New Ichiban — Restaurant in Huntsville

Well, this place earned my first bad review.

Short list as to why: -server gave a pitiful, lame excuse refusing to bring hot tea -server began trying to rush us out of there -other servers started swarming us by cleaning right around us -we walked out the door at 9:33...THREE minutes after close!!!

The long story: We went on a Sunday night, at 8:30. According to Google maps, the closing time is 10pm, but the hours posted on the door said 9:30pm. That left an hour. I will not go to a sit down restaurant with any less time than an hour, because I've worked in this industry for a long time. We asked the hostess if they were still serving. She said yes. Okay, great. One other couple joined the hibachi table. Our chef was fine. He was the quietest hibachi chef I've ever encountered, but I just attributed it to being tired and the end of the shift approaching. He did what needed to be done. Food was fine. The seaweed salad could stand to have more seaweed than lettuces, but that's a smaller issue, concerning this visit. The issues started around ten minutes after nine. The server came by to ask how everything was. I said fine, & asked for a hot green tea. He then told me the "hot water machine was turned off." Really? You mean you can't grab a teabag, put it in a cup, & used the red lever for hot water on the coffee machine? Because that's all it requires! I understand hot tea/coffee being a pain when you're in a rush or busy, but when you only have two couples, there is no excuse! Especially, considering that is typically a sign that you're guests are at the end of their meal. At 9:15, this obviously ready-to-go guy asked the couple across from us, who was still eating, if they needed to go boxes. And then us, mid-bite. Are you serious? In the following fifteen minutes, the check was dropped, we were stared at, swarmed by the other servers wiping and using the Bissell around us, all while we were still finishing our dinners. We paid our bill & walked out at 9:33, THREE minutes after close!!!!! I've done this type of work for a LONG time, & this was just SORRY SERVICE. PERIOD. First &...

What an interesting experience. My daughters decided they wanted to spend their birthday dinner with us and their boyfriends at Hibachi, thinking it would be a fun dinner and a show for a special occasion. We moved to the area about a year ago, and hadn’t found a great hibachi place, so I went on Facebook’s local pages to see which restaurant was most recommended. It was between New Ichiban and another that wasn’t in the greatest part of town, so we chose this one. I went online and there was an option on Google to make a reservation. I reserved for 6 at 6:15 on a Saturday night. Google assistant said it would request it and I would receive a confirmation after they called the restaurant. About 5 minutes later, I received a confirmation that my reservation went through. I had it on email. We arrived at 6:15 and the restaurant had no record of my reservation. The man at the front said that they don’t use google and next time to call directly. It is clear as day online that they use google and I received a confirmation that it went through. He said no, that they don’t, and they’d do their best to get us in. That we had to wait behind the other walk ins- which is super frustrating since I wasn’t a walk in- we had made a reservation. He said it would be 15-20 mins which wouldn’t be so bad. Unfortunately, it wound up being more like 45 minutes. We were sat, our drink orders were taken and then our orders. The chef came out and put a large fire on the grill and started cooking. There was no Hibachi show. No onion fire volcano, no shrimp catching, no silly jokes or eggs being caught in a hat. He cooked. And the food wound up being good, no complaints there, but we were disappointed that they don’t do anything fun while they cook. They also didn’t offer any sauces, no yum yum or ginger sauce, so we asked for it. It was almost as the chef was annoyed that we wanted sauce. Overall, the food was fine, but the over all experience kinda sucked. I don’t know if there will be a next time that I call directly to make a...

We had an 8pm reservation for my son’s 15th birthday dinner. It was myself and 3 kids ages 15, 13, and 4. My daughter, the 4 year old, was excited for her very first hibachi experience. As the cook arrived to start preparing the food, my daughter anxiously asked with excitement “Are you here to cook the food for us?” He replied in a very dry manner “Yes.” I could instantly tell that he was in no mood to be extra friendly with a kid. I told my daughter “Stop asking questions baby, just watch him cook.” So as he finishes the rice, she asks “Are you gonna cook the steak now?” The server BRANDON then replies “Stop asking so many questions, sit back and enjoy the show. Do you ask this many questions during a movie???” His tone was very condescending and instantly hurt my daughter’s feelings. She got quiet, and tears filled her eyes, and she looked at me and said “Mommy, he hurt my feelings. I can’t ask anymore questions.” As a curious and bubbly 4 year old, she sees no harm in asking simple questions. She was excited, and her memory of her first hibachi experience was ruined simply bc this cook didn’t have the patience to be kind to a 4yr old little girl. I was very angry and it took a lot of self control to keep myself from snapping back at this cook. I spoke to the manager, and he apologized and took 10% off of the ticket, all while informing me that “Brandon” is normally a crowd favorite. He’s no favorite of ours. In spite of everything, the same 4yr old little girl who’s feelings he hurt, complimented him on doing such a great job cooking and said her food was delicious. “Brandon”, a little kindness goes a long way. Remember that the next time you force a kid to shut up bc you’re in no mood to answer questions.

Signed, An...