Kani House - Johns Creek — Restaurant in Johns Creek

I visited Kani House this past Friday evening to celebrate my husband’s birthday, a special occasion that was unfortunately marred by an unexpected and disappointing encounter. Having grown up in the area, I’ve frequented this Kani House numerous times over the years, always enjoying the ambiance and cuisine without ever needing a reservation. We were more than willing to wait if necessary, as we arrived early—around 5:30 to 6:00 PM—with our party of four.

We drove all the way from Atlanta (a hour and 20 minutes away) specifically to visit this Kani House because we’ve consistently had great experiences here, and it’s conveniently located near our relatives. However, we could have easily chosen a better, more popular hibachi restaurant in the city.

Upon our arrival, the restaurant was nearly empty, which made the subsequent interaction all the more perplexing. The host, a young and courteous gentleman, greeted us warmly and inquired about our seating preference. We expressed a desire to sit at the hibachi, and it was at this point that an older man, likely the manager or owner, abruptly intervened. From behind the host, he immediately and curtly said “no,” with no further explanation. The host started to argue with him to give us a table. Despite the host’s polite attempt to accommodate us, this older gentleman insisted, with what I can only describe as unwarranted hostility, that we could not be seated.

The young host, clearly uncomfortable with the situation, apologized and simply stated, “We don’t have a table for you,” without offering any further context. There was no mention of a potential wait time, no suggestion that the restaurant was fully booked, and no alternative offered. My husband and relatives, unaware of the developing situation, were seated off to the side, assuming we would be accommodated.

To add to the confusion, there were several staff members just standing around the restaurant. Perhaps this was due to a shift change, given the early hour, but it gave the impression that everyone was simply bored because there were no guests coming in.

As someone who was visibly pregnant, I’m not suggesting that I deserve special treatment, but the sheer lack of basic customer service in this interaction was both baffling and disheartening. Whether this refusal stemmed from a lack of availability or something else, I cannot say with certainty, but the dismissive manner in which we were treated was inexcusable.

This incident has left a lasting negative impression, and it’s deeply disappointing to see such behavior from a place that I once regarded...

So a group of 6 (myself and some colleagues) decided to come in for hibachi to celebrate a birthday at lunchtime. Upon entering, several of us noticed an unpleasant smell like it wasn't very clean, but nothing overwhelming. We were told that hibachi was closed because they didn't have a chef available and instead all 6 of us were crammed into a booth (not the best under current health crisis). We would honestly have gone elsewhere at this point but we didn't have time to switch venues so we decided to go with it.

All of us had the obligatory miso soup (basically chicken broth with a couple of scallions floating in it) and salad (handful of iceberg from a bag with ginger dressing). I do like the ginger dressing... doubt it was not straight out of a plastic bottle though.

I can only recommend that if you come in for lunch, avoid the sushi. Everyone else enjoyed their food to varying degrees - from what I can tell, the bento boxes and hibachi fried rice were well received.

Imma talk about this sushi though. It was the spicy roll platter, supposed to be a spicy California roll, spicy tuna roll and spicy salmon roll. The "spicy" part was literally just drops of Sriracha on top of each piece. I don't know if the regular sushi chef had the day off and they had the dishwasher rolling this stuff or what but it was a hot mess. Rice falling apart, gloopy "tuna" mush oozing out of the middle, pieces of room temperature salmon hanging out in flaps and a chunk of imitation crab stick sticking out the end with a glob of Sriracha on it looking like they ripped a leg off a crab while it was still alive and stuck it in a raggedy wad of rice and seaweed.

I have pictures. Legit terrible like nobody even tried to make it look like they cared.

Service was okay. No real complaints there.

I'm still a little salty about the...

I would like to start this review by saying this was my second time eating here. The first time, the food was amazing as well the service. I did not have the same experience tonight. The food was still good, but the service was not. I understand the server seemed overwhelmed and that likely contributed to our experience. We ordered a meal that came with soup, salad, and the main entree. We received the entree but never the soup or salad. Again, I know how busy she was so I just decided not to worry about it as long as we were not charged for the soups and salad.

When we received the check, we had been charged for the soup and salads. I told her it was no problem and we would take them to go. She seemed a bit annoyed at this point with us. After waiting a while, she returned with the bag tied up and said it was good to go. I opened the bag and saw there was no soups, only salads. So I again asked her if we could have the soups to go. At this point she seemed extremely annoyed with us. She said she would bring them out. After waiting even longer, she brought the soups as well. We thank her, still leave over a 20% tip, and leave.

As we are getting into our car, she runs out of the restaurant and says we haven’t paid. I remind her we did pay with cash and she even asked if she could keep the change, to which we said yes. She said she would go check and never came back. After waiting, I had to return inside to ask the manager if it was okay for us to leave. He wasn’t even aware of the situation and when he asked her about it she just said “sorry” and that we...