Makoto's Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar-Boone NC Restaurant — Restaurant in Boone

Visited while on vacation. First impression was great! Beautiful entrance, nice atmosphere, clean and well maintained. Quick service and freshly cooked food. I can’t speak on the presentation of food cooked at table because it was only cooked. We are use to a funny engaging presentation. No complaints about chef he was friendly and polite. Server did her job but was not outgoing or as we are use to, engaging with the table first to get everyone smiling and ready to see presentation.

The one complaint and not really complaining just being honest, our daughter luckily did not dismiss the crunch texture in her filet and took out and examined real quick as it was burnt and was cooked from visual point nice but surprisingly a long piece of clearly recognizable as the metal sponge used to clean grill after shrimp was cooked and before steaks and chicken went on grill. She then took a Quick Look at other pieces and found to smaller ones and we felt that the best way was to let staff know.

We assume the manager came over very quickly and politely and without hesitation apologize and asked if he could prepare her another complete meal and box up for her and would remove the entire plate.

She did accept the recooked meal and my husband stated the money is no problem at all that we in no way expected a free meal, the food was prepared for her again so we were happy to pay. There was nothing in mine or my husbands, and we discussed it was only her steak because hers went down first and at the top where the shreds of metal sponge would have been pushed to when wiped with cloth rag after the sponge. I wanted to make a comment because not sure why so much harsh comments to so many places that clearly cared and wanted to do as this place did. They wanted us to have a good experience and they did not assume we were “one of those people” carelessly and deliberately trying to manipulate the situation.

Now the food was great, cooked great, and dragon roll was delicious! Thank you for what we feel was a great experience and wonderful handling of a very easy thing that could happen just because products are not perfect. I would imagine this process will be discussed and adjusted to make sure it doesn’t...

I give Makoto's only two stars for the deceptiveness of its employees (and probably management, since I am sure that they are trained to do what I am about to describe).

The menu for Makoto's notes that large parties will be charged a 15% gratuity, which is totally fine. Unfortunately Makoto's employees will drop the itemized check (where it shows the gratuity has been included), but after picking it back up to run the credit card, they remove the itemized receipt, leaving on the credit slip, which reads "ADDITIONAL TIP" (or something to that effect). The first time several times I dined here, without realizing that gratuity had already been added, I proceeded to add 20% to the total.

One day I noticed the gratuity had been added, and since then I have observed, and--without fail--the servers do the same thing every time. They always remove the itemized check showing that gratuity has been added. They make NO mention of the fact that gratuity has been added, and if you ask them about it, they quickly tell you that most of the gratuity goes to the chef.

To me, this feels very sneaky. I am a former waitress and bartender and I understand that there are lots of stingy, cheap, bad tippers out there and it sucks to work your butt off to get left nothing. But it also makes me not want to leave a cent over what has already been charged from now on, no matter how good the service is, because I think of all the people who are probably cheated by these means. Makoto's is, by North Carolina standards, an expensive restaurant. It is a restaurant that people like my parents (who are awesome 20%+ tippers) go to about once or twice a year because it is too expensive for any more than that. I hate to think of people like them being cheated on a special night out. It's just not right.

The food is decent, but I am put off by this dishonest procedure.

Finally, the hostess staff were rude and could be heard talking badly about and making fun of customers after they went away. I realize these are college students and the idea of professionalism may not cross their minds, but as I said, this is one of the nicer restaurants in Boone and everyone working there...

Underwhelmed. So many problems. I hate leaving bad reviews, but the money spent and the whole experience was just not worth it. The place was kinda messy when we got there right at opening. Maybe it just hasn't had a good cleaning in a while or it'sdated and needs some TCL? The service was fast, but that equated to extremely messy. The table was cramped and the soup and salad dishes never got picked up so that added to the very limited space. The three people in our party spent the entire meal shuffling dishes. By the end of the meal there was literally food all over the floor and table. One person in our party, during the meal, got a zucchini tossed in their drink by the chef. Please know that this wasn't part of the performance. It took a fair amount of time and effort to get the waiter to come over and replace it. The chef must not have had good BOH staff because he had to ask for one person's shrimp because he wasnt given them on his cart. The same waiter didn't bring the correct shrimp when the chef asked, so the chef had to leave mid-meal to go get the right shrimp. All of that wasn't even food related. The food was the "best" part of the experience and even it was wildly over-priced. The meat looked like cheap cuts of beef and chicken, the shrimp was a little better. The rice was undercooked. The onions and mushrooms were straight up raw. The salad was the saddest little bowl of iceberg and only two dressings (dressings by definition as one was just the shrimp sauce). The chef felt rushed like the faster he got everyone out, the better. The food was slopped on plates. I didn't get veggies and the person next to me didn't get carrots, so we kinda swapped. The soup was plain chicken broth with a singular raw mushroom. I have been to so much better quality hibachi steak houses. I have had better food from fast-casual Japanes places. This wasn't it. For three people with two regular entrees and a lunch size entree, no extras, the bill was $85. We...