Shuhei Restaurant — Restaurant in Beachwood

I am very surprised at all the good reviews that this restaurant is getting. My family and I went for the dinner and the restaurant was filled with people, and naturally, when we first walked in, we all had our hopes high. But soon after, almost everything went wrong.

The warm towels that the server brought in had some foul odor that you can smell from your laundry if you leave them wet for way too long. I was unaware of the odor until I used it, and my hands started to smell the same. Well, that kind of things can happen at times when everything is so busy. But then it took our server more than 20 minutes to come back to take our order. More than 20 minutes. And it wasn't that our server was absolutely crammed with his/her task. He/she was returning to the same tables over and over. When I finally informed another server of the situation, our server finally came, without any apology.

In the ample amount of time we had in between, we've also noticed a few worrying things. There was a corner with tatami mats. The table was on the floor with floor mats to sit onto. Yet, an employer was walking into that corner with his/her shoes on. An employer was cleaning a tables, and out of two trays, he/she wiped one off and carried everything back in. What does that suppose to mean? Maybe everything will be cleaned once they get to the kitchen, but I couldn't get rid of the idea that not every trays may get proper wash. Also, the quality of wooden chopstick was horrible. I understand using disposable chopsticks, since that can help the kitchen staff a lot. But for the price range that this restaurant is sitting at, they should be using at least a better quality disposable chopsticks, not the ones that you would get for free at some oriental market when you buy an instant noodle.

The food came out in a reasonable amount of time. However, the quality of the food was far behind our expectation. Apparently, the meat they used for Don Katsu wasn't of quality, and then it was way too dry. Suki Udon... well, while the broth and noodle had strong (maybe too strong) taste, the beef inside was... after you chew it a few times, there was no distinguishable taste left in it. Now as for Zaru Tempura Soba, well, the soba itself was not bad. Then again, it is almost impossible to make bad soba, and certainly it is impossible when it comes to Japanese restaurant. Honestly, I could make a soba to taste like that, and I found nothing special to give extra money to eat it in a restaurant. And the worst. I have never been to a Japanese restaurant that makes this bad Tempura. The outside was soft and almost soggy. The shrimp tempura was fine except for sogginess, but the zucchini tempura was not even fully cooked, and the carrot tempura was overcooked. How do you do tempura this wrong in a Japanese restaurant? It is almost a mystery to me.

Now, our family did not try any sushi, and they might make better sushi. But as far as our experience went, this was a disaster. At first I was planning to speak to the manager at the end of the meal about the amount of time that our server took to serve us and about a few sanitary concerns. In the end I did not speak about anything but just smiled and left. Why? Because the food was not worth coming back and I saw no reason to waste my energy trying to improve this restaurant for possible future visit. However I am writing this very long review so others may benefit. Again, I have not tried any sushi, and those who were happy with this restaurant might have had very delicious sushi. Still, I won't be risking myself again. I sincerely hope that people coming to this restaurant have better experience than I did, and that there is better Japanese restaurant...

I was going to a concert with my companion and I'd read about and been recommended to this place by someone in a Facebook group. I was pretty excited to try what was billed as "Authentic Japanese". Anyone who's familiar with actual Japanese cuisine knows the struggle. The atmosphere was nice, service was great, food was a bit of a miss. They certainly appear to try to be "authentic", and they come close, closer than most any non familiar with Japanese food person would be able to tell, but just not quite. One of my favorite dishes is Agedashi Tofu. I cannot tell you how hard it is to find this dish prepared right. Nearly all of the non Japanese owned or operated "Japanese" restaurants don't come close and many offer what is actually Korean or some other form of "fried tofu", with the Korean version being my least favorite, fried portions of tofu that are very dry and bland, in my experience. This place came close but there were issues. First there were two huge blocks of fried tofu, and it was actually prepared right, but never have I had such large chunks. They're usually several small cubes. They did get the bonito flakes right but I found them not nearly as smokey as they should have been, almost non existently smokey and didn't add to the dish as they should. There was absolutely no greenery, scallions, nothing. The sauce was very almost watery tasting and not very flavorful. Needless to say I was disappointed. Second would be the "giyoza", which was actually the topic of the Facebook group post on someone looking for authentic Japanese prepared giyoza. This place is definitely "not it". The "dumplings" we got were deep fried, in a shell that was thick and powdery tasting to eat. Just not in any way remotely like actual giyoza. The sushi nigiri we ordered was fine, much like any other decent sushi place, so no complaints there. Lastly the Nabeyaki Udon took forever to come out, the tempura to go with it even longer, and the broth was different tasting than expected. At that point we were pretty full, pressed to get to our concert as the wait for our food had set us back. We took the Udon to go but later found the noodles had soaked up all the broth and it was pretty unappetizing. The Yakitori was ok, not the best but not the worst. Lastly, the place is a bit hard to find. The frontage from the street looks like office buildings or something residential and you have to go around that and down a slope to the back bottom of that to get to the actual restaurant and even then we weren't sure we were at the right place until we entered. Overall, while most people will probably enjoy this place, someone who knows Japanese...

I say two stars because the people were nice. That aside, I have been to a lot of Japanese restaurants and I went here because of how well it was talked up, its location and sadly assuming the prices reflected the quality of food.

Let me start with the fact I came here for an anniversary dinner. Big mistake.

The regular sushi rolls were the smallest I have ever received at any restaurant I have gotten sushi. The quality of the fish wasn’t that great for the price, but hey, I know this is important, the rice was good. But MARKET DISTRICT offers bigger pieces of sushi.

The service was bad. I am wondering if that was a reflection on our persons because everyone else there seemed to be on a first name basis and dressed exceedingly well ( which isn’t a shock given the area ). Our service was not good and there weren’t even that many people there. One of the rolls I ordered was never entered even though the waitress repeated back what I asked for. And I’ve waited less time for beverage refills at incredibly busy morning breakfast places.

The donburi combo bowl of tuna and sushi, for its price and quality, was laughable. I don’t know what they think they are selling, but it wasn’t worth what I paid. And I regret my entree. The Koren Chirashi sounded like a good idea, like cold Bibimbop, and it was. However, the hot sauce that goes into it over takes your pallet and you can’t ever appreciate the fish.

And my girlfriend the following morning does not feel well in the way you feel bad after eating bad food, and that was the last thing she ate that day.

The “Too Long, Didn’t Read” of this is The prices are a joke for the portions and quality and are most likely what they are for the area. The overall experience was very disappointing and I 100% would not go back. I regret not taking us to our regular favorite and significantly better Japanese restaurant.

Thanks for ruining...