Daruma Hibachi Express — Restaurant in Beavercreek

I was excited about the opportunity to try a new place and love Hibachi, what could go wrong. Turns out a lot. For those who don't want to read my entire review, I would just recommend going elsewhere. For the rest of you read on:

I arrived at the restaurant and made my way to the counter. My wife and I placed our Hibachi orders. I was surprised that the only seating is a few two top tables. So, if you are going with a group larger than 2, this place may not be for you.

After ordering, I took a seat at a nearby table. Realizing I was not given my sodas we had ordered, I returned to the counter. The young lady at the counter did not notice me standing just on the other side of the counter as she was far too absorbed in whatever she was doing on her phone. Eventually, I spoke up. She put her phone down grabbed my soda bottles, gave them to me and then just returned to her phone.

Eventually, a young male came out to cook our food and after doing so, put it into to-go containers, as I would have to guess they don't have plates. The young lady we interacted with earlier got off her phone just long enough to grab the containers bring them to our table with plastic forks and set them down without a word spoken.

The food was not good. The rice was pale. Much less color than I would expect from the fried rice I'd ordered. The portions of veggies and meats were small. The meat was overcooked to the point where the chicken was literally so dark, my wife thought it was steak. Worst of all, the only flavor in the dish was a burnt flavor which I feel would have come from a grill which had not been cleaned.

I usually do not use sauces when I eat Hibachi as I love the flavors of this cuisine on its own. However, this time, I used all the ginger sauce I was provided just to offset the disgusting burnt flavor. This flavor remained on my pallet for the rest of the day while we ran errands and could not be washed away with beverages. It makes me wonder, if a restaurant is not cleaning their grill correctly what else are the missing/not cleaning.

I ate my meal because I paid for it and did not want to waste it. My wife threw away 90% of hers. Usually she would bring home her leftovers to save for another meal, but she would not eat any more of this.

Upon leaving, even though we were the only guests in the restaurant, the young lady who took our order could not be bothered to look up from her phone to say Good Bye or Have a good day. Just silence. The perfectly flawed ending to this entirely flawed experience.

I would have rather just not eaten lunch.

So to summarize:

Employees who don't care to provide service Bad food Small Portions Lack of cleanliness on the grill

To top this all off. They ask for a tip at the register when ordering, so I tipped for this atrocious experience. My review in as few words as possible:

Save yourself and your taste buds this experience and pass on this place.

I welcome a conversation with the owner/manager if they would like me to ever come back and give this place another shot. I would need to believe that someone up the chain of command cares and not just be given the form letter type response other poor reviews have gotten.

They had gotten great reviews in the past, but many of the recent reviews seem to mirror my own experience. What has happened to this place? Such great hopes, such a...

I will start by saying I did not eat here, nor have I ever been inside this restaurant. But what I can say is, do NOT order this on Doordash. I just had one of the worst customer service experiences with this place and my poor doordash driver had to waste their time/gas. After waiting about 40 minutes for my order to be ready, my assigned driver messaged me and said the merchant was refusing to give her my order. She then called me to confirm that i had not cancelled it? which i was confused by because i had been WAITING to eat this for a long time already. Driver calls me, puts the merchant on the phone, I then went back and forth with the person at Daruma about how i had already prepaid for this on doordash and it had been confirmed and ready to be picked up. He kept repeating that i needed to pay. Which i explained to him that my payment was already being taken out and i would not be doing so again. I told him to forget it. I do not think this person understands how doordash works. Ontop of that they were rude to not only me, but my driver as well. Now my order is probably going to sit for the rest of the day. Sad face. Will not be thinking of trying this...

Adding to my original review, Not sure if there is new management, ownership, customer service has drastically changed, not attentive, bad attitude. This used to be one of our favorite spots, now it’s just as good as any other hibachi express nothing spectacular. Nothing extra or defining, except the fact that dining in is like sitting in a sauna. The scallops used to be seared to perfection, amazing , tender, perfectly seasoned, now they are cut in half and next to boiled, tuff. Portion sizes are less than half of what was given before on protein. Not quite sure what happened . But I do not recommend driving out of the way as we do to get this when it isn’t any better than your local hibachi on the corner. Just more expensive and less food than other places now. Very sad it has declined so badly.

Amazing customer service!!! Amazing food!! Best scallops for the price point and cooked to perfection!!! Very friendly leaders. The meaning of great leadership and quality food lies within this restaurant. Will be back , and suggest if you’re around you try it . Is even worth driving out of...