Okinawa Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bowl — Restaurant in Aiken County

I feel very bad posting this review. But I feel like the people of Aiken seriously have no idea what good Japanese food is. Other than PF Changs in Augusta, this was one of the most horrible asian restaurants I have ever eaten at. The Calamari was frozen, not fresh, no alcohol menu (would have been no big deal if the food was good) and the hibachi rice lacked any flavor and tasted old. The chicken, shrimp, and steak also lacked flavor and didn't taste fresh. We went on a Saturday afternoon and it was empty. My husband and I love hibachi so we can be critical of asian restaurants. And we are from big cities with amazing food (like Philadelphia). We have the luxury of working remote and are living in GA because of lower cost of living and trying out the area to see if our spoiled selves would stick around a smaller town. We know that we are spoiled having great restaurant experiences in big cities, we know that. So we went to this place very open minded. We gave it a chance. And yikes. We were embarrassed that we didn't eat our food, asked for to go containers, and threw it out in the dumpster in front of the restaurant. We don't care that it's a hole in the wall and isn't fancy. We just want good food when we are in Aiken. But I remember overall it just wasn't a good experience, the hostess was dry, the waitress was nice but when I asked her the soda options she looked annoyed when she had to go check, and the place smelled like bleach. But we stayed and gave it a try. We paid over $100 before tip. That's crazy expensive for not even having alcohol. Aiken, I am sorry that this is what you consider good Japanese...

Had lunch at Okinawa this week & was pleasantly surprised. The food was fresh & well-made & served promptly with a lovely (photo inviting) presentation. The service was excellent, the place was clean & cheerfully decorated. Unfortunately for them there was only one other group of 6 people while we there, so if you’re looking to avoid crowds & don’t mind a somewhat lack of ambiance this may be the place for you. It is located in a huge warehouse-sized building in a dumpy little off-the-road group of storefronts on eastern Richland Avenue (very near the new Steeplechase Stadium & conveniently close to my house). It is VERY easy to miss & drive by. It was last the home to a Mexican buffet.

We had a couple of rolls & one of the raw bowls – all very fresh-tasting & well-made. Unfortunately they don’t yet (as of Sept 2024) have a liquor license or a real sushi bar so it is more a Japanese hibachi restaurant (without tableside cooking) than a sushi restaurant as they only have a few sushi rolls to choose from. I really do hope that changes but even lacking these two essentials it is still a very good restaurant & I hope it is able to survive in it’s less-than-stellar location. The fact they are open on Sundays is also...

Wanted to try out the new restaurant. We were seated promptly and drinks orders were taken. Server was very polite. At any given time during our visit, there were between 15 and 20 patrons there. After we received our tea, we placed food orders for combination plates. For the first 20 minutes, I only saw the one server working. Finally, another employee appeared. He seemed to mostly run food. 45 minutes after we ordered, we finally received food. The quality was good, nothing remarkable, but good. We were promised sweet tea refills several times, but never received one. A young girl (around 10, presumably one of the employee's daughters) did her best to help bus and wipe tables. At one point we were offered more white sauce off of a server's tray which held dirty dishes and 2 small bowls of white sauce. There was very little organization. The 2 employees seemed to running around behind one another, asking if people needed refills or sauce, bit neither followed through. We were even asked by both if we were ready for the check. Price was decent, around $50 for the 2 of us. They are definitely going to need more kitchen help and server training if they are going to make it. My...