Awesome Hibachi | Hibachi At Home Hibachi Catering — Restaurant in Jackson Heights

We love hibachi! And we couldn’t wait to celebrate some family birthdays at home! All the 5 star reviews!!! But we had a pretty bad experience…. And it seems the 5 star reviews are coerced by the manager!

Unfortunately, we were not happy with the customer service or the food. Our first interaction was a confusing text indicating that we had not submitted our food order but it had been submitted. We also asked on Monday (5 days before the party) if a 6pm start time could be accommodated and were told we’d would be notified when the chef’s schedule has been confirmed, which was understandable.

When we still had not heard anything about timing until the day before the party, a follow up email was sent to which we never received a response. Finally, we politely followed up via text on Saturday (the day of the party) and finally received a blunt text stating: “It’s 7pm”. ..nothing stating—oh, sorry for the delay and sorry we could not accommodate your request. Not having confirmation of our party start time created a lot of stress as the hosts of a large group. In general, being a first time customer of Awesome Hibachi, a brief call with an overview of what to expect in terms of payment, party setup, chef arrival time, chef’s name & chef contact info would have been appreciated. We did not feel at ease with the process overall & we were making back up food plans in case the chef did not show up.

When the chef arrived, he was nice and entertained our group well. However, the food portions were barely enough for each person and there were no dipping sauces!!! That’s one of our favorite parts of hibachi! We also ordered our steak medium rare and it was cooked well done so about half of the group did not eat it.

The morning after our party, the customer service rep that basically ignored us all week texted at 7:45am on a SUNDAY morning asking us to leave a 5 star review complete with prompts of what to say in the review. We thought that was in very poor taste. We did not respond to the text and then at 3pm, a text with a a single “?” was sent to us. That really made us mad so here we are writing this review; hoping to inform others of what it’s like to work with Awesome Hibachi (Austin).

Attached is the text they sent us. So crazy. Not “how did you enjoy the party?” Or anything like that. Just “give...

We booked awesome hibachi for my husband‘s birthday and to much planning and preparation we had a TERRIBLE experience. We had everything set up to have a wonderful event however, awesome hibachi had other plans. The night was completely ruined and a terrible experience. The chef was late (about 25 min after the start time) and upon arriving and getting set up, proceeded to clean the griddle right in front of us. After we got started, salad was pulled out of a Ziploc bag that was drenched in water and no dressing was provided. When we asked the “chef” asked where the dressing was, he offered Yum Yum sauce and he opened the messy bottle and just sat on the table for us to pour ourselves. Upon continuing the dinner, the chef tried to play games and was very frantic and unorganized. The Sake in the water gun was messy and got everyone wet. While serving the dinner, the chef was very messy and seemed very confused. At the end of the dinner, the chef asked for his tip in front of all of our guests and even though I didn’t want to tip, because of this terrible experience, I provided $100. I called awesome hibachi’s customer service and spoke to someone who listened to my issues and said that they were surprised to hear about this experience. They asked for the opportunity to investigate and get back to me. I finally heard back , “After checking with our kitchen team, I can confirm that certain details you mentioned, such as the use of ziplock bags for salad, are part of our current standard protocol. That said, I completely understand how this may not have aligned with what you were hoping for, and I truly apologize for any disappointment caused.” also, “As a gesture of goodwill, we'd like to offer you a $60 credit toward any future event with us, whether it's for you, your friends, or family. This credit is a bit different from what you see publicly on our site with headcount and day restrictions, this can be applied without any headcount restrictions or day restrictions as long as our party minimum is met.” I stated that this was not acceptable and requested a refund that I felt was equal to the quality of the service and food that was provided based on all the issues we experience. This request was denied and sorry was provided. DO NOT USE AWESOME HIBACHI....

I am absolutely frustrated by my experience at Awesome Hibachi. The photos and posts promised a vibrant, exciting hibachi experience—what I got was anything but. The food orders for 13 people were wrong, the show was nothing like was showcased online through social media and my guests were not happy. It was clear that the staff member was either new or overwhelmed and unprepared. Then when the event ended I was told cash only when credit card for a fee was an option and what I agreed to.

To make matters worse, when I tried to address these issues, the business started gaslighting me, ignoring my contact to amicably resolve the issues. They kept brushing me off, acting as if nothing was wrong, took no accountability and even tried to remove my honest reviews from multiple platforms to manipulate their ratings. It’s incredibly frustrating to feel like your concerns are being dismissed and that the truth is being hidden to protect their image.

I really regret choosing this place for my birthday celebration. Having booked with them two months in advance, and looking forward the event- it failed in every possible way, and the whole experience was a letdown and not worth the large amounts of money we paid. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, and I suggest you stay far away unless you want to be part of a business that values their reputation over actually delivering on...