Okinawa Japanese Steak & Seafood House — Restaurant in Fort Walton Beach

Food is great but I can't say that much about the waitress we've had the last 2 times we've came in.

We've been forced to wait an hour both times in order for us to eat hibachi.

I understand needing to wait for large families to fill the seats. But making four people wait for an entire hour for more people to show doesn't seem fair.

Maybe you should delegate just one of your areas to smaller parties. That's better business sense.

It was not busy at all the last two times we've been there and there's been more than enough space for delegation of one of the cooktops to accommodate smaller parties. While leaving the other cooktops open for larger parties. I can understand you doing this hour long wait if you had a line out the door. But you don't.

In the time that we were made to wait we could have been cooked for, eaten our food and gotten out of the way! They could have had the space back way quicker.

On top of that, just smiling at people acting like you are being kind towards them all the while trying to hide your sour attitude behind that smile doesn't cover up the fact that you really wish you weren't there. It is quite evident.

If your customers irritate you because they're asking you for things, are too cold where you sat them, would like a different drink, or need anything else attended to; it is YOUR JOB-- to do for and get those things for them. YOU chose your job and it's your duty to accommodate your customers in a restaurant! Not to act like they're asking for too much. Hence why it's called a servers position!

We're paying you $100+ a couple for your food that you automatically add an 18% tip to. So despite how we feel about the service we receive you get paid the same no matter how you treat your customers! I think that's where the problem lies. You're not having to work for your tip so you treat us however the hell you want to. We're not garbage and I refuse to be treated that way. We thought it was just a fluke the first time we came in so we gave it another shot. This time we brought some friends with us and the same thing happened again. We were so embarrassed. So we will drive out to Navarre from here on out to get hibachi. We refuse to pay what we pay and get treated like garbage. For the price were charged we more than earn the right to have the best service. We go out to eat to be catered to not treated like we're an annoyance to you. If you don't like your job and you don't enjoy doing what you're doing you need to get out of the business and you probably shouldn't be serving people.

Side note: (It was so cold I was shivering the whole time. We brought it to their attention tried to move around to a warmer seat and we're told to move back to the cold area. They said they turned it down yet the vent never turned off. We were there for 2 hours. It was blowing so hard because there was no vent over the air duct. It was wide open blowing right over us the entire time. It was blowing directly onto our food with no filter as well. That seems like an OSHA violation situation if you ask me.

I own my own business and I work in a service industry as well. I have not ever made my clients feel that way. I wholeheartedly love what I do and I treat each and every person with the same with sincerity and I'm not ever...

We love this place!

My family has been here twice now so I figured it’s time for a review.

Seating: We sat at regular tables because we didn’t want to wait for hibachi tables both times. Seating is quicker that way, at least for 3 people (me, hubby, 2 almost 3 y.o.).

Ordering: The staff is very helpful in regards to questions you may have and making suggestions. There’s a kid’s menu but we ordered chicken tenders from the appetizers and a la carte noodles (not pictured 🙃) for my toddler.

Food: Absolutely delicious! We got an Okinawa roll (not pictured 🤦🏾‍♀️ because we ate it immediately 🤤) which my husband says is not sushi because it has shrimp tempura in it and is deep fried, but boy was it yummy 😋. The first time we shared the Chef’s Special Hibachi, which comes with filet mignon, chicken, and shrimp and I got food euphoria (iykyk). The second time, I ordered the Okinawa Special (pictured) which is just regular steak and hubby had no complaints but I do prefer a more tender cut. We get our steaks cooked medium. The salad and soup are pretty standard for hibachi restaurants and nothing to speak of except my toddler really enjoyed the soup.

Pricing: It’s not a cheap restaurant but there are very few cheap hibachi dinner places. Toddlers meal was $12. Adults were $50 the first time (shared) and $40 each this last time. If pricing concerns you, there are lunch specials on the weekdays, before 2pm. We went for dinner on Labor Day.

Atmosphere: Kid-friendly.

Bathrooms: This is really nitpicking but I know this could make or break someone else experience. One stall was out of use and there’s only one sink. There was a changing table which is outside of the stall so it’s convenient to use but it’s in front of the sink which makes the sink difficult to use in these COVID times 🤷🏾‍♀️. Also, the trash bin is really beat up looking (no picture, sorry again).

Overall: I’ve had two great experiences here so I would definitely recommend this place!

If you made it all the way to the end please give this...

I wanted to share an experience with all the guests. Then we all can value what will be the right rating this restaurant shall have. Last night we and friends of ours went in there for a gathering, and we had a Great time. Everything went south after my husband forgot his iphone on his chair. We realized that after 15 minutes after we have left the restaurant. We tried to call the restaurant w/no answer, and tried to call the phone, for our biggest surprise, phone was turned off and went straight to voice mail. Then we went back to the restaurant (since we are locals, not the vacationer, and live fairly close to the restaurant), and the phone was nowhere to be found. And restaurant manager told us that all their employee are the greatest in the world, and if they found anything they would return to the front desk, even though we have "Find My Friend" and it pinned the location was in the restaurant right arfter we left time stamped. And managers from restaruant were in total denial. At 11:20PM my husband iphone was turned back on and pinned on "Find My Friend" in the parking lot right behind restaurant. Even though phone was moved around a couple times, and pinned at one last location. So based on these facts it is apparent that the phone was found and taken by a restaurant employee and not a guest, since it stayed in the restuarant location for 3-4 hours based on FMF location. This morning, we went to police station, filed a police report. And my disappointment is that it maybe my hustband's fault that he left his phone in this restaurant for 15 minutes, but it can happen to EVERYONE in that restaurant. So my advise to everyone eating that place is that PLEASE WATCH your belongs really careful, it might be lost forever if you don't watch. Relaxation and enjoy a good meal might not be something you can have. In case anything happento you, Customer NO. 1 rule did not apply there. anything happens - we, tough luck. This is waht I want to share with you. This happened on...