Shogun JPN Steakhouse of Brentwood — Restaurant in Brentwood

I arrived excited and left disappointed. It was my girlfriend's birthday and I was excited to show her a nice time. This was her first time ever at a hibachi grill! I wanted to take her somewhere nice, and my previous encounters with Shogun over the years had left me impressed. I couldn't wait to experience it again. Unfortunately, a lot of things put a damper on the night. Before I get into the details, I want to preface everything I say with the fact that there is no reason for the staff to have treated us any differently. We were on-time for our reservation, polite, dressed appropriately, and treated everyone with courtesy. Here's why I left upset:

1. I called ahead to ask if they did anything special for birthdays. They said they offered free cheesecake and sang happy birthday. I asked them to please make a note on my reservation to do that so she could be surprised. They confirmed they would. As our night came to a close, there was no happy birthday, no cheesecake, and I never mentioned it to her, because I didn't want her to be sad, but I left sorely disappointed that Shogun didn't follow up on their commitment.

2. The chef was an older gentlemen who did virtually nothing showy while he cooked and never smiled or engaged the group in front of him. He tried twice to break an egg in half by throwing it in the air and splitting it with a sideways spatula, missing both times. The only other thing he did was the onion volcano. No funny tricks, no throwing eggs into his hat or pocket or whatever. I wanted my girlfriend to really enjoy the experience and it was a depressing display compared to what Shogun had led me to expect in the past.

3. When the chef was distributing the rice, he gave me a small portion, my girlfriend a moderate portion, and a man and his son large portions. When he went back to divvy up the remaining rice on the grill, he asked the man and his son if they wanted more and gave it all to them, never asking my girlfriend and I if we wanted more. I'd finished virtually all of my rice before the meat was even done cooking, and even after the gentleman and his son had eaten their fill, they had a MOUNTAIN of rice leftover - enough to fill the entire bottom half of a to-go box. My girlfriend had no leftover rice to enjoy because we'd been given such meager portions compared to the other two at the table. Frankly I'm still upset about it. The rice is my favorite part!

4. The cleaning staff showed up toward the end of our meal and were all around us sweeping with brooms and dustpans as we were eating dessert. I don't really want dust and debris stirred up in the air while I'm eating...

The only saving grace of the night was that the food was good, but the experience was severely lacking and I expect a lot better for the $60+ I spent on that meal.

I'm open to adjusting my rating if Shogun sees this and wants to try to do something to make it right, but apart from that, I don't think I will be going back or recommending it to friends...

We had such a wonderful dining experience at Shogun Japanese Steakhouse for my mom’s birthday! We called ahead to make a reservation since we had a party of seven, and the staff was incredibly accommodating from the start. Although a few members of our group arrived late, the team was understanding and got us seated quickly once everyone had arrived—completely reasonable given it’s a dinner-and-show style setup.

What truly made our night was our server, Christine. From the moment she greeted us, she was the sweetest and most genuinely kind server we’ve ever had there. She asked right away if we were celebrating anything, and when we told her it was my mom’s birthday, she made a point to let my mom order first. It was a small but deeply thoughtful gesture—especially at a shared hibachi table—and it set the tone for the rest of the evening.

During a dining experience like this, you typically expect the chef to be the show-stopping piece, the memory you carry with you—but for us, it was Christine. Even as the evening got busier and clearly hectic for her, she never let it show. Her warmth and attentiveness never wavered. She checked in frequently, anticipated needs before we even asked, and went above and beyond to ensure my mom’s birthday felt special—without us having to request a thing. She even surprised my mom with a complimentary cheesecake.

After dinner, we lingered a bit longer to enjoy a cake we had brought ourselves. Christine made that easier too—bringing out extra to-go boxes and even a cake server so we wouldn’t have to use our dinner plates. That kind of thoughtful service really stood out.

Having worked in the customer service industry for over 15 years—including time with the Walt Disney Company—I recognize truly excellent service when I see it. Christine embodied exactly that. While not everything can go perfectly in a restaurant environment, she took care of everything within her control with grace and a smile. I would be proud to have someone like her on my own team.

Be kind to your servers—they make the experience. And Christine...

Horrible management. I’ve been to this place multiple times but the last 2 visits have lost my family’s business forever. The last visit we were very rudely asked to leave our table in order to seat other guests when we had only been there for 1.5 hours for my mothers birthday and we’re finishing up opening gifts anyways. We had 2 full habachi tables (about 20 people total) with multiple drinks per person - so lots of business at our tables for the amount of time we were there. When we asked the manager/business owner about being asked to leave after spending so much money there, he said “everyone spends a fortune here, you’re no different”. The most recent time we decided to give them one more chance out of desperation for wanting hibachi in Brentwood (they are the only location in the area). We were told to wait 20-30 mins but ended up waiting 50 mins. The bar was supposedly staffed but I had to ask 2 people where the bartender was and our party ended up not even getting drinks after waiting 20 mins at the bar with no sign of a bartender. The wait for food was so long that my son ended up puking from being so hungry and hypoglycemic. We didn’t get soups and salads or even water until 25 mins after getting to the table. I can keep going but I’ll stop here. I fully believe this business wouldn’t be successful if it weren’t for the location. The management is obviously lacking in this location. The owner doubles as the hostess if that says anything... And don’t try to get him to understand your concerns about your visit nicely, he will immediately get rude and defensive. It’s obvious he doesn’t care about his consumers, only the money they spend there, which is additionally why I won’t be spending my money...