Kobe Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Hoover

My husband and I visited this location for his birthday tonight. We are African Americans for context and I hate that I must state that because we visit places with all cultures and they’re all welcoming here in our area. When we first entered the doors an Asian woman that looked to be in her 40s or 50s saw us and immediately said, “I’ll be with you in a moment,” and went back to walking around joking and talking to an older white man. We sat there for about 10 minutes puzzled because it would only take a moment to escort us back to the hibachi grill area to be seated, but we were patient and did as we were told. After a while a large group of White people approached the front door and before they could all enter, a man came out the back that passed us several times and quickly asked them how many they had in their party. They said 6. Before scurrying off quickly to find them a seat, he walked past us again and said nothing. When I realized he was really about to seat a party of six over a party of two, I said “excuse me” politely and said we were here before them and had been for a minute. The lady that originally told us to sit there, said something to the man in another language and then he motioned for us to follow him. We had dinner from there and the food was good and our hibachi grill chef did a good presentation, but as we were leaving, we noticed another African American couple sitting outside in the same area we were instructed to. We were thinking, are they making all the African Americans sit out there until more come in so they can sit them all together? Irregardless it was embarrassing and bad business. We’ve been to this location years before, but see the ratings have gone down considerably since and maybe...

We had the most unpleasant experience at Kobe’s. I made an 8:00 pm reservation to celebrate my daughters graduation. We had a party of 14 who all arrived on time. Upon arriving we were the only party in the section. 4 or 5 additional parties arrived after us, one was served and left before we received our appetizers, that we had to ask for. Another party was being served and another received there soup and salad. I asked several times when the chef was coming and was told 5 minutes every time. After sitting an hour our party became restless and frustrated as we began to notice we were the only Black party.

After speaking with the manager and communicating our concerns I was told 5 minutes again ( by this time some of our party decided to cancel being that it was getting late 9:05 PM.) When the chef arrived the 5 people that were canceling communicated that and the chef became upset and left the table. The waitress did come over to apologize several times. As we tried to explain to the manager we had several people still eating we were told the whole party was canceled as she made a hand gesture pointing us to the door.

We politely got our things and left. Not one time were we rude or loud with the staff, we ask questions seeking understanding, however we received nothing.

We left the restaurant at 9:20 ish still hungry and shocked by the treatment we received.

This experience by far was something I have never experience and do not wish this upon anyone. It’s my prayer that this business received the staffing support they need to sustain their business and they received support in...

Bad business. Bad customer service. Treated me like I should be eating in the back. After arriving i was handed a buzzer and said it would be 30 mins. I sat in the car because there was no more waiting seats upfront. My bell went off and i came inside. She told me one moment. When she came back she asked me how many. I said my buzzer went off. She said she Seated the table already and that i had to wait another 10 mins which didnt seem fair to me but i sat down after 10 mins I asked again how long she said another 15 minute. At this point im pissed. I said just be honest and she started talking chung chong.... so i Looked up another hibachi restaurant amd decided to leave... i was definitely irrelevant to her and she didnt care if i stayed or not. white folks are priority because it seemed that they were the only one that matter plus we were the only black souls in the building.... maybe om tripping but i do know when im not welcomed. At the end of the day it was best that we leave. If this ever happens to you... mt.. fuji is hibachi and they were amazing. Good food. Good customer service and drinks we amazing. Checkem out. Kobe .... you gets 0 stars... and to the short Chinese Asian lady with the short hair you need go have better etiquette. This could have been prevented if you were just polite about it. You were in the wrong and treated me like I had no right to express my opinion about how you just over looked us 2 only black customers. Sad :( but thank to Mt fuji my date and I had an...