ROPPONGI Japanese Steak & Sushi — Restaurant in Evansville

This place is very OK. I was on my way to Missouri when I got hit with a sudden craving some good Japanese food, so I looked up the closest place and found ROPPONGI. Driving up to the building, at first I thought it was closed based on the darkly-tinted windows and a few dead bushes along the side. Turned out they didn't have any customers and were about to end their Friday lunch shift. I was greeted by a very nice woman who took my carry-out order of hibachi grilled filet-mignon (medium, of course), fried rice and the usual vegetables, soup and salad, just like every other homogenized, Japanese-style restaurant. The bill came out to just under $40 including the standard 20% tip, and the order came up in 15 minutes, which was great. So far so good.

I started with the salad, which was really just a bit of lettuce cut off the head and MAYBE 2 strands of carrots...that's IT. Of course, the dressing is almost always good at these places which definitely helped with the flavor, otherwise it would have been just a styrofoam box of flavorless lettuce. Next was the soup which had two very small, dime-sized mushroom slices and nothing else in addition to the broth. I hate mushrooms so this was totally fine, but my wife would have been pissed. The broth itself was great, so really no complaints there. The fried rice was a tad mushy which I did not like, and there were quite a few onions, which even at 42 I'm still trying to decide how I feel about them...basically neutral, I guess. Overall, the rice was below average due to consistency, but the flavor was ok.The noodles were also a tad mushy, but had a decent flavor and the vegetables were borderline OK, as well...good flavor but seemed also mushy (noticing a pattern?).

As for the steak, this was the most disappointing part of the meal and the part I was most looking forward to. It was cooked medium-well but still very tender and easy to chew, as filet should be. The meat itself seemed dry, however, and tasted like it was in desperate need of steak sauce if some kind, which should NEVER be the case for a properly cooked steak, especially filet (if you cannot eat a steak without steak sauce, you're doing it wrong).

Of all the Japanese restaurants I've been to, this one definitely hits the bottom of my list. I gave 3 stars because the service was good and the price was reasonable and came out quickly. Although, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if some of this food hadn't been sitting out for a few hours and ended up being served to me rather than thrown out. I guess that's harsh, but the consistently "mushy" pattern gave me a "this has been sitting around a while" feeling. Maybe I just got unlucky and would fare better during a peak time or had I sat...

Not Celiac, gluten or allergy-friendly and staff is not educated on gluten-containing ingredients. I am giving 2 stars only because my daughter did enjoy her food although she didn't have restrictions. Although I question if they are unable to protect their patrons with allergies simply by knowing ingredients, what else is being missed in general.

I know Japanese Steak houses are notorious for cross-contamination and for not having many options in general for people such as me who are Celiac or have gluten allergies. Expecting this, I emailed them ahead of time and they assured me that they could take steps to prevent contamination.

When arriving at the restaurant, I explained to the waitress my situation and asked whether or not their rice was seasoned. She was unable to confirm. She mentioned that the sushi chefs clean their hands before each order. So I ordered sashimi after she confirmed that the tuna was not marinated. I also ordered edamame knowing that is generally safe. The waitress said she would mention that I am gluten-free to the kitchen staff and to take extra precautions.

I also asked about the Seaweed salad and whether or not that was gluten free without their house sauce. The waitress confirmed it was and even with the note about my gluten free status to the kitchen staff, it was served to me. The seaweed salad arrived looking like it had a sauce on it so we again confirmed with the manager or owner of the restaurant explaining that I have a gluten allergy. THE SEAWEED SALAD HAD SOY SAUCE ON IT and contained gluten. This was missed by a slew of people.

Gluten acts as a poison to me and can cause serious health problems. I know the responsibility to ask questions to ensure my safety lies on my shoulders and I always order what I know is safe or can confirm is safe. I wouldn't have ordered the seaweed salad had it not been confirmed multiple times by their staff. I was able to spit the food out quickly and had to flush my system with decontaminants just to ensure I could function and hopefully not get sick.

This shows a lack of knowledge or general interest in ensuring their patrons can eat safely.

I will not be returning. Extremely...

Reply Edit: It would have made all the difference if the OWNER had said this when we interacted multiple times in the restaurant last night. I don't know who you are; for all I know you're a paid 3rd party company responsible for keeping reviews high. I want people to know that Roppongi will treat you wrong as a guest and will only admit fault when shamed on the internet. My original review still stands, and we will not be giving this restaurant a fourth chance after two bad experiences and this last absolutely horrible experience; thanks, but no thanks.

Original Review: Had a reservation for 6 pm, we waited for 50 minutes. We were told we would have the next table several times... no one seemed to know what was going on. I dont know why we made a reservation, they seated people in random order. I talked to the owner about our wait time and not getting a table when promised, he seemed completely indifferent. No sorry, nothing. We were finally seated at 7.

Our vegetables started getting cooked on the hibachi grill at 7:47... almost two hours after our reservation. Our entrees didnt touch the grill until 8:15. Our entrees were served at 8:31, 2 and a half hours after our reservation... and we have a one year old who was past his bedtime. You can imagine how fun that was to entertain him for over 2 hours in a restaurant waiting to eat. The food was definitely better than the worst hibachi we've eaten, but the pricing on the menu isn't justified with this level of service (22.50 for chicken hibachi with fried rice, they charge 2.50 extra for fried rice). It would have been tastier if they weren't cleaning a hot grill next to us with dirty water. All you could smell for a while was grilled dirty dish water... very appetizing.

We have had issues here before, but this was one of the most ridiculous experiences at a fine dining restaurant; we...