Saito Japanese Hibachi & Sushi — Restaurant in Bartlett

Disgusting 59 score Sept 2023!!!

Observations & Corrective Actions 1: P.I.C does not demonstrate knowledge. P.I.C. Could not explain the cooling down method, did not know the proper cold holding temperature ,nor the proper hot holding temp.

7: Chef touched ready to eat food With his bare hands (fried rice and broccoli )

13: Raw beef stored over soup at walk in cooler. Raw food should not be stored over ready to eat food.

14: Ice machine near office has black slime. Please drain ice then wash, rinse and sanitize.

21: Noodles ,sliced onions, sliced zucchini and ginger sauce was not date marked and was prepped yesterday. Date mark should be marked for 7 days. Day 1 starts the day food was prepped.

31: Proper cooling method was not used. When i asked the chef to Explain the cooling method he used for the rice he said “ i cool for 2 hours then i put it in refrigerator. He did not mentioned anything about the temperature in which the cooling process starts. He did not mention how long he has to get food down to proper Cold holding temperature.

33: Shrimp was placed in bowl filled with water thawing. The proper way to thaw food is: placing food under running water, refrigerate food or microwave food.

35: Some foods were labeled incorrectly. For example ,container of Onions were labeled mushrooms, Container of chicken was labeled rice and chicken. Some containers of food was not labeled such as ,tofu,lettuce ,soup,ginger sauce and seaweed.

36: Gnats present in kitchen near onions.

37: I observed chef put pieces of chicken on grill and with those same gloves he went in the refrigerator and grabbed a piece of raw shrimp.

39: Wiping cloths were stored near grill and oven. Please place wiping cloths in sanitizer bucket. Make sure sanitizer bucket is away from food products.

41: Bowls used as scoops were stored in flour and planko. Bowls can not be placed in food container. Scoops can be stored in food containers but handle can not touch food.

42: Dishes were not stored inverted at front counter. To go small plates were not stored inverted.

45: Refrigerator shelves need to be washed rinsed and sanitized.

46: Chlorine was not present on dishes after they went through the commercial dishwasher. Please call clean solution to correct this issue. Please use 3 compartment sink to wash dishes until commercial dish washer is working properly

49: Sink near office and employee restroom needs to be repaired. When i turned the knob to turn the water on the water did not come through the faucet. It Came through the part where the faucet connects to the sink. I notice that faucets was loose which may be the reason why water is not coming from faucet.

51: Employee restroom does not have hot water at handsink. The toilet is dirty and needs to be cleaned.

52: Dumpster sliding door is open. Please keep closed.

53: Walls are stained. wall is damaged near mop sink. Ceiling tiles are missing near walk in cooler because of water damage. Ceiling tiles are stained. Ceiling tiles are dusty near vents.

55: Permit is expired.

Additional Comments Bowl of rice ,chicken and shrimp was left on counter in kitchen when i arrived. Chef started to put food in refrigerator stating that he was cooling food. The rice was 64 degrees Fahrenheit ,the shrimp was...

I would love to give this place a higher rating but I truly cannot. We went last night for hibachi, and their was a little wait (not a problem though). The issue is that it was SO DANG HOT. Their AC unit I guess couldn't keep up with the heat outside + the heat from the hibachi grills? But it was easily 85°+ inside and we were all pretty miserable the entire time. Secondly, our cook must have been new and shy because there was abaolutely no type of entertainment we have grown to love when going to hibachi. We brought our 3 year old who I was excited to have see a little show, but nothing. Another chef was doing some tricks and he was excited to watch them from afar. Just wish we had that at our grill. Lastly, our chef messed up our orders and also overcooked a good portion of the food. The egg for the fried rice was cooked to a dark brown and dry. The medium rare steak turned out medium at best. Things were forgotten... just a lot of mess ups. Maybe comforming our orders before starting would've been better.

On a positive note, the service was vood and fast (since we all went through 8 glasses of water just to stay hydrated). And the potions were huge for the high prices.

Overall we won't be back to this location unless they can get their air conditioning fixed and train their...

Looked this place up on google and saw pretty good reviews. My family and I were expecting this to be a new found hibachi spot for is. Our chef was great and super funny lol he gave really great customer service. However, we all got friend rice and the rice had some really crunchy pieces. Our chef agreed to cook the rice a little more a requested by us. The owner then decided to walk over and ask the chef what was he doing and the chef explained we wanted the rice to be cooked a little more due to it being hard. The owner asked if we wanted steamed rice and we all said no friend rice. He then looked at us and stated fried rice was hard and that’s how they cook the rice. Now as a family who loves hibachi we are very familiar with friend rice and it’s never hard it’s quite soft and does not come with rice so crunchy that it break down like sand when trying to chew. Instead of the owner trying to fix the problem he wanted to argue about fried rice being hard and was extremely rude. We lost our appetite and just decided to pay for the food and go. It was my sons 6th birthday and this was a terrible experience on his birthday. I would not return to this place but kudos to our server and our chef they...