Japans Restaurant & Bar Konnichiwa — Restaurant in Utrecht

I have been a guest here the last 10 years or even more years back. The food has always been good, thoug it is a little expensive.

Unprofessional The main reason why I don't give a 5 star, is the unprofessional behavior of the personell during an accident at the dinner table.

Suffocating We were 11 guests this time and the big menu was ordered by everybody. However at the second last dish, strips of medium raw beef got stuck in the throat of one of the guests. He suffocated.

Squising When this guy couldn't speak or breath the situation got critical, some yelled at the table that called me and the cooks/servants attention. The guest was then bluish white tried to do something but passed out and fell forward. I understood what happened ran over and lifted/squeezed him under the breast hard 4 times before I got his suffocating meatpices out. - although he was still pretty quiet he started breathing and got back a red color in his face I decided to follow this guy to an ambulance.

Waited for the guest to die Although the whole staff was watching following the scene, they did not react when the people around the table called for an ambulance or some help. Actually they were passive looking as if they waited for him just to die.

Ambulance - doctor When I made him to breath the staff were glad and wanted to help to some degree... They did not want to call for an ambulance when I asked for ambulance and doctor. No they wanted to call for a taxi, and so they did. At this point, the I walked the guest and his slowly recovering I thought I could go with him to outside the restaurant to get some fresh air. The managing girl would not let us out before the taxi came.

Communication There is always some communicate issues in these situations, but when I asked why no ambulalance, answer was: no parking for ambulance. !!

This pattern of reaction proves that one of the best and most expensive restaurant's in Utrecht is not willing to order an ambulance when people are close to dye in their restaurant. Why I don't understand.

This proves good food is not enough for top rating for a restaurant...

I have visited other teppanyaki places in the Netherlands and I have always enjoyed it. Eating at a teppanyaki place always ends up being quite expensive, but you're paying for more than just great food. Teppanyaki is an experience. The chef cooks right in front of you, while showing off his skills and it makes for a really enjoyable dinner. I wouldn't say the quality of the food comes in second, but it's more part of a total package.

Konnichiwa is not any of that. Starting with the positive, I would rank the food average. The miso salmon appetizer with crispy shrimps was actually really nice. However, the main course was not great. The meat was cooked well, but the quality of the meat was way below average. It was chewy and stale. Moreover, the fried rice side dish was bland and the portions were really small.

From here it is all downhill. The service was terribly slow. While we were waiting 15 minutes for the waiter to bring the menu and our drinks, the chef was cooking food for other tables in front of us. This takes away from the whole idea of having a "private" chef and the unique intimate, though casual, experience teppanyaki can be. The chef was very grumpy and there was no interaction with his customers at all. I guess he didn't speak any Dutch or English, but he didn't even look at us. No explanation of the food, the tradition or even any demonstration of his cooking skills. Maybe communication was not his forte, but you could at least smile and look as if you enjoy cooking for your guests.

I will not be a returning customer of Konnichiwa. Prices are cheaper than most teppanyaki places, but way more expensive than other restaurants that just serve quality food. The teppanyaki experience is nowhere to be found, so it's definitely not worth the price they charge. The current staff also does not give me the impression that they are capable of turning this business around and change it into something great. Maybe we're in for a surprise, but that's going to be a challenge. Hopefully I will hear better stories and maybe I will give it another try in the...

Not impressed at all. Extremely over priced for the portions they serve. Yes the food was alright but it was in my honest opinion nothing out of this world. We had the 3 courses mixed (fish/meat)

First they brought 4 little thin slices of seabass, it was good. Second i had the lobster, it was okay, about 4-5 small bites with spicy mayo on top, which i think it cheapens the entree but ok. Third they got our order wrong and brought us the wagyu entree instead of the steak, this wagyu was supposed to be 27€ on top of the base price for the 3 “entrees”…. Well thank god it was a mistake and we didn’t order that because it was again extremely small 4 thinly sliced pieces filled with lots of scallions topped with mushrooms which completely overpowered whatever taste those little slices of meat had. I felt robbed and we didnt even paid extra for it. Oh then to top everything they didnt bring the fried rice or little sad side of fried pak choi until like 15-20 mins later when we had obviously finished all the entries. Fried rice and vegetables tasted only like soy soy sauce. Restaurant was not full at all, no excuse to bring the rice at the very end or get our orders wrong.

So we paid about 130€ to leave hungry and dissatisfied.

Premium prices and MEDIOCRE FOOD...