Hino Oishi — Restaurant in Fresno

Donovan was the host taking down the names and contacts of the guests to put down on the wait list. There was one family ahead of me. I was told there would be a 10-15 minute wait for either the teppanyaki grill area or at a booth. I asked the host that if we sat at a booth, would we be able to have our food cooked on the grill. The host said yes, so we chose to sit at a booth. Upon Donovan getting ready to take us to the table, Donovan stated we would have to wait again, because my stroller would block the server from our table. The other female hostess offered me high chairs for my twins, and I informed her they are not yet sitting upright, so they will be unable to sit in the high chairs. There would have still been a path for the server to get through upon observation of the area if I kept my twins in their stroller, but Donovan insisted we go back to the waiting area and wait for another table. What was the difference between my stroller being on the end of the table vs. two high chairs? They took up the same amount of space. Donovan didn’t want to sit us at the grill area either, because of my stroller for my twins. In the meantime, Donovan sat between 2-3 different parties that came in after my party, which had about 6 people in each group, before seating us.

We finally were sat at a table toward the back of the restaurant. Doauchi was our server. I ordered their tapenyaki lunch special. My friend ordered double rice, and her daughter ordered the tofu and rice. All of which were from the teppanyaki options. When our food came out, we asked the waitress how it was prepared, as we were under the understanding that our food would be prepared on the grill, but instead was cooked in the kitchen. I informed Doauchi of my conversation with Donovan prior to being seated and she said she would check with him. When Doauchi came back to the table, she said Donovan said I was confused, and that the manager, Sendie said that it would be an additional 30 minute wait to have our food grilled. I wasn’t given my drink until about the time I was packing my food to go to, so I had to put it in a to go cup. Doauchi also processed my friends bill and did not complete mine, although I had it ready before my friend had hers ready. She literally brought my friend back her receipt, said have a great rest of your day and did not return. Sendie the manager refused to give eye contact and refused to give us any service. I had to eventually flag down another waitress, so that they could process my payment, which delayed us being able to leave the restaurant. The manager Sendie was standing at the host area when we were leaving, and she made sure to not give eye contact, a smile, nor a friendly greeting such as “thanks for dining with us.” I also ordered a spider roll, and to my surprise when I got home to eat it, it had ice berg lettuce inside. I have not ever had lettuce in my sushi. It was disgusting.

End of story, I am extremely disappointed in the manner I, my twins, and my friend was handled today. I am disappointed by the hostile energy from the staff mentioned. I’m disappointed in the lack of ownership from Donovan’s confusion on the question I asked him, and in turn, Donavan having the host to come back to the table and telling me I was confused. I am disappointed that the manager did not come over and acknowledge the situation, and treated us like our business didn’t matter. I am lastly disappointed in the way we were...

I really like this place but when my family I wanted to take my mom out to lunch for her birthday, it was the worst experience I’ve had at Hino Oishi. My sister called in an hour prior to see how long of a wait it’ll be for the teppanyaki seating, and I believe the host’s name was Diane, the skinny Hispanic girl, had told my sister it would be a 5 minute wait. When we all got there, we had to wait to be seated for teppanyaki — okay, no big deal. People always wait and that’s okay. But it started to be a problem when we were waiting over 20 minutes and there were a lot of customers who came in got seated before us. Every time that my sister politely asked how much longer it would take, Diane would said it’d take “another 15 minutes.” My sister questioned her and said how was it a 15 minute wait and you told me over the phone it’d be only 5 minutes. Her response? “No, I told you 15 minutes.”

First of all, you DO NOT argue back with a customer and LIE to them. Me and my sister were also on a time crunch since we needed to go to work soon, but wanted to spend time with our mom for a moment before heading out. That’s when my sister suggested and asked if my sister was able to order to-go and Diane said with a slight attitude, “Well even if she ordered an appetizer, her food wouldn’t make it out on time.” Wow, really? What poor attitude for a host. At that point, I stopped listening to her nonsense and my sister and I just left to work. If she is going to be a representative of Hino Oishi, I’d advise her to pick up her act and improve on her skills as a host. Never have I experienced dealing with a poor...

A restaurant with a tepanyaki experience or regular sit down dining. Since we were on the way back from Yosemite we decided to do the regular sit down experience.

The other side of the restaurant was for the tepanyaki and I really wished we had done that instead. Although the chefs there were not "black belt" level they were good and very entertaining from what I could see...

The other side was a bit slow and timing was a bit off. Some entrees came before the appetizers not that was a big deal. Or waitress seemed a bit nervous and was gone for relatively extended periods of time. She was a bit confused about the menu but was very nice.

The agadashi tofu appetizer was huge but initially was missing the dipping sauce. Still very good per my daughter add wife. The yellowtail collar was also large but not too tasty.

My daughter's karaage chicken was basically popcorn chicken with some dipping sauce and seasoning added to it. My daughter really liked it though.

The spider roll was ok but there was cabbage on it. That was a bit weird.

My chirashi sushi was huge and totally worth it! Fish pieces were large and quite good. There was a small portion of real crab in there that was a nice surprise. All the portions were quite big. Especially for a lunch menu.

The desert was 2 pieces of chocolate mochi covered in whipped cream and drizzled with caramel sauce.

I would have added more pictures but my family refused to wait since they are so hungry.Lol

In summary...Will come back again but will try...