-don and chicken katsu-don, they are all taste good. The portion is a bit small which is a good thing so you can order extra Yakitori. What we recommended is pork belly with leak and chicken meat ball. You will be quite surprise how chicken meatball tastes so good. If you like beef tongue then I recommended the beef tongue with leak. I wish they have liver, gizzard and heart in the menu too. That would be extra excellent!

We like their homemade drink which is quite fresh with sweet and sour taste. You can ordered it with normal water or sparkling water.

There 4 of us and our bill is a bit over 160 euros. We ordered many yakitori sticks and drinks so it’s really worth it. Overall experience is excellent! We will definitely come back again from...