Mr.Hibachi Japanese Grill — Restaurant in Dover

Not the worst in the area, but it certainly wasn't good. This is probably the saddest meal I've had in the area because it looked amazing, but the cake was a lie, and in this case, the looks were definitely deceiving.

I ordered hibachi steak and shrimp with fried rice and vegetables with an order of crab rangoon, and the vegetables were the best part of the dish as they were the only thing that really had any flavor.

The steak tasted waterlogged, as if it were frozen and thawed then left to sit in its own water. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and weren't rubbery like most places, but again, waterlogged with absolutely no seasoning whatsoever to try and mask it.

The rice has to be some kind of joke. Imagine the whitest guy you know trying to make his version of fried rice, and that's basically what you get. A few frozen vegetables tossed in white rice and cooked in a pan long enough to give the rice a little color. There was absolutely no flavor other than the mountain of onions added to it, which I explicitly asked about when ordering because, for whatever reason, every Asian restaurant in eastern Ohio seems to think the main ingredient in fried "rice" should be onion, and this met that expectation.

The Crab Rangoon were the typical frozen foodservice items that are sold by Sysco or US Foods or whoever else they have servicing this area, which are generally good. Mine, however, seemed to have been freezer burned or thawed and refrozen because they were as chewy as the rubber on a car tire.

As stated earlier, the vegetables were the best thing about this meal. If the steak or rice had half the flavor the vegetables had, it would have been great. I would have taken a whole container of veggies over the steak and rice any day of the week. They have a little bit of a kick to them, so if that isn't your thing, you may not like them, but for me, they were the only redeeming thing in this meal.

Overall, I could have dragged out the flat top and made every bit of this better at home and saved $40 for a meal that might have been worth it.

If you're reading this and want hibachi, you're better off making the trip to Canton to A1 Japanese Steakhouse. They can be hit or miss sometimes and the quality has gone downhill since they opened, but I've never had them serve me unseasoned food.

If you're looking for Chinese food, give No. 1 Chinese in Strasburg a try. The food is great and they're consistent. When I want Chinese, this is my go-to and I have yet to get something from them I didn't like. Well, with the exception of the fried rice, for the reason...

UPDATE FIVE PLUS STARS, this place is wonderful. I ordered every appetizer on the menu the other night along with two dinners & extra noodles ($70+)... we "didn't like" one (it was "ok" just not a favorite with all the other wonderful stuff) (also next time I'm going to have them mark the orders so I know what I'm eating) Food was all great, couldn't have asked for much more. My friend doesn't eat vegetables (weirdo) & they accommodated that order with no issues. Food was all amazing & plentiful.

I did have a "smiley face" package... crab slaw (wonderful) & thank you Mrs. Hibachi.

Let's start with this is a "re-review" of Mr. Hibachi, my first was less than stellar. I want to also impress that this 4 star could/should be 5 stars but they made the dinner for "me", the guy that complained. I for one know that sometimes it's just an off night and I happened to be there on that night. Erica (owner w/husband) could not have been nicer and her kindness showed in the food I received that night. The food was excellent, lets start with something Erika suggested Fried Gyoza; I will drive to Dover just to get this appetizer, it is a dumpling that is fried with a pork filling, pork filling was good...but the wrapper, it was a combination of a kettle cooked chip and a soft dumpling if that is a way to explain. To put it plainly, my dog did not get a snack on the way home, normally I share... not this time! Now on to the rest, Shrimp Hibachi was excellent, veggies were fresh (saw them on the back sink being prepped), HUGE portion of rice and of course the shrimp were excellent. Fried noodles with shrimp, again, excellent just the right amount of seasoning and super taste. Finally the Crab Rangoon, I told Erica that the last time everything was extremely sweet, she took my suggestion and toned down a few things... on point! 5 stars on the new recipe, it was sweet without being overpowering & the sauce included was also toned down and had a nice balance of the sweet with the sour. I forgot the Fried Gyoza had a sauce too... I have no idea what it was as I was too busy shoving these things in my face, next time I will pause long enough to try the sauce. I look forward to my next visit and the success of this excellent...

The prices are very reasonable, the meat portions are great, other food portions about the same as competitors. Already worth going, right?! I got 10 large shrimp. Other places usually give 6 or 8, but who'se counting? Me, that's who.

Delicious shrimp hibachi! Delicious side order of chicken. They don't know the meaning of 'side' yet. There was an entire entre portion.

Noodles, veggies, and fried rice all were good. Personally, I didn't care for the spring rolls, but it could have been me.

The place was very clean both front and back of house. THE most important thing on my list when eating out.

The owner/manager came out to inquire about the food and if we were enjoying everything. We had a nice conversation which broke off abruptly when the phone rang. She came back out and completed what we were saying after she conducted business. She apologized but I cut her off. She's in business, I get that.

She was very happy to hear us say we'll return. She said, 'that's what we want to hear the most.'

And we meant it! We will for sure.

This nice young lady is making a living and doing it the right way...

Cleanliness, quality product, friendliness, and a great portion to price ratio.

Go visit Mr. Hibachi in downtown Dover, you won't be disappointed.

Ohhh, nearly forgot. Get your bottled or canned drinks as you order. They were out of sweetened tea. My wife had unsweetened tea. But to their credit, the owner went to the back and brought out a little container of sugar. Now that was...