Arigato Japanese Steak & Seafood House — Restaurant in Greensboro

TLDR; Desperately needs cleaning, excellent food, great service, rude clientele

I used to love this place. Haven't been in several years. It has really gone downhill but it would not take much to restore it to glory.

Upon entering the smell is terrible. The strong dusty smell of a place that has not been vacuumed in 10 years, like an underfunded museum. The waiting area was filthy. We got there shortly after they opened and the tables were gross. Covered in sticky spilled drinks possibly even from the night before.

Made a stop in the men's room and decided to just hold it in. We were about to walk out when they called our table, so we gave it a chance.

The dining room wasn't much cleaner. Definitely in need of a carpet cleaning and walls wiped down. Sat down and pleasantly noticed the table and chairs seemed quite clean, so that was encouraging. Feeling cautious at this point I inspected my place setting. The silverware looked fairly new and dishes were impeccably clean. Waitress was polite and cheerful. Things looking up now.

Ordered drinks, they came in plastic to-go cups. Unusual but I can cope.

The clientele around us had absolutely atrocious table manners. Shouting, talking loudly on their phones, one lady even changing a baby on the next table. The lady next to me was on the phone using plenty of foul language and even dropping the N-Word repeatedly all through dinner. I tried to engage my table companions in polite conversation, but I was clearly not welcome. I was met with dead silence and cold stares.

The chef was familiar with the others at the table and conversed cheerfully with them, obvious regulars. Didn't speak to me except to confirm my order. Our portion sizes, while generous and satisfying were noticeably smaller than the others. Still more food than we needed so only mildly annoying in the favoritism for his regulars. All little extras, like a few left-over shrimp, a touch of extra vegetables, etc. were going to the regulars. I think he may have realized before he was done because he more than made up for it in the end when he popped me an entire extra steak on top of my Shogun Dinner with a very warm smile and welcome invitation to please come again! So kudos to him for being proactive! I will indeed accept that invitation and be back soon.

The most important detail. The food was EXCELLENT. Perfectly prepared. Exactly as I remembered it from years ago. I was also impressed that almost everyone at the table had special conditions on their orders: no onions for one, rice with no corn for another, and had several to-go orders for family at home to boot. The chef kept it all straight, no errors. He even knew who one of the to-go orders as for and summoned the waitress to get him some special seasoning because he remembered how that person liked their dish.

Gratuity was included on the bill. I like this as a general practice but in this case I would have tipped more. This waitress was remarkably nice. Really hustled. And never lost her cool when some people...

This place has really went downhill. We have always went to this restaurant for birthdays and other holidays, and my family and I will never go back. 1st, we were told that it was going to be a 40 minute wait. We waited the 40 minutes and we went to ask how much longer it would be. The woman said another 50 minutes. We had to spoke with the manager and he worked it out. 2nd, we sat down and it took the waitress 10 minutes before she even came over. She took our drink and food orders. She brought our soups out before she even brought our drinks. It took 10 minutes to get the soups. It took another 15 minutes for her to bring finally bring our drinks. 3rd, the biggest one. The waitress got my order wrong. Which is fine. The cook put shrimp on my plate and I told him that I had ordered steak and chicken. He said oh ok and asked the waitress to bring a piece of chicken. He said, “we are going to have to take that shrimp from you”. I thought he was joking because a lot of the cooks will joke with you. He walked away and went and got a worker from the back area. She walked out with a plate and came over to me with me. She ASKED ME IF I JUST WANTED TO SCRAPE MY SHRIMP OFF ONTO THE PLATE. I WAS STUNNED BECAUSE I ALREADY HAD MY COOKED RICE ON MY PLATE. I TOLD HER NO I WASNT GOING TO DO THAT AND SHE COULD IF SHE WANTED TO. SHE PICKED UP MY PLATE AND TOOK IT OVER TO A SPARE CHAIR AND SCRAPED THE SHRIMP OFF!!!!! I kid you not. I was amazed and have never seen anything like this before in my life. She took my plate with my cooked rice still on it to the side and scraped off the shrimp that was ordered wrong by our waitress. My family and I will never go back here. It’s a shame because we loved this restaurant and have spent most of our birthdays and special occasions here. Never will happen again. I give it 2 stars bc the food is good, but the staff and management has become...

I hate to even do this because this was my favorite restaurant. I’ve been going here since I was a little girl my daughter even loves it, but yesterday was the most unexperienced service I ever had got from them. I’m so disappointed in the manager.. I and waited for The Cook to arrive after we already ate our salad and soup which my daughter had a shrimp plate, which did not come with the salad, but she ate my father salad and was plucking off of her salad onto the plate to when I found two bugs on the plate, I told them an I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it if they could just waive my daughters meal And I will pay for my food. The manager did not want to do that. She said she will comp out a salad which my daughter does not have a salad with her meal. I did not want to make a scene , but the manager did not fulfill her duty as a manager, nor did she take the proper precautions for this matter.. I hate to say it, but I was another race. It wouldn’t have went like this we would’ve had a free meal, but because I am a black woman she felt, though she wasn’t gonna make it right, so therefore I’m writing this to let y’all know they do have bugs in there And they don’t know how to problem solve. Again, my favorite restaurant I will not be coming here anymore and I will take father course because I was not treated fairly as I needed to be.. The manager chose not to takeoff a $12.40 bill versus losing $150 ticket because they don’t know how to solve…. So I stated if I was not getting My daughters meal for free I’m not paying for the entire meal and then left. This could’ve went a whole Nother way. and like I said, I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid in the food has been tasting differently. Every time I came, but I still gave them the benefit of the doubt, but this right Here has ruined...