Kobe Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Algonquin

I try really hard not to be subjective and leave negative reviews, but in this case I couldn't find anything that would make me want to go a second time. In fact, we asked for the check before the food was even made. This was my first time here - we moved into the area about a year ago, and since Covid hit we're mostly staying home, going out only when absolutely necessary. After reading mostly positive reviews and being that it was mine and my wife's birthday (a day apart), we figured we give this place a try. It was about 6p on a chilly Sunday and there were maybe 15 other people seated at different tables. We were sat at a Habachi table with no one else, which I appreciated. All the staff were wearing masks, so far so good. The menus were plopped on top of the dishes we were going to be eating from - and the menus were not single use, they were in hard cover binders, so you know people have had their hands all over them. After the menus were placed, we didn't have a server take a drink order for quite a while. I was about to get up and ask, when someone finally came over. The server seemed annoyed from the get go, didn't really make us feel welcome as she was rushing to take our order - I mean there weren't that many people there, so what's up? So here's what made us decide to leave - Our table was facing the back of the table opposite us, and the chef just rolled over to begin their service. He was doing a good job making a show of it - the typical Habachi experience, until I saw him grab one of the squirt bottles off the cart he had all his supplies on, and squirted the liquid into one of the diner's mouth. And it's not like he squirted it from a few feet away, the bottle was almost touching the guys nose. The chef then put the bottle back on the cart, like it was no big deal. I was in complete shock - This may not seem a big deal to some, but in the time when we all should be doing everything we can to keep germs at bay, this is something you just shouldn't do. It was time to go. They just brought out soup/salad to us, and we decided to get the check and leave. The server almost seemed mad we asked to get the check and cancel our food. I explained what happened, and she looked at me like I was nuts. I'm sorry, if you're going to be that careless with your customers, what else is going on that I can't see? So - I won't be going back....

My husband and I have been to this location a handful of times. Last time the chef was minimally entertaining, and the staff we came into contact with desperately needs to learn their menu/tact. On the menu it indicates that hibachi dinner comes with salad, soup, rice, and ice cream. Apparently they just stopped offering the ice cream and act like they're doing you a favor when you ask about it. Also, I don't know when it happened, but within the last year or so, they significantly raised their prices (in some cases by almost $10). I'm sorry, but if I'm paying almost $40 for a hibachi filet mignon, I'll go to Kyoto in Crystal Lake where the chef is more engaged, the food is better, the seats are more comfortable and the ambiance is superior. (The wooden seats are so unbelievably uncomfortable, I was squirming in them before we even got our soup). Not to mention, I am absolutely certain that despite the prices they were charging, they were actually serving LESS fried rice and steak. The server and chef definitely need to check their attitudes. When we ordered, the server questioned the order like we were insane (we ordered 2 sides), and we had to attempt to correct her multiple times because she just wasnt getting it, and when she (acted like) we did, she acted like we were insane. The server wrote the order down wrong and the chef gave the side to the wrong customer. When we asked about it, the chef seemed to get irritated with us about it. This was honestly the most bizarre experience I've ever had at this restaurant and I'll probably just go to Kyoto in Crystal Lake or Kobe in Lake Zurich...

I order take out from Kobe on an almost weekly basis. We decided to go in for sushi and was sat at a table near the hachi grills at 6:30pm. It took a server 30 minutes to greet us for drinks even though two different servers were serving the tables around us. 20 minutes later another server took our order which we wrote out on the little white paper sushi menu on the table. We quickly got our miso soup. It was 1 hour before I got my avocado roll. My husband never got his rolls and we never got out sashimi. We were never checked on, we stopped servers multiple times. The two tables next to us flipped twice (meaning people were seated, ate, left and then new people came, were seated and ate). At 8:45pm we went to the register and said we still haven't gotten our food and needed to leave. The lady up front got our server to come over and the server said she was busy and voided the food we did not receive. No sorry, no explanation, nothing but an irritated tone. This was the first time we went out to eat since having our baby and the experience was terrible. I love the food, but will not even order take out after this. There are too many other establishments with quality customer service in Algonquin to...