Takumi Japanese Grill — Restaurant in Brigham City

This 2-star rating did not come easy. If I could, I would venture to put my rating at a 2.5.

OWNER

Lisa, first time meeting her was tonight. Simply put, she was fantastic! When things started to get busy tonight, (Friday), Lisa put on an apron. You were able to see the success and joy Lisa had with opening up this restaurant. Lisa, for this portion of my review, 5 Star!

SERVICE

Let me first disclaim that when someone builds something from the ground up, they may not always literally men from soil to chimney. With that disclaimer, Lisa built this restaurant from the ground up. The waitresses, brand new. They hardly had a hold of things yet. However! A big, however! I would proudly give these young women a 5 Star rating on their enthusiasm, smiles (they go a long way), and work ethic. It was a busy night! The fact that Lisa had to fill my cup when she wasn’t my waitress, that is not going to be held against the rest of the team. Why, because I saw them working as a team.

FOOD

Now comes the food. Out comes my plate of teriyaki steak and teriyaki chicken accompanied by the most disgusting fried rice, buttered carrots (like something you would serve with your Sunday Roast), and my side order of Chow Mein. I, of course had to ask for no mushrooms on EVERYTHING, it’s like they use mushrooms like 5 Guys uses French Fries. It literally came with everything. 1 Star in the food. I shouldn’t be able to see the oil pooled at the bottom of my plate after I finish my noodles. Fried rice, tasted like it was cooked in a grease pit. Not to mention the bacon served in the fried rice. If you use bacon, don’t go with a smoky flavor or even a maple flavor... If I want breakfast fried rice, I’ll make it myself. The chicken and steak, no real complaints there. There was a Leo’s secret sauce served on the side. I saw bottle after bottle come out of that kitchen to accompany ever plate. Even though the “secret sauce” tasted 80% like fry sauce, I still used it to mask the taste of breakfast friend rice. Here I am, going on about how I didn’t like the food. Don’t get me wrong, the 7-up was delicious! No, the food was good but it should not be called Japanese Cuisine. According to Lisa, Leo, a good friend of Lisa’s, learned to cook from a little old Asian lady. No disrespect Leo, food was tasty, but that was not Japanese Cuisine.

ATMOSPHERE

I’ll give the atmosphere a 2 Star. I have to remember, some of the paintings did not make it in time for the grand opening. However, just like the fried rice, I felt that I was eating in a diner (no offense Peach City, you are one of my favorites).

PRICE

I have to give the price here $$! That would acquire to 3 Star’s in my book. Good portions, I often heard Lisa asking if people wanted a to go box. I wasn’t sure if that was because they still had buttered carrots in their plates or if the portions were really that big. I have to go with the buttered noodles on that one. A little pricey for a breakfast rice scramble, grandma’s leftover buttered carrots, and a plethora of fry sauce.

Thank you for the...

I'd like to lead with the fact that the restaurant is very clean, staff is very polite, and the food is great quality. This review is simply some critiques and suggestions I had about two parts of the meal that weren't exactly what I'd hoped for. Apart from those two criticisms, the meal was near perfect, and I'd definitely reccomend eating here.

So, I ordered the hibachi filet mignon and shrimp, which were, simply put, the best I've ever had. I've eaten at benihana, teppanyaki, kobe, and hibachi house, and also had steak and shrimp at every steakhouse I've ever been to, and takumi's is better. The mushrooms and broccoli were also on par with my expectations, but the carrots and the fried rice really fell short of the mark for me. I feel like the carrots are just completely out of place with a meal like this, especially with how sweet they are. I feel like replacing them with zucchini and onion, or just more broccoli and mushroom would be a much better option. As for the fried rice, I couldn't get past the smoke flavor from the bacon. I think I would've really enjoyed it if it was an uncured bacon, or even something like john morel ham, but the smoky flavor was just too much for me and felt very out of place next to the shrimp and steak. I will definitely be back, hopefully these two things will have changed at least...

Unfortunately the food was depressingly bland.

My wife and I came in on a Saturday evening and it was completely dead. A bit of a red flag when you arrive and are the only ones there. The location was a bit strange and came off as a hole in the wall joint. Fortunatley some of the best authentic foreign food is found at hole in the wall joints.

Nothing about this place was authentic. Upon entering the resteraunt we were greeted by two employees who were arguing about who needed to seat us.

After that the service was fine. Although one of the employees was continuously talking about rats while in the kitchen. He wasn't talking about rats being in the kitchen but I thought it was a strange topic to vocalize while working in a kitchen.

The food left a lot to be desired. We both got the Teriyaki Chicken. The chicken was incredibly dry and had not been cooked as Teriyaki chicken. It was clearly cooked with little to no seasoning and no sauce. It seemed to be lightly drizzled in Teriyaki sauce but was barely identifiable and Teriyaki chicken. We had to smother our food in yum yum sauce (Which was only ok) to have any flavor on our food.

Unfortunately we will not...