Steak & Steel Hibachi Inc. — Restaurant in Bethlehem

An honest review

TLDR version disclaimer went opening weekend. Didn’t try the whole menu. Did not have the hibachi One of our drinks had a piece of glass in it. Luckily our friend didn’t swallow it and didn’t get hurt. Manager didn’t really do anything about it. Our waitress wasn’t super helpful. She pulled up a chair from another table when she took our order cause her feet hurt from working. Food was overall very bland and underwhelming The “signature” cocktails were just a bit meh

Long version Overall, this place needs a lot of work. Granted it was opening weekend, we didn’t try the whole menu, and we didn’t have the hibachi.

Let’s start with the food. The drinks were just ok, not the best. The sizes were decent for the cost of the drink. The appetizers were mediocre at best. The Steak and Steel dumplings were very over priced but you do get 12 of them. My partner and the rest of the table thought it had a cigarette smoke taste to it but I didn’t notice. The crab rangoons were just ok. The fried calamari was definitely from the freezer section. The sushi rolls were largely underwhelming for the price point. The spicy tuna had no spiciness and frankly no taste whatsoever. A few of the signature rolls were decent. The sashimi were bland and watery. The size of the sashimi pieces were good but not enough to make up for the lack of taste. The sushi rice was too soft and mushy.

The service I hope they come up with a better system overall. There really isn’t too much space in the restaurant so the waiting area was very cramped and basically nonexistent. The tables were pretty close together and weirdly positioned. Our one friend was sitting in a high trafficked spot and a few people bumped into him. We were also very close to the bar which was loud and crowded. The service was very slow. Sure it was dinner time on opening weekend so I’ll give them a pass on that. We were there for two hours, so if you’re super hungry, just beware. Our waitress was clearly very new to waiting tables. She didn’t know the menu very well, which again, sure it’s opening weekend. But what got us was she pulled up an empty chair from the table next to us and sat down when she took our order. She said her feet were tired cause she’s been working since 10 am. Our one friend’s first drink had a piece of chipped glass in his first sip! Luckily he didn’t swallow it and didn’t get injured. We called over the waitress and she said she’s get the manager. Took a while for the manager to come by and he did not seem concerned or bothered by there being glass in the drink. All he really did was get our friend a new drink. Didn’t even comp the drink or a discount or anything.

The location and atmosphere downtown Bethlehem. Close to Main Street. Close to parking garage. Very bar like atmosphere which is very different than any other Japanese restaurant I’ve been too and I’ve been to many. My family previously owned several Japanese restaurants the tri-state area and I’ve been on taste testing visits with them. I’ll give them some points for a different experience. The decor is pretty fun and laid back

Overall, I’m not sure if I can recommend at this point. I think I’d have to try other items in the future but I’m going to give them some time to fix things up. There are plenty of other better options in the Lehigh Valley...

I'm basing ths 4 star review on potential not my first experience. We had a reservation for 7 people. We were told that the person that took my reservation earlier in the week did it incorrectly and there was no table for us. One of the owners came over to us and explained what happened and actually showed me in the book how are reservation was written in. I was able to agree that the reservation was not recorded properly. They gave us the option of sitting at a regular table and they would bring us our hibachi dinner, or we could wait a Half hour for a hibachi table. Normally, I would just leave and eat elsewhere, but I was there celebrating my birthday with my family so we decided to sit and have appetizers at the sushi bar. The owner was nice enough to comp our first round of drinks. Sushi was tasty. Unfortunately, each order came out at different times and we didn't receive cups for our soy sauce until most of the appetizers were finished. Once our table was ready, the hibachi experience was very good. Our server was very personable and energetic, but he seemed a bit overwhelmed and we had to remind him of items we were waiting for. The owner checked in with us towards the end to see if there's anything that we thought would make the experience better. Every misstep that occurred during our time there i'm sure will be corrected as they work through the kinks. Ownership seems very involved and focused on making the experience better. If I had one complaint that I feel needs to addressed is that the ventilation needs some work. We eat hibachi often and this is the first restaurant that I have not see exhaust hoods above the tables. I just figure that there was a new type of ventilation system in place. Unfortunately when we got home, all of our clothes and jackets smelled of hibachi. I have no doubt that as long as ownership stays diligent to addressing feedback, this restaurant will be a...

This one ain’t good!! The food was phenomenal as always!!! We’ve been going there for a few years now. My 15 year old wanted to go there for her birthday and we loved the idea, however this is the first time we’ve been so upset about our experience. The table was full and we love that, however the “show” so to speak was beyond sub-par. Our chef was a trainee, and I certainly do not have an issue with that. Everyone needs to learn their trade, however if our party was just going to have a chef cook the meal with zero personality or zero “show”, we could have done that at any table. The fact that we shared a space with a younger group of patrons (30 something’s) was great, however my 15 year old got zero experience & zero attention from it. The other side had a rockin party and I’m sure well deserved but my party of 4 was basically ignored because he was just a trainee. The group of 30 something’s had a grand old time and my child & her best friend got dinner. Not cool for such a special time in her life. We wanted to make it a big deal for her and we got nothing. I don’t care about the cost, happy to pay, I don’t care about the table, happy to sit with anyone, but the fact that my 15 year old was disappointed by the experience bothers me. I did speak to the young, very young, very, very young “manager” & he was about as useless as they come. Again, I’m happy to pay the tab, not looking for any type of discount or freebie, just looking to have my child enjoy her 15th, with her best friend and we got dinner. The gentlemen, was an excellent chef, but the experience pretty much ruined the “flavor” for us. If the restaurant wants to reach out. I’d be happy to discuss our displeasure. Again we love, love, love, Steak & Steel, however this time, they really dropped the ball for us. It may be a while before we come back, and I’m actually...