Hibachi Grill & Buffet Restaurant — Restaurant in Baytown

Great food, great service. Place is spick-and-span, kept up well and the prices are reasonable.

I am a fast food junkie, regularly eating at fast food establishments.

Although some brands are usually better than others, I have found much more difference between different locations of the same brand, rather than between brands, across the board.

Consistency over a long period of time is very difficult to find because of the frequent personnel turnover.

It is critical to have really good managers on site.

If I owned a franchise I would definitely have a very well-designed reward system in place, to ensure that both individuals and teams were properly rewarded for their outstanding performance.

Good loyal repeat customers are the crown jewels of the fast food business.

** update *

This update reflects just two recent visits, so I really need to return more frequently and at different times. Some years ago, when I was with Lee College, I dined at Hibachi at least weekly.

The good news is that they have held the prices at the same attractive levels. The bad news is that the food quality has slipped a bit.

Also, there seems to be a change in the client base, moving from middle class and skilled working class tablecloth diners to "all you can eat buffet" bargain hunters.

This observation may be a result of my very limited recent visits, or it could reflect the continuing changing demographics of south Garth Road / south Main Street Baytown in general. Some years ago the Flagship Randall's store and the south Main Street HEB closed.

Recently the south Garth Road Kroger store closed and a new flagship Kroger store opened on the north end of Garth Road.

The Baytown cultural divide has been moving north from Decker Drive to 146 and now all the way north to Baker Road.

Years ago, the main Baytown Hospital was on Decker Drive. Then they built the new hospital and the related medical complex around 146. In recent years that has all closed down, the monster San Jac Methodist Hospital, and all the related medical complex is centered on Baker Road.

Because of the enormous concentration of prosperous businesses and facilities north of Baker Road, that will probably remain the Baytown cultural divide for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, in that area, the competition is fierce and the cost and difficulty of opening a new business is horrendous.

If and when I have an opportunity to re-establish my friendships with the owners of The Hibachi Grill & Buffet, I will recommend that they open a new facility on the east side of Mont Belvieu in the Eagle Drive area. There has been an enormous amount of development in that very prosperous area, but the difficulty and cost of opening a new business is still feasible even affordable. For a restaurant, that is very accessible to the fantastic seafood supplies from Smith Point to Double Bayou.

Additionally, from Beaumont to Baytown, really all the way to Houston, the Barbers Hill ISD is the crown jewel of school systems in Southeast Texas. If I couldn't afford to send my children to private schools, I would find a way to move to Mont Belvieu.

Recently, there has been an explosion of really good jobs everywhere in Southeast Texas from Beaumont to Houston. It is very much a seller's market and that trend is likely, even destined, to continue for the...

My husband and I have been here a few times. At one point, we quit going because the waitresses stood right over us because they made the end of the section their “waitress spot”. We always found the food to be acceptable, but today has ended our visits for good.

As we were eating our lunch, a cockroach crawled right across our table!!!! My husband grabbed the soy sauce bottle and put an end to that roach! As everyone knows, if you see a roach in the eating area of a restaurant, the kitchen area must be infested! GROSS!! We called an employee over to show him; he left to apparently tell the manager. Our waitress came over, and we showed her the nastiness. The employee returned with a smile on his face and said they were giving us a 50% discount!! HA! My husband said, “Seriously!? You’re going to comp this entire meal!” The employee attempted to reassure us by saying the exterminators were due to come in 3 days! HA! I let him know we don’t have roaches at our house and having an exterminator come in 3 days doesn’t do us any good! He left again and came back to tell us they would comp our entire meal. On our way out, we asked when the health inspector came, and the employee said 3 months ago…..we weren’t convinced. We asked the inspector’s name; he didn’t know. I said, “The health inspection form should be posted”, so he durned around and said it didn’t have the inspector’s name on it….sure! We told him don’t worry about it because we will contact the health inspectors. On our way out, I told the table behind us what just happened. Maybe there are people that live with roaches in their house…..we don’t! ...

I'm not sure why this place has so many good reviews. The prices are high, the food is cold, the meat is tough, and the servers are inattentive.

I started with the buffet, which was disappointing. Most of the dishes were empty or nearly empty, and the food that was available was cold. The chicken was tough and the vegetables were overcooked.

I then decided to try the hibachi grill. The chef was nice, but the food was still not good. The steak was tough and the shrimp were overcooked. The vegetables were also overcooked and mushy. You get 0 options for sauce.

My server was inattentive and never refilled my drink. I had to flag her down to get my check.

Overall, I was very disappointed with this restaurant. I would not recommend it to anyone.

Specifically, I was:

Disappointed with the high prices, especially considering the quality of the food. Disappointed that the food was cold, both on the buffet and at the hibachi grill. Disappointed that the meat was tough, both the chicken and the steak. Disappointed that the servers were inattentive and did not provide good service. I would not recommend this...