Asahi Japanese Steak house — Restaurant in Delaware

I have never written a negative review before. But if you are considering this restaurant, I feel compelled to share some things you should know before you go. The people working there are very nice and the service was great. However, if you are familiar with Japanese hibachi grill restaurants like these, you will be disappointed. We have been to several here in the Columbus area and in Clearwater, Florida where we are from. Most are very similar. There are certain staples you will find at these places and you come to expect when you go to one. For instance, they are usually all very pretty, upscale restaurants laid out well with a lot of beautiful decor, often with elaborate ponds/streams running through with coy fish and bridges, etc. At this one though, there was zero ambiance. It is in a strip mall next to goodwill, and not very nice inside. A bit of a turn off, but we were still willing to give it a chance since as you probably know some of the best food can be found in unsuspecting places. The food here was just okay. They don’t have the usual goody goody and yum yum sauces that you find at most hibachi grills, these were a little different. And they serve very little veggies and no noodles. Just rice on the side. But the big disappointment came when the bill arrived. They actually charge extra for fried rice. The meals apparently only come with steamed rice, fried rice is a $1.95 each up charge. I have never, ever heard of that before at any hibachi grill. Maybe the menu says it is extra in their defense, but I did not notice it anywhere, and the server only asked the usual “steamed rice or fried rice?” when taking our orders, without commenting that the fried rice was extra. Even for the kids. Speaking of kids, kids meals not only do not come with fried rice, but drinks are extra. They charged us for Sprite for one of our boys and for apple juice for the other one. $2.50 each for apple juice! I understand the refill of apple juice we ordered would be charged, but I assumed the first drink for each child came with their meal, which was not the case. Not to mention, the prices for their kids meals are very high. The kids chicken was over $6, and the kids shrimp was over $9 not including the drinks or fried rice for either. So we ended up paying over $11 for one child and over $16 for the other one who had the 2 apple juices. Anyone who goes to hibachi grills expects them to be expensive, but the nickel and diming at this one was ridiculous. And for the lack of atmosphere and the just okay food it is definitely not worth the price in my opinion. We will not be returning. The next time we want Japanese hibachi we will just drive a little further and go to Daruma in Hilliard which is the best...

I've been here many times and it has always been so good, there's even a great review from me on here on my alternate email....but this last time was a disaster which made me incredibly sad being that my family was visiting from TN for the Eclipse, and out of all the restaurants in Delaware I chose Ashai to take them too, First off, I order 2 crazy shrimp rolls , as I always do, but something was different this time..the seaweed wrap inside the sushi was tough and it was staying in one whole long piece and sliding down my throat and choking me ..this happened 5 times before I called the manager over and showed him the 6 inch long pieces of tough seaweed that kept choking me, and he was incredibly rude, he said I was lying, talked down to me like I was a child, said it must be the first time I've ever eaten sushi...which I've eaten for 40 years and NEVER had that happen, NEVER!! Next, we get the check, I pay it in cash, they bring the change, which was $30 and was sitting on the little credit card dish thing while my family and I continued to visit and socialize for about 30 minutes..we get ready to go and I look to where the change was , so I could make sure the server received it for his tip .it wasn't there..so I called him over and said, " I just want to make sure you got your tip" he said no, I didn't get any tip..so what?? It was literally sitting there and the only person who went near it was our server and the manager that had talked down to me, and it's gone??? This was a mortifying experience, so what do I do?? Let my family see me get up and not tip the server?? I have no idea what these people are going thru , but stealing from your customers is a bad way to earn more business! Me and my bf go here at least once a month, and have referred many of our friends to go eat there, it's really sad that now I will drive 50 miles to a different Japanese Steakhouse to keep from ever having to go back there!! Shame on...

What a complete and utter disappointment. My wife and I have supported Asahi for a very long time. Yesterday we learned they were open for carry-out, she placed an order and I stopped on my way home to pick up our dinner. When I arrived I had to stand outside in the 90 degree heat while the people ahead of me placed their order and blocked the entrance. First mistake, if you are going to do carry-out then do your customers a favor and have them call in their order ahead of time. When your customers arrive ask them to call or text you informing you that they are outside your establishment ready to pick up their food. When the food is ready ask them to come to the door where you greet them, hand them their food and collect payment. Making people who have placed their order stand outside while you take a walk-in who’s food is not even begun to cook, causes others food to get cold! Second mistake, charging a 15% gratuity is tantamount to stealing. 15% for what? Some kid in a red T-shirt handed me my cold dinner and swiped my card, while another kid sat behind the counter playing games, or scrolling through their social media posts. Third mistake, the portions were substantially smaller then when we were able to dine in the restaurant. There was approximately two cups of fried rice, maybe a cup of vegetables and five small shrimp in my Shrimp Hibachi dinner. Fourth mistake, the “salad” consisted of a few pieces of ice berg lettuce thrown in a single serving styrofoam container, nothing else. Fourth mistake, where was my soup? Dinner was to come with soup. The food sadly was not near the quality and flavor as it used to be inside the restaurant. Don’t waste you money at this restaurant. Too bad, it was a good place...