Itamae Wagyu Teppanyaki Taipei Zhongshan N. Branch — Restaurant in Zhongshan District

Came with high expectation of dining experience given the highly acclaimed reviews, but had a disappointing aftertaste. Nonetheless, the service rendered was on point and deservingly due credit for their customer handling. Premium ingredients were used but taste was lacking; mediocre at best, short of delighting sparkles. The starters was a good show to bring on the course, but then it went flat from this point. Abalone cooked nicely being still tender, and tasted overall aa what abalone should be in spite of accompanied condiments. Scallop with sweet potaro puree & ikura served on top squid ink cracker, failed to deliver any punch as the cracker had a bad oil aftertaste. The lobster tail was sweet and fresh; that's it, nothing more. The lobster head with abalone liver and aburi metaiko sauce, served tad under cooked; after highlighting they took it back and returned cooked thoroughly with heartening service delivery. The dish kinda overwhelmed by the aburi metaiko sauce though. Cabbage with sakura ebi had some bits tad browned thus causing some bitter aftertaste. Nothing to shout about the mouth sized minced beef toast, beef sushi, and beef with uni. And the fried rice seriously lacked the punch. Lastly, the dessert had a complicated composition to comprehend with a bitter sourish taste. In short, not sure what creativity or taste signature that the course...

Went for the wagyu set dinner. It was a great experience to be seated right in front of the chef, which everyone had a good view of the food prep.

Quality of items: fresh, tasty and excellent value for money. Beef and lobster dishes were outstanding.

The main issue was that we felt rushed during the meal. The dishes were prepped in order and in quick succession - you basically have to eat rather quickly, since each course is cooked together for the group of 10 seated around the same teppanyaki. Often if you're not done with your current course, the next course will be presented anyway and just left to the side, which means you don't really have the time to slowly savour the dishes - which to me defeats the whole point of omakase dining, to enjoy the dining experience. Not sure if it's the price point or because this is the standard style of service in Taipei, as this is only our 2nd omakase dining in Taipei.

Service is polite but robotic - can see that they are running on a tight schedule and just going through motion. Staff were pleasant.

Overall verdict: good value for money (we paid about NT$4,700 for 2 of us, with one drink each) and excellent quality of food, but overall experience can be improved in terms...

Refined ambience with attentive wait staff. (Thanks Pei Pei!) An English menu is available too-though introduction of the food items was only in Chinese. Nevertheless, glad that they accommodated me (a shameless non-beef eater in a wagyu teppanyaki restaurant 🤘) as there was an option to indicate if you’ll be having beef or not during the online booking of the restaurant. Fantastic fresh seafood that was cooked just the right way. They also asked if any of us had a birthday this month and since we did, we were given a delicious slice of match crepe cake that had quality matcha. Would definitely go back again.

Oh yea they also offer you a complimentary dish if you were to give them a Google review, but I declined then. So this review is...