Izumi Sushi & Hibachi All You Can Eat — Restaurant in Clive

Do not eat here if you want to be taken advantage of financially. Please read my whole review to understand my thoughts.

My boyfriend and I visited this restaurant on March 30th, 2024 for dinner. We each got the AYCE sushi option for around $30 a person and a glass of sake each. We were very pleased with the food and our waiter was very nice. We each paid $44.54 for our meals (we split the check, I believe our tip is a part of that number as well, I don’t remember). We left that night excited to come back sometime.

Today, August 1st 2024, I checked my bank statement to see a $44.54 charge from Izumi. I was confused as I had ate at this restaurant 4 months ago. I called my bank and explained to them my situation. The bankteller told me there was no charge from Izumi on March 30th when I had gone. However I remember paying with my debit card that night and the transaction was approved. This means that while they accepted my payment on March 30th, they didn’t actually take the money from me until today, 4 months later. This was the only charge I received, as there was no second charge, authorization, or anything like that. During the time, I don’t remember checking my bank account to see if the $44 left my account. Like I said this was 4 months ago, I assumed my money was taken when I spent it.

So I called the restaurant. I requested a manager and talked to a woman who’s name I didn’t recieve. When I told her what had happened to me, she said something along these lines (I had kind of a hard time understanding her as she had an Asian dialect, which isn’t a problem at all): “Our credit card machines take 4 months to charge our customers after the day they visit. We apologize for this inconvenience”. When I asked why this was their process of payment, she said it wasn’t them, but the credit card machine company, and something about how “70% of all restaurants do this” (this has never happened to me before at any other restaurant). I asked if there was any way I could get my money back, as this was a very backhanded way to treat customers, and she said she would give me a $20 gift card during our next visit. I don’t want that, I want a reasonable answer as to why I got charged for a meal I ate 4 months ago, because her reasoning made no sense whatsoever.

As far as I know there’s nothing I can do to save this situation except for disputing the charge which I thought I had paid for already. And not go back to this restaurant. Charging customers 4 months after they pay for your services is ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever, and I don’t think any credit card machine company does this. What I think happened is after my boyfriend and I’s visit, our payments were not processed by the restaurant at the time they should have been. Someone discovered this mistake and fixed it by charging us 4 months after the fact. That is poor customer service on so many levels. I’m fine with paying $44 for a good meal, but not 4 months later when I thought I had already paid.

I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this before at this restaurant or another, but I will not be returning if this is how they are going to handle this situation. And I will advise others to not go as well. My boyfriend experienced the same thing as me, so who knows how many other people woke up to this problem after eating there on March 30th. This is not how you handle customer concerns and their payments. I am very...

We wanted to try some place new, so I called earlier in the day and made a reservation for two at 6:30 PM, assuming we probably needed a reservation to get a table on a Friday night.

We arrived a little early, checked in, and waited for our table. Just before 6:30PM the host called our name and walked us to our table. As we arrived at the table, a woman who also worked there came over and began having a disagreement with the host about seating us. Despite having this somewhat hushed conversation right in front of us, she refused to acknowledge us directly or explain the issue. The last thing I heard her say to the him was “good luck with that” and she walked away. The host seats us at a table marked reserved, which having made a reservation seemed appropriate. Having never been here before I have no idea if they normally mark the reserved tables in this way.

We sat down took our coats off and settled in, while still somewhat rattled over the strange experience so far, but just sort of laughed it off. A few minutes later the host returned to the table and told us we would not be able to sit here and indicated we needed to get up from the table. Awkwardly he apologized and ushered us back to the front of the restaurant to wait. He gives no explanation of why he removed us from the table he sat us at. He told us he would work on finding a table for us and left.

So now here we are standing in the waiting area feeling very confused about what just happened. Feeling awkward and looking around, I notice the equally curious and confused faces of the other people still waiting that watched us get ushered off to be seated to then be rejected from our table and returned to the waiting area.

The host came back and said it would probably be another 10 or so minutes until they had a table for us. At this point I told him to forget it that we would be leaving. The whole experience was so bizarre and handled so poorly, I didn’t have any interest in waiting for another table to see how much worse this evening could get considering we hadn’t even made it to the food yet.

So here we were, left with our Friday night dinner plans ruined, hungry, a bit angry, and no reservation for somewhere else.

Luckily we headed back towards home and were able to get a table at Akebono, where they do know how to take a reservation and keep it. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner and top rate service that I’m sure far exceeded anything we would have had at Izumi.

Lesson learned, skip the novelty places and stick with our local tried and true options that operate with much higher quality, standards, and care.

Izumi apparently knows how to take reservations, but clearly doesn’t know how they work. They need a lot of help on their customer service. I can’t comment on the food because we never...

From the moment I walked through the door, I had very high expectations for this place. The interior aesthetic is modern, clean and just full of character and life. From a giant rocketship in the main area, moon shaped dining tables, to a ceiling made of constellations and a large neon astronaut it's just full of fun and love.

The service during my visit was excellent too. The staff were so kind, courteous and careful throughout my dining experience. They checked in often without being terribly overbearing and kept our drinks topped up before they were empty and were generally just pleasant and helpful whenever we needed something or had any questions.

The menu is huge too. The stand out is their all you can eat dinner and lunch service which includes but isn't limited to handmade sushi, deserts, soba/udon, teriyaki, spring rolls, rangoons, dumplings, hibatchi etc.

The ordering experience is very elegant too. Rather than it being self serve food is made to order and you order by ticking items on paper menus that are repeatedly collected and printed at your pleasure when you're ready. This means everything is fresh, hot and nicely plated and delivered straight to your table.

I can also say everything I sampled tasted incredible too. Much of which I got, I ordered seconds. For value oriented diners, I highly recommend visiting during lunch when the buffet is cheaper but even during dinner I think the price was more than worth it. They also treated me to a complementary alcoholic drink of my choice during my visit which was a nice treat.

I will definitely return in the future! Definitely best with medium sized groups I feel. The tables aren't massive so gargantuan groups can feel a little claustrophobic with all the platters coming to your table.

My only complaints are the lack of calorific and nutritional information online or in their menu for each menu item. I appreciate for buffet menus that are large this is time consuming but for some people being able to track what they're eating to know when to stop or when to pick an alternative option is of huge value and not seeing this provided was slightly disappointing to me personally. Also some of the sushi platters are huge and for people trying something for the first time it can be awfully wasteful. I'd like to see a way of ordering a half-order or sample portion to prevent unnecessary wastage...