Ukai Hibachi Grill & Sushi Bar Woodlake — Restaurant in Alaiedon Township

I have been a loyal patron of Ukai for over 35 years, since the original location on Grand River. My family and I have celebrated countless milestones at your restaurant, and until last night, I have never had a single complaint. Unfortunately, that streak has ended in a deeply disappointing way.

I had a reservation for three at 5:30 PM. The chef assigned to our table was clearly in training, identified by his red hat with a white band. That alone would not have been an issue if he had performed at even a basic level of competence. However, the entire experience from food quality to presentation, was well below the standard I have come to expect from Ukai, especially given the premium price.

From the beginning, it was clear the chef was unprepared. He failed to ask how I wanted my steak cooked (he asked my husband, but not me). When I interjected with “medium, please,” it was ignored. He attempted the spatula-spinning trick, dropped it, then lit the grill using far too much accelerant without even forming the signature smiley face. He needed several sprays of water to put out the excessive flames, then wiped the grill down with a cleaning rag. None of this was sanitary or entertaining.

He began cooking without any butter or oil, in no proper order. Food was allowed to burn before he finally slid a minimal amount of butter under some items. The noodles were dry and charred. He attempted the egg-spinning trick, cracked one badly and let it splatter, then let it burn while barely seasoning the other. The showmanship was nonexistent, and the food suffered for it.

There were no shrimp with tails to clean for the table, no tossing of food onto plates, or into mouths, as is tradition, no trimming of steak with the playful flair your chefs are known for, and no tossing of an eggshell into his hat. It was not only disappointing, it was embarrassing.

The steak was poorly cut into oversized chunks, many of which were raw. My first bite was practically cold and bloody, which ruined my appetite for the rest of the meal. Other pieces were overcooked and tough. My vegetables were an underwhelming, under seasoned pile with raw onion and no zucchini. I strongly suspect I was served smaller portions after I got up to speak with the manager.

Speaking of the manager, she was completely ineffective. She stared blankly, said she would “speak to the chef,” and offered no apology or real solution. Only after the meal was complete did she return to offer to remake the food, which I declined. I was no longer hungry, and I was not about to wait while everyone else had already finished eating. They offered me a glass of wine for my trouble. I declined and asked for my meal to be removed from the bill, which they did.

However, my daughter returned her children's meal due to the chicken and noodles being rubbery and inedible—yet we were still charged for it. The server offered my child ice cream, which seemed thoughtful until I realized it was simply the dessert that came with my partner’s meal. He was offered nothing in its place.

In the end, we paid over $70 for one half-eaten adult meal, two soft drinks, and a glass of wine. That is absolutely unacceptable.

To make matters worse, the other group seated at our table had never been to Ukai. They had no idea what kind of experience they should have had. There was no warning that we would be assigned a trainee, no discount for enduring a subpar performance, no accountability from management, and, most notably, no apology except from the poor waitress that had nothing to do with it.

After 35 years of patronage, I never imagined I’d be writing this, but I will not be returning to Ukai. Last night was a complete failure in both service and execution, and it has erased decades of positive experiences in a...

Mixed review. The rating really reflects the fact that this visit was no where near what I am accustomed to from any of my previous visits to any of the three Ukai locations.

First, our kids love Ukai. We used to live on the Westside of Lansing and so we frequently visited that location. This location has a very different feel. All of the hibachi tables (there are either 9 or 12) are located in one huge open space. The result of this layout is that it is very loud in the dining room as there is nothing to break up the sound. I recognize that by its nature the hibachi performance is loud and that's not what my complaint is. The problem is that not only is the cooking process loud but other dinners conversations have to be loud to overcome the performances happening at three tables simultaneously and as all of them occur in the same space it's impossible to converse without adding even more volume to the room.

Our server was struggling during our visit. She was very unsure of herself and was clearly very harried by the pace of the three tables she was trying to wait on. It took about 30 minutes for us to get our drinks after we were seated and tables that were seated after us were served theirs quickly after they were ordered. I ordered an Asahi beer and while I may be wrong about this one, I'm pretty sure I recieved either a Sapporo or a Kirin Ichiban as it was a draft beer and I've never seen it available on tap in any of my visits to Ukai in the 15 years we visited. She also tacitly assumed that the other four diners at our table were a part of our party. My dad also ordered a Coke and was brought an Oberon and when he explained that he hadn't ordered it she was very flustered and rather than just saying "oh, sorry. Let me fix that" she proceeded to explain that it's really loud in the dining room and she must have misheard and then proceeded to ask if anyone else at the table would like the drink. I just found this response really odd. When I recieved the bill I found that the Oberon was still on our bill in addition to an extra charge for tuna (which I hadn't ordered) and a charge for the tuna sashimi (that I had ordered) and there was also a charge for two sushi rolls only one of which I had ordered. The restaurant manager or owner was supervising the dining room from the corner and frequently had to come check on us and bail our server out. I've waited tables and I know it's a difficult job, and admittedly one that I was bad at. I hope the young lady who waited on us will get some more training and learn to be more assertive because she'd be fine if she had some more confidence. The hibachi chef was fantastic. Probably one of the best I've ever seen and was the only reason I left a tip that was more than 15% as I didn't want to screw him over for the poor performance of the server.

All and all, this visit did not live up to the high standards I am accustomed...

We frequent Ukai about 3 or 4 times per year, but this past Saturday was our first time to visit the Woodlake location. This was by far our worst experience not only at a Ukai, but at any restaurant. We made a reservation for 5 people (my husband and our 3 kids; one in a high chair) for 7:30 PM. We arrived a few minutes before and were seated right way. Four other people were at our table as well. After 15 minutes our drink orders were taken and after not getting our drinks for 10 more minutes after that, the other 4 people seated at our table decided to walk out. We wish we would have been as smart. The waitress didn't seem phased by this and even commented that she had several other tables walk out on her that evening. She left us with our drinks and walked away. After 35 minutes of being seated at our table with menus in front of us and at 8:05 at night, I finally walked up to the front and asked to speak with a manager. The greeter replied that it "just wasn't our servers' night" and the manager said she would send another server over and apologized. A new server came over within 5 minutes and took our order. At this point they did seem to be acting a little more quickly and within 10-12 minutes our chef came out to the grill. By the time our food was almost done being cooked on the the grill, I had to ask the manager (because the server hadn't come back since we placed our order) why we still hadn't received our soups and salads. The chef had finished grilling our entre's by this point. Our soup and salad was finally brought out, and the manager offered to take our one fountain beverage and one glass of wine and $10 sushi off our bill. We waited another 10-15 for the bill to be brought and when the server apologized I said "no worries, we probably wouldn't be AS frustrated had we not had 3 hungry kids with us"... (who were otherwise VERY well behaved given the circumstances). The server simply said "yeah that's why I don't take my kids out to eat for that reason alone". So I should leave my kids at home if I want to visit your restaurant because I should expect terrible service? And not to sound ungrateful for the discount but when I still have a bill of $85 for a meal that took over an hour to get, salad and soups we didn't get, desert we had to pass on because it had already taken so damn long, and a manager and wait staff that seemed more than passive and mildly apologetic, leaves a very poor taste in my mouth about your restaurant or at least, this location. I'm sure the people that got up and left our table, or the other tables that the server had acknowledged walked out on her that very same night have to feel the same way, or would feel glad they left had they heard my experience for...