KOBE Steak & Sushi — Restaurant in Kalispell

WARNING  Child Assaulted by Chef!!

Our family came in for a celebratory dinner, 3 adults and 2 young children. The restaurant was not busy and to our surprise we had an entire hibachi table to ourselves! At first we were very excited and had placed a rather large order. This was my children's first time at this restaurant and experiencing a hibachi "show". Our chef arrived and seemed agitated and rushed, however, my girls were enjoying themselves and were hypnotized by the tableside cooking. Out of NO WHERE, our chef grabbed his water bottle, pointed at close range, shot and doused my 2 kids directly in the face, 1 more intensely then the other. My 7yr olds ENTIRE face and hair were soaked and dripping. Her eyes welled up with tears, she was confused, and had water streaming down her face while her shirt was absolutely SOAKED. Because she had never experienced this before she was initially scared that the water was actually the oil he had been cooking with and was scared to wipe her face. She had a look of absolute shock and embarrassment. Our chef could care less that his act shook up not only the kids but the entire table. We were unable to participate in the proceedings of the "show" as I was too concerned with trying to calm my daughter. The chef then kept yelling "Come On!!, Come On!!" at us, and then quickly cleaned up and left. My husband was visibly upset and concerned about the experience and spoke with the server who said that this was a common experience for the restaurant. This act was NOT playful by the chef and if this IS a common occurrence,  I can only imagine parents and patrons alike do NOT enjoy a rapid spray of water directly in thier face, enough to soak a shirt, entirely!!  The manager came out and did not express concern, he assured us that this is what the hibachi experience entails "all across the US" and that we should have expected it and that "it was JUST water!! ". My husband insisted that the treatment was unacceptable and the response from the manager was " I must ask you to leave". Had this been playful in nature, a quick splash from the bottle, or even a tasteless joke, we could have brushed it off as part of the experience. However, this was not the case. The Chef was rude, excessive, and scared my children, ruing our experience! The supervisor had no empathy for the seven year old girl with tears in her eyes.

The intent for my review is to bring awareness for the unexpected customer who may have gotten dressed up for a special dinner. You may leave with a face full of water and...

Edit in response to the owner reply: I have to highlight that there was zero line when I walked in, and the voicemail was both full and didn't even mention the company name. These are super basic customer experience things, which (unless they've addressed without mentioning) I'm guessing are still present. Literally clearing a voicemail and adding the company name to the message would have avoided this. Or perhaps having the staff who do check in also answer the phone. Even with all of that, 45 min for a "poke" 1/3 the size of my local place is difficult to justify. So, for the price: 5 stars for taste, 1 for portion, 1 for speed and 1 for communication. Two stars is the average.

Original review follows:

First I tried calling, three times over a 20 minute window. Each time, I got a "voicemail is full" message, without even the name of the business. I wasn't 100% sure they were even open, even after confirming the number of their site was the same number on Google.

The only option to order take-out therefore was on a delivery site (with a built-in 20% upcharge), so the 2 order of Poke I placed were $16+ instead of the $13 on their menu. Oh, and the site said it would take 45 minutes to be ready. Seemed long given it's raw fish, but it's not like I could call and ask, right?

When I went to pick it up, they seemed surprisingly well staffed (there was a receptionist ready to seat me) give they couldn't answer the phone. I gave my name for the order, and was given the two small platters of sashimi pictured. I looked at her and confirmed "this is the poke?" which she confirmed.

Hungry and dismayed I left to the car. The fish was covered in a dressing that my wife is allergic to (and not mentioned on their menu). Perhaps I'm spoiled by the $13 poke (3x the size, customizable, ready in 10 minutes) where I live, but this was the worst servicing of poke I've ever had. The only reason it avoided 1 star was the flavor wasn't half as bad as...

Starting from the top, not even mentioning the food. Crowded tables of maskless strangers in the Tappenyaki section eating shoulder to shoulder is a major red flag during Covid. No tables or booths closed for social distancing. Sushi pickup counter is right next to hostess stand where dishes are left for people coming in to mingle next to often without masks. Should've taken a hint upon seeing this that we were in for a rough time but we'd just finished a hike in glacier and my fiance was craving sushi.

Took quite a while after we were seated to see a waiter, other tables seated after us were served first. We did receive water quite promptly though which was nice. Server arrived and took drink and app orders, dashed off and filled them promptly, then disappeared for quite a while before coming back, dropping of the appetizer and then disappearing again. Once he took our order after handling several more tables (he seemed a little overwhelmed but also seemed really intent to watch the tv or something over by the bar) our food came in waves with my fiance's sushi sitting on an open counter next to the hostess station where several guests (thankfully wearing masks) were within a couple feet of it talking and mingling about.

Food was lackluster and overpriced at best. japanese style noodles had a sour taste, sushi was bland and drowned in sauce till soggy and mushy, salmon collar was extremely overcooked and dry. The Yakitori wasn't bad, but it was a little on the bland side as well.

When it came time to pay and I presented a card the waiter has me take his point of sale device (the little iPad thing he takes orders on) from him, while he went to handle another table, and enter my card and tip amount myself. A little upsetting since I presume he was doing this to every customer and he'd been handling my food after touching this device.

All in all would absolutely recommend avoiding until COVID mess is over and cannot recommend after...