Tokyo Grill Sushi & Hibachi Buffet — Restaurant in Columbus

We’ve genuinely enjoyed this place several times in the past. We've come for lunch several times and always had a great experience, the buffet was solid, and the dine-in hibachi was fresh and delicious. That’s why we called ahead to confirm we could just get hibachi for takeout, and when they said "yes", we drove 20 minutes to come support them again.

Unfortunately, this time was a COMPLETELY different experience.

The expectation was we'd go, make our bowls, get them fresh off the grill to go, and make our way home to enjoy delicious hibachi from one of our favorite spots in town...but we were in for a plot twist.

As I started making my bowl, I noticed a large piece of bacon floating in the tofu, which is extremely off-putting — especially for those who don’t eat pork. I politely asked if they had any fresh tofu, and after some time, they brought some out. Meanwhile, the staff all looked completely disinterested, sitting around on buckets or their phones like they had no intention of being helpful. This was still 40 minutes before closing, and other customers were still eating — it wasn’t unreasonable to expect some basic care and professionalism.

Then I saw a hair or eyelash in the green onions, and much of the food looked slimy and old. I started to feel uneasy, but the worst part came while waiting for our food to be cooked: the chef literally turned around and spit — openly — either on the floor or in a trash can right next to where they were cooking. That was the final straw. We immediately walked over and asked to cancel our order.

After seeing what we saw, I can never return here in good conscience — especially knowing that this food likely gets mixed in and served again the next day.. The level of sanitation and care was appalling.

Businesses need to be extremely careful with who they hire. When you cut corners with staff who are apathetic, unhygienic, and clearly don’t respect the fact that they’re handling people’s food, it ends up hurting what could’ve been a truly great concept and business.

I’m disappointed and honestly grossed out. I hope the owners take this seriously — because this isn’t just a bad night… it’s a health concern.

TLDR: HAIR IN GREEN ONIONS, SLIMY FOOD, BACON IN TOFU, UNHELPFUL/APATHETIC CHEFS, UNSANITARY, SPITTING WHILE COOKING IN THE KITCHEN WHILE IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS.

*UPDATE: I never said which cook it was, so how did you speak with “the person involved” when there were at least 4 back there and no one asked me any follow-up questions while I was there? That alone tells me this is not about understanding or improving. Just being dismissive. My partner witnessed it right along with me. Your employee openly spit while cooking our food. It happened less than 10 feet in front of us. We were shocked and disgusted. I have NOTHING to gain by lying here. Lol I’ve spent plenty of money here and raved about this place in the past. I only left this review to prevent negligence that could potentially put someone’s health at risk but 🤷‍♀️

Instead of treating this as a learning or training opportunity, your team chose to gaslight me and try to invalidate my concerns. No one asked any follow-up questions. No one seems concerned at all. That’s very unfortunate and...

Remember, all reviews are subjective but my daughter and I will do our best. This was for lunch only and on Tuesdays.

From 7.5-8 out 10, we agree to give the review rating because we have tried other Buffetts in Cols. Def, better than other Buffett in Cols.

For $17.99/person, we know that we can’t expect much, but there are pluses and minuses:

A. Pluses: Both gingers were super fresh.

Oysters were great and hope y’all had different options.

My daughter really enjoyed the shrimp and avocado rolls (on the left side, couldn’t remember the actual names).

We liked the beef meat.

My daughter loved the hibachi without any added ingredients, and I tried the shrimp too.

For some reasons, she liked the miso soup and she got two cups of them.

She loved and enjoyed all of the nice creams options.

She loved the fried shrimps, but I told her to stay away from anything else…

These are why…

I used to be a sushi consultant so humbly, my standard may be different with others…

Negatives: Those gingers were terrific and usually little things of any restaurants that will prep little things better, will be better than the most, But again, with that price, I couldn’t expect much on every level. Especially, the wasabi.

Sweet potatoes, coconut chickens, and onion rings weren’t our fav. But when we saw the color of the wasabi, we knew that were not originals.

The cooked fish and fried fish were over cooked and I told her not to get any fried chicken pieces. We know that if fish isn’t done correctly, the chicken won’t be done correctly too.

The clamp smelled fishy and my gag reflux was activated. I literally gagged and threw up back on the plate. Sorry, didn’t mean to anyone to read that.

Tried every piece of every roll, sorry to say this, they all were bland from frozen materials. But couldn’t complain because of the price, and don’t want to waste food so I had swallow them all. I know that you all tried to make each piece delicious. No offense.

Unari rolls are my most favorite, but adding seaweed on top of them? Whose idea is that? So sorry to say this, but that ruins the taste on every level. You know what to do.

About hibachi bowl, I added extra instruction to burn the outside surface with medium rare level. That didn’t happen.

Unfortunately, I added some of the more peppers and salt on the meat, which was my fault. Did the chef not to mix all of the meat and few of my meats are saltier than others?

I am not an expert chef but, it’s not a good idea to let the customers to add any ingredients before the cooking. The taste can be screwy IMHO.

We gonna try the dinner package one of these days and we will write another review. ...

I first became aware of Tokyo Grill when I went to the one in Mason which is just outside Cincinnati. I was at a 4 day business investor conference at Great Wolfe and believe me when I say, even great wolf could compete with that place. It was top notch! The food was cooked really well so much so that it rivals any of the entree upscale restaurants in the area. With all the many individual food items, u only need to get the hibachi bowl if u want. I did the first time. But never again because its so much food that it ruins the experience of trying the many other options. So when I came back to Columbus the first thing I did was to try to find another. I also told a L my friends about it. I called and they told me the Columbus location was still being sat up and wouldn't be ready until spring of 2024. Well, that was last year. I finally made it to the Northside of Columbus when this place finally opened. I expected the same of what I had gotten in Mason. But boy was that a mistake. The Mason restaurant is indeed a Japanese top notch restaurant that just happens to be a buffet restaurant. But this place in Columbus has all the makings of a cheap buffet, food that you can get at any buffet. What a disappointment, the food was subpar and tasted just like, hurried buffet food. The set up for the food looks congested and unimpressive. This place is like a cafeteria where every kid who lived in Columbus and knew how to cry at the top of their lungs showed up. There was so much traffic and, made me feel ,like, I was eating at a restaurant in the middle of the expressway with cars driving through it. Soooo loud in here. You can't really sit down and enjoy a meal because at least on Saturdays, just way too much traffic. I put my ear plugs on and listened to music to block it out. I will say that as crowded as it was the staff was nice and made an extra effort to serve me and I really appreciate that. I won't be back any time soon because this place is nothing like the Mason OH location and its too far away from my home on the east side to come for this. I prefer a more relaxed ambience with my meal. But if all u wanna do is eat, come on through. This place has lots of food and will feed the heck outta ya. The price is a little bit lower here ar 26.99 for dinner, Mason was 34.99. But then the other location has a quality this location isn't matching, and I guess that extra is what...