Osaka Express — Restaurant in Clemson

It’s rare that I write a negative review on a restaurant. I know that there are bad days for them too. However, you know right off when one has “checked out”. When you order from a Japanese hibachi establishment, you expect a small block of time for them to cook your food on the hibachi. That’s what you go for... hibachi-cooked food. The prices in Osaka certainly reflect that as it is quite high. This ain’t Kanpai y’all. After placing the order, it was less than 2 minutes before the food arrived. That tells you something right there. I got the steak and shrimp and my kids got chicken. None of the meats had ANY flavor cooked into it. The steak was low quality as it had no flavor of its own... besides the fact that there was no seasoning applied to anything. The chicken was boiled and never made it to the hibachi... just put on the plate. My kids who eat us out of house and home just gave me a sad look of “dad, this is terrible”. The rice was just steamed brown rice. The broccoli was fresh but obviously never made it to the hibachi either. I asked to speak to a manager or the cook and was denied. The only thing right about my experience today was the cleanliness of the place and our waitress. She was very apologetic and it seemed to indicate that this is common practice there. She seemed to be very afraid of speaking to the cook. Zero stars if it was possible....

God awful service. Food is fine. I walked in by myself and I was asked if I wanted to get carry out instead of being offered a table. I finally got a table. I waited about 5 minutes for a guy to come clean off my table. They were not that busy. Then, he made me wait a few more minutes to take my order when I already knew what I wanted. My original waiter did not put my order in so another one had to come get my other. Finally got my food but no drink. By the time I was half way done with my food, I finally got my sweet tea -- it was unsweetened. When I finally walked to the counter to pay my bill, I was asked how the food was and I replied it was "Okay." The person that was at the counter was my first waiter and he replied, "Well, at least is better than nothing." I still left a $2 tip out of courtesy but I am definitely never going in there again. Service...

Updated 2021: Not a lot of options here for vegans. Still no tofu.

Original 3 years ago: Please add tofu to the menu. Tofu is literally one of the cheapest options out there.

Food is honestly hit-or-miss here. The quality isn't ever out-right "bad" but there are definitely days I've eaten here and I've lamented the fried rice.

Service functions exactly like you'd expect college students working a part-time job to function. Chatting with them they are pretty nice and talkative. Though other times it's clear they don't really want you to sit down.

More than once I've ordered something and gotten the wrong order. Shrimp instead of scallops, carrots when I specifically asked to substitute them for something else, etc.

This is by no means a bad place to eat, but it's also...