Takaoka of Japan — Restaurant in Fort Wayne

No photos out of respect for the show and because I wanted to get a good look at what's been happening.

Probably the best thing that this place has going for it is the entertainment value provided. Absolutely no complaints there. Alas, my reviews don't take that into account for the star rating. If I did, it could've been a 4-star very easily. Some of the most fun Hibachi chefs around and easily got Koto and Sapporo beat.

The food... Well... The "vegetables from Kroger" as he called it and the shrimp marinated in "Japanese ketchup made in China" (soy sauce) were well-grilled is all I can say. The beef itself was cooked to the perfect temperature for all parties involved and was tasty, but... left something to be desired. I haven't had Snake River Farms beef before, but when he was taking out the steak, I was a little taken aback by the miserable amount of marbling it has for something claiming to be "American Wagyu". I ordered it rare too and it tasted more like a relatively flavorless version of an USDA Prime steak rather than a wagyu breed. I've had American wagyu before and... this is not it. It should feel more like lard, not jello. That, and slicing fat cubes into the serving is a big no-no. Japanese wagyu hibachi restaurants square the steak and only serve you the central slices for a reason. One of my friends let me sample a couple of cubes from his "sukiyaki" steak too which... ironically kind of tasted better. More flavor, almost about the same marbling.

That aside, the fried rice is just your "regular" fare. I don't get Fort Wayne hibachis' obsession with grilling freshly steamed rice with soy sauce and eggs and passing it off as fried rice. It makes it wet and uninteresting. At the very least, fried rice should be prepared using chilled rice cooked the day before. I get the logistics reasons behind using the same rice for both "steamed rice" and "fried rice" orders, but to me the culinary considerations should always come first. This restaurant did not do it. But then again, this is something that also happens in other local hibachi places so I can't exactly knock it out for that.

The only other thing that is really worth noting on a culinary perspective is that the room only has one chimney to the outside, so it's extremely smoky as others have noted. Extremely packed, too.

Vegetables are good, the shrimp is good, albeit cut a bit too small for my taste (felt like it would've been better if he kept the shrimp whole), the piña colada tasted more like processed coconut milk, the salad is about the same one you'd get at Koto, and the soup is...... fine. Just fine. Service is annoying, but I don't review service.

Do I recommend it? Ehhhh... That depends on how badly you want to do hibachi and whether you care more about the fun and experience of it than the quality of the food (although to be straight the food is not bad either, just could be better). I'd say it's the most "well-rounded" hibachi place around here all things considered, although Koto and Sapporo are a little bit more... gastronomically...

This is the 3rd time in a row something has been incomplete to our meal. With their prices raised almost 10.00 per meal, I expect their service to stay the same or better. The 1st incorrect meal, food was given to another individual at our table, but not to our group. They realized the mistake, but the cook was done and cleaning the grill. Nothing was done to replace the food. He said, "Catch me next time".... That was our family "Birthday Celebration" meal. The 2nd incorrect meal, we were at the table that, another individual, had a medical emergency. The cook stopped in the middle of the meal (would have been rude to continue), and management had the cook continue their meals so that they could send the food home with the date of the individual. (They took the individual to the hospital, and the date was taken home by us, not his/her car in the parking lot, fairly new acquaintances). Management should have had all dinners 1/2 price or free considering my husband caught the individual b4 they hit the floor, and assisted through the ordeal and the other couple at our table, her husband was an EMT and helped until emergency arrived and even after. All meals were halted at our table. Our meals weren't even finished being made (half a meal). At the very least, we should have had our full meal. And then, we drove the other individual home, too. That was our anniversary. 3rd incorrect meal, they forgot my husband's steak (shrimp only). By the time it was mentioned, the cook was starting to clean up. My husband didn't want to inconvenience him or the rest of the table. Our waitress forgot to bring the rice out, and it was the last thing served. Again told to mention it next time. That was my daughter's Prom + her date, and family. Let me just say, we didn't feel comfortable mentioning it next time. It feels wrong or rude. Like we are trying to get something for nothing. They should have handled the situation as it happened. They (management/cook) were aware it happened while we were there. Handle it when it happens! This is our family's favorite place to eat. We go multiple times a year, but paying the higher prices, and not as great of service, hurts. No excuses. Best place in town to eat when it's...

Kobe beef is Wagyu beef from the Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle, raised in Japan's Hyōgo Prefecture according to rules set out by the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association.

I recently traveled to town and was taken to this place for dinner. We walked upstairs to be met by a woman sitting on her phone as we stood silent looking at each other waiting for her to look up and greet us. (After "greeting" us, she continued to sit staring at her phone for 15 minutes while we waited for our table.)

After getting the hostess' attention she informed us something was wrong with our reservation and we had to wait another 30 minutes past our reservation time. We decided to have a round of drinks while we waited and were served the worst drinks. I ordered a "slightly dirty" martini and watched the bartender pour more olive juice than vodka (no lie) into his shaker.

We were finally seated for dinner and started looking at the menu. The Kobe Ribeye immediately jumped out at the clear choice as Kobe is such a rare delicacy! As I was reading the menu I noticed Snake River Farms was listed as the source of this "Kobe" and was confused as Kobe comes from Japan so I asked the waitress for clarification who said she wasn't sure where the steak comes from. She asked the chef and and told me the meat comes from California. So the ribeye was just Wagyu and not Kobe. This seems to me to be a huge problem selling Wagyu as Kobe beef.

The chef, however, was fantastic and he cooked a great steak and scallops, unfortunately he wasn't good enough to make up for the terrible experience we had the rest of the night. And to top it off there was zero ventilation in the dining room and my outfit smelled like a greasy kitchen the rest of the night as we hopped around...