Japanese Kitchen Steakhouse, Teppanyaki & Sushi — Restaurant in Albuquerque

I normally do not write reviews ever, so trust and believe that if I am writing this, it is for good reason.

This is a very dishonest resturant (as you can tell from the other reviews). My fiancé and I came here for dinner and ordered two orders; one of the shrimp & steak along with the chicken & shrimp both with a substitution of fried rice. The chef (Hispanic male, maybe mid 40s) brought out a takeout box with him while he prepared our food over the grill, and I had assumed that the box was for us if we had extras from our order. Under that same impression, my fiancé and I both continued to tell him to put some food that we wouldn’t be able to finish or wanted to keep for later. He did not hesitate and DID NOT mention even once that the to-go box was not for me & when he finished cooking, he took the box quickly and walked straight back into the kitchen. My fiance and I asked him, why he took it back with him, especially since we told him to put OUR food in it that we are PAYING for. He lied and said it was someone else’s to-go order, that SOMEONE ELSE PAID FOR. Why would you give someone else food that I am PAYING for? Outrageous, honestly. THEN came back and switched up his story tried to say it was for his kids to gain sympathy when I asked a manager if that is normal behavior here. The manager (an elderly Asian woman) came and I explained my concern and she tried to cover up their mistake and explaining that the food the chef put in the box was “extra” and if I wanted it, that is “extra” money. She tried to explain it is one scoop per person for the dinner menu and less for lunch menu, so according to her that is why there was so much extra food that we could not have from our order. My fiance and I had more than just one scoop and I noticed everyone else in the resturant had more than just one as well. So that cannot be true. The portions are not as small/precise as she tried to make it seem. No one would charge such high prices for something that small, impossible. When I asked her how much rice is in a scoop, she said she “doesn’t know, the cook would know because he’s a professional”…sad, this is your business, as a manager, you don’t know your own procedures? I explained how this isn’t right because I am losing my money with all the extra food I told him to put in the box. All she said is “sorry” and walked away. This type of behavior is normal for this resturant. This is how deceitful businesses scam and gaslight customers.

Now, everyone, this is entirely unethical and sneaky. If this whole restaurants staff can lie to their customers, how can you sit there and trust them to eat their food? No matter if the food tastes decent to you or not, a business should not run on dishonesty and taking advantage of their customers. I will not be...

This once excellent spot has sadly changed.

Several visits now have provided a roller coaster experience. The evenings seem to have better service, but I don't understand the lack of service at lunch. The hostess at lunch seems to not like her job or people... perhaps the 1st person we see should be smiling, polite...what a concept.

The quality of the food has declined, or I've become older and my pallet changed....NOPEthe quality definitely declined, go look at their ancient and dirty sushi station. On several occasions, the fish on display was less than appealing, may not be a chef, but I've had enough sushi over the years to know I'll never order when it looks like that. The sushi guy behind the counter should be polite. Not smell like cigarettes.

The portions for the price would be acceptable if the quality was there. Yes, there are many other similar restaurants. The portions at the competition are slightly larger, and the quality is comparable. Years ago, the quality was why we fell in love with JK. Smaller portions were acceptable....now your quality is gone... either bring back better food and service or just give a tad more rice....your side prices are ludicrous.

The entire restaurant could use a face lift or just a deep deep clean and repaint. The chairs are old and uncomfortable. Some sound dampening decor could help, stick it in the ceiling...

The new owners have definitely tried. Running a restaurant isn't easy. Small changes can have big impacts. It's just not what it once was. The biggest thing that kept us coming back was the service. In the past, we knew most of the team, they remembered names and seemed to genuinely care about the entire experience. Now the experience is in out for next... no refills and smaller portions. Bring back the quality experience and food.

I currently will not recommend it. However, I'm of the old customer base who had higher standards. Hibachi one has better value and that's saying a lot. See you in 3 months....we used to visit 3x per month...win us...

Sum-up: If you're looking for a place that's difficult to locate the first time, has very expensive prices per person (expect at least $50/ person), mostly unseasoned food and hosts/waitstaff/bartenders who just really don't want you there, this is the place for you. My generous parents took my husband and I here for a special dinner. My 45th birthday and our 10-year wedding anniversary. We've been to this sort of restaurant in the past and really enjoyed them, enough to agree to the very expensive menu process. Even with reservations, all four of us were put at their bar where the bartender very obviously didn't want to be there, was understaffed, and not interested in customer service for over 45 minutes while the hostesses were not kind to my mother. When we were finally seated, we had to wait at least 10 minutes for our water in cups that weren't clean or full of water. Our waitress DEFINITELY didn't want to be there either, and after finally receiving our water (first time I've had a water order that messed up by any waitstaff), we only had to wait another half hour to order. I never received the soda I ordered twice. The food wasn't bad. Unfortunately, it just wasn't really seasoned, and the stove being much too hot made most of the food taste mildly burnt. The chef was great! He was gracefully doing his best to keep up with the waitress, who seemed like she had no interest in communicating clearly about anything. I'm lucky. My husband is a natural expert with spices, so leftovers should be great. My mother brought a small cake for the occasion and ice cream should've been served as part of the cost of dinner but only two at our table (not from our group) got any. From start to finish, with the exception of the chef, the experience left MUCH to be desired. We are going to do our very best to try to remember only the chef. We did not try their sushi bar. I seriously doubt we will ever go back, and aside from the great chef we had, I don't believe any of us would recommend this...