KOBE - Japanese House of Steak & Seafood — Restaurant in Hickory

My wife and I took our daughter-in-law and granddaughter (10) for a birthday celebration on November 11 2015, the total party included 6 adults, two children, an 18 month old and a 6 month old.

We were planning to eat around 5.30 (no reservations were made - the restaurant doesn't take them), but a couple of our party ran a little late. The front of house staff couldn't be more courteous and friendly. They offered us seats in a waiting area and drinks if we wished.

The high quality front of house service also continued when we informed them one of our party had a shrimp allergy. They took this very seriously, informing us of the alternatives to stay safe and also (far more importantly) made sure the chef and waitress were aware of this allergy. They even looked after our birthday cake in their cooler while we ate. Bravo!

So why only 3 stars?

Well, first of all, I'm giving three stars because Google won't let me give 2.5 stars - I am really hovering on "Disliked it" rather than "it's okay".

The reason for my dislike began after we got to our table. Everything was so... underwhelming.

Lets face it, the reason we take our kids to Kobe is the showmanship; that wow factor that the kids (and adults) love. But on this occasion the showmanship, the fire, the thrill of it all... it simply was not there.

The chef was very nice and polite, and cooked very well (the chicken and shrimp were a little overdone, but we can let that slide on those really hot grills they use) but apart from spinning the egg, and one round of flames, absolutely no showmanship at all.

My grandkids enjoyed the next table's "fireworks" - done by shaking pepper into the flames I think? I would also have liked to seen little things like the volcano they make out of onion rings, I'm sure you know what I mean and aficionados of this type of Japanese cuisine could I am sure add to this list of little tricks that make you talk about the meal in the morning as enthusiastically as if you had been to a pop concert the night before.

So we ate (and enjoyed) our food, thanked him profusely, but the evening went a little flat. Not great.

Kobe's is not a cheap meal - I am sure by big city standard the $180 price tag wasn't too bad, and even by Hickory standards we could have paid more. Perhaps we expected too much? I don't think so.

And one other of my pet peeves (I didn't include this in my judgement of how many stars to award) is the compulsory gratuity that these places add on to the meal for parties of our size. The gratuity ($20, included in the aforementioned figure of $180) was added on automatically, whether we liked it or not.

Now I understand that in some places large parties put a strain on the waiting and kitchen staff, sometimes they need to put tables together, may lose other customer tips, have an increased demand and heavier kitchen workload etc. But Kobe Restaurant is NOT one of those places.

Our party sat around a cooking station that would have been filled filled anyway with other guests if we had been a smaller party, so although we were all together, we actually were just the same as the next couple of groups sitting around the other station taking up the same amount of people. So how-come they get to decide their tip, and we don't, just because we paid for everything on one ticket?

So to recap...

Front of house was excellent Birthday package was not worth it (bang the gong and halfhearted 'we've done this too many times' birthday song, and a quick photo in a paper frame) The food was ok The show was disappointing

Moral of this tale - be prepared to be disappointed if you get the chefs who don't put...

I need to vent a little, which is something I rarely do, but I’m feeling really upset. On Sunday Dec 22nd, I went to Kobe’s with my family and didn’t realize I left my wallet behind. With everyone using mobile payments nowadays, it wasn't until Christmas Eve that I figured out it was missing. After retracing my steps, I called Kobe’s and was relieved to hear that my wallet was there, safe and sound. Since they were closed for Christmas, I planned to pick it up on the 26th, but that day ended up being packed with things to do, so I decided to grab it today instead. When I went in to retrieve my wallet, I was sick to my stomach to find that $550 was missing out of my wallet with only a $20 bill and five ones remaining in it. I couldn’t believe it. When I brought this to their attention, they insisted that I must have misplaced the money, claiming it was impossible for anything to have happened at the restaurant. I asked to see the surveillance footage, but the general manager was unavailable and told me to come back at 4 PM. When I returned, they were closed until 4:30 PM, so I called to ask about the cameras. The manager immediately asked if the police were involved. I said no, but I could involve them if necessary. He then told me he didn’t believe anyone took my money, asserting that items are often left behind and nothing has ever been stolen. I redirected the conversation, stating that while it may not have been his employees, it could have been a customer who took my money. He then “recalled” that the busser had picked up my wallet and handed it to him for safekeeping. I pointed out, “So that means one of your workers had access to my wallet.” He dismissed my concern outright, insisting that it was impossible for anyone to take that much money. I then asked again, “can I take a look at the video then?” Thats when he then insisted that police needed to called in order to look at the footage. So, I called the Hickory police, and a friendly officer came to assist. She reviewed the footage and confirmed that the busser did take my wallet to the manager, but unfortunately, she couldn’t see anyone actually opening it or taking the money. When I asked what I could do, she explained that there wasn’t much I could pursue since it was a “he said, she said” situation. Without witnesses or proof, there was no way to confirm whether $550 had been taken from my wallet. So I had to leave Kobe’s knowing without a doubt one of the workers had stolen all of my money.

So, moral of the story - Don’t leave your wallet at Kobe’s, especially if it contains cash, because you might end up getting your money stolen. I will not be dining...

Where do I start...Not a long wait to be seated but the hostess set us down at a table that was already almost done with soup and salad. So the waitress rushed our order, barely got to glance at the menu to see how steak and shrimp was prepared, hibachi or teriyaki because everyone was already done waiting on the cook and now us. The 2 appetizer shrimp good with correct color and look. Rice decent. Then their was the cheap quality small shrimp cooked before the steaks, like the ones frozen in bags from Costco or Sam's club maybe even worst shipped from untelling where. Literally ate 3 of them, tasted like chlorine and cheap seafood with hardly no teriyaki or seasoning used, cooked with a little butter. At this point I ran out of coke the waitress came back refilled everyone's water/tea but not my coke. I waited a while, until when the cook was almost finished with cooking everything before I could get a refill, the whole time my steak is now done just sitting on my plate getting cold because I have no drink. I'm just sitting there still thirsty from shrimp and rice etc.. I'm looking at other staff employees standing in the halls on their phones doing nothing. When the waitress finally shows up she brings a pitcher with a little bit of flat stale coke that's being sitting out for who knows how long. Not a fresh glass like most decent restaurants of this qualityand price. Finally started on my steak, that was the most plain tasting steak I've ever tasted, hibachi yes but no seasoning just some butter, not to mention the big chunks of fat from the cheap meat and/or not trimmed properly. Literally bites that was half fat. I might understand this quality/service from a drive thru style Japanese restaurant but not a hibachi style, sit down, cook in front of you, Japanese restaurant where they are supposed to be trained chefs or decent cooks and paying for decent service. Honestly the worst Japanese for the price I've ever had. I've ate other Kobe's for over 20 years, this is not it at all. Left half the horrible food in my plate in shock, rice was decent. Didn't even bring the leftovers home because I wouldn't want my dogs to eat leftover shrimp of that quality no...