A-1 Japan Steakhouse — Restaurant in Jackson Township

I’ve went to this establishment for years and tonight was a major disappointment and I look forward for management to reach out to me regarding this issue. I may remove the review if they actually act like they care unlike the way they did tonight.

Tonight we sat at the hibachi tables and our chef was Kevin. Our server was Tessa.

Again, we’ve been here numerous times and never had a issue but myself and others at the table ordered filet and seafood combination meals. Typically there is a order to how the meat is cooked in this case. First the chicken, next the beef, and last would be the seafood. My fiancé has eaten here with a seafood allergy many times and we’ve never had to say a word about how the order of the food is cooked but tonight Kevin came out with little to no personality and literally was just throwing everything on the grill at the same time. The seafood was touching the chicken. I didn’t want a scene so I casually walked up to the bar and asked for a manager. The bar tender who had nobody around asked if she could help. I stated my concern and said that I do not want to make a scene so I was looking for a manager to quietly remind Kevin to keep the seafood away from the other food and possibly bring my fiancé chicken that was cooked separately. The bartender immediately walked right up to the hibachi table fully loaded with customers and made a scene. Next she got our very loud server involved. Instantly staff were involving my Fiancé and saying they would go and cook all of her food in the back. Very loud and clearly singled out. Now the entire table was looking down on her and frustrated because Kevin now took off all the lobster tail, shrimp, and scallops after more than half way cooked. The plate of half cooked seafood was then tucked under the grille area and then brought back at the end and cooked the rest of the way. It was way over cooked and the table made numerous comments about the issue while scolding us for making a issue. The staff then came out and LOUDLY stated that they gave us a discount (6.00 off) and the table then was upset again because they didn’t get a discount for the terrible seafood. Somebody even said “so the person who caused the bad seafood got a discount but we did not?”. We were so ready to get out of there. I’m curious enough about this to where I’m going to be calling the health department and see if the seafood should have been handled differently. One person at the table actually did thank us because they hate seafood and they were frustrated that the seafood was not placed on...

You come to A-1 for the food, experience and some would say Sake (not me) on the Hibachi side. We recently had the worse experience ever. People at our table ordered sushi, it never came till halfway through our meal, our salad and soup bowls were never removed, drinks not refilled and then the CHEF. Awful chef, he splattered food everywhere, dropped a chicken breast on the floor which didn't get picked up till we were leaving, he splashed sauces everywhere, he splashed hot oil into my ear, he barely seasoned nor fried the rice but a minute or two, gave everyone double rice, hence he ran out before everyone got it, nothing was flavored well because it wasn't cooked long enough, it was all bland, then vegetables barely cooked. He never did the volcano fire, he dropped utensils. The chef directly behind him, he was cooking before our chef and continued cooking another 15 minutes after ours was finished. That group of people got sushi ahead of their meals their salad and soup bowls were taken away, their chef squirted Sake a long time, ours only offered it to 2 people (our table had 10 people) and squirted a second or two. It was my daughter's Birthday, they forgot that till my son had to go to remind them as we were ready to leave, then the drummer wasn't dressed in costume. Based on this experience, I would give 0 stars. My son went to speak with the manager, she did offer 20% off our bills, and gave each family a $10.00 gift card, when we got to our cars, gift card said can only be used on a $60.00 bill or higher, OR worth only $5.00 below $60.00. We spoke with the manager on the way out again, she apologized and said he was family so she'd talk to him, but then made us feel like we were nuts for complaining because he's a seasoned chef, cooking for 11 years and does it well. Well, if he's been cooking 11 years, he needs to prove he's a seasoned chef, again, he was horrible, and just maybe, been cooking horribly for 11 years! And to add to that, he looked like he was very young, in his early 20's. And I might add, we dine here often (not usually like this...

I have no idea how this restaurant holds such a high rating. I have eaten here three times in the last year and the noodles are always overcooked as is the rice. Tonight I asked for coffee, the waitress replied that their coffee maker broke a year ago and management has refused to replace it...so no coffee was available.

I have worked in food service for 37 years now, let me explain how coffee makers work. No restaurant buys or maintains their normal coffee makers. The purveyors of the brand of coffee you buy supply and maintain the coffee makers for you, as a service for buying their brand of coffee only. Every single coffee company provides this service. So either the profit margin is not high enough on coffee for them (likely as they only offer Pepsi products instead of the more expensive Coke) or it would require their waitstaff to actually refill a beverage. Clearly that is not what they want to do, as no one at my hibachi had their beverage refilled, be it water or soda. There were four groups of 3-4 people each at my hibachi.

The appetizer soup was almost pure broth with the tiniest shaving of garnish....two shavings per bowl to be exact. The salad was pure iceburg lettuce with no garnish at all with a blob of thousand island dressing.

The proteins were good enough but thats were the meal stopped. No dessert or palate cleanser.

The bulk of your meal is the noodles and rice, they are just a mushy mess and I wouldn't recommend ever going here unless the flame from alcohol on a hot grill is...