Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Knoxville

I had a terrible experience.

I walked in, there was no one at the host stand, so I bypassed that to head to the bar.

I sat there for a few minutes. A few minutes later, a guy came in and sat beside me.

No one greeted me, so I got up and asked a girl if she could have someone to come to the bar. She said, sure. I think she was working the host stand but has stepped away. When I spoke with her she was walking back to the front area.

I say this because as I continued sitting there, looking around, I barely saw any staff.

Shortly after the lady came to the bar and asked if I had a take out. I said no. She asked the guy sitting beside me if he had a take out. He said yes. She took care of him. Eventually she came back and asked if I wanted a drink. I Iet her know that I wanted food as well. She said oh, that just unusual for me.

I say, "okay".

I was a bit confused that someone working a bar at a restaurant is surprised that a customer wants to eat at the bar.

She gave me a menu. The menu appeared to be the lunch menu, as it only had lunch options on it. I thought that was odd.

She brought me a water, and gave me a few minutes to look over the menu.

While sitting there some Hispanic girl come up to the bar and begins talking to a girl and a guy sitting at the bar. The Hispanic girl was obnoxiously loud, while speaking to the two. They were talking about someone being drunk (the other day - or something). I truly tried to disregard it but it was so excruciatingly, obnoxiously loud. She was excited, talking to her friends.

Soon it began evident that the 2 who were sitting at the bar, the loud girl who came up to talk to them, and two others who joined all worked there. That became clear by their conversation. They all were talking to each other, cursing. Including the bartender lady who took my order.

They all talked the whole time I was there. It was very loud. I had a very hard time trying to enjoy my meal.

The bartender was pretty inattentive, as she was enjoying conversing with what seemed to be her coworkers. All sitting at the bar.

I tipped the girl, even though I don't think it was deserved. I tipped $2.

The service I received was absolutely terrible, and a overall bad experience.

I shouldn't have to summon wait staff to come to a bar to attend to a customer.

I shouldn't have to sit by and hear obnoxiously loud off the clock workers curse, and talk about drunk people.

One of the girls came to the bar to tell the bartender that someone looked like Dolly Parton.

It was truly an unprofessional environment. Allowing customers to be subjected to all of that is unacceptable.

I hate that was my experience, but I couldn't go...

My family went to the Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse in Bearden last night for my mother's birthday and it was one of the worst experiences I've ever had at a restaurant.

There were 13 of us, plus an infant who needed a sling. We had made reservations earlier in the day to be accommodated. They sat us at a table that fits 9-11 at most, when we probably needed two tables, but despite being extremely close to each other, we sort of made it work. My father was hanging off the table and had to get up and completely move his chair at least 8-10 times so the chefs could get through.

Our waitress, Whiteney, was absolutely awful: My sister had a long, black hair in her soup - the waitress never came back so my brother in law went to find another server to ask for a new one. My husband and I had asked for our 5 and 6 year old to have children's cups - she brought adult cups, then when we asked for cups again so they wouldn't spill, she only brought one, not two. She never brought the extra silverware that we needed, so my husband got up and had to get the silverware on his own. She never bused the table. We needed to remove the soup and salad bowls so the sauce bowls could fit once the chef arrived. My brother in law got up and bused the table himself. *5. Towards the end of the dinner as my father was about to have his steak served on his plate, the waitress bumped into my dad, knocking his water completely onto him and his plate, covering his jeans, as well as his plate full of rice and veggies, in water. She just simply said "Oh sorry" then took his plate and walked away - never helped clean it up and just gave us a rag. Then she just brought back a plate full of rice piled extremely high from the back kitchen - the plate was so overfilled that the chef had to take the plate and serve some of it to others at the table because it couldn't fit his food.

I guess I somewhat thought at least my father's meal would have been comped. The whole thing that made this experience so bad was that the waitress had such an attitude and was so unapologetic and unhelpful. If she was sweet and apologetic, as you would expect someone to be after at least the spill, it wouldn't have seemed as bad. As I said above, this was just a very bad experience overall. Some people are just not meant to be in the service industry. The chef was good. I've been to the Wasabi in Turkey Creek and haven't ever had a bad experience there. But after dinner last, I probably will...

We love coming here. The food is always amazing and seeing it cooked in front of you gives you peace of mind knowing exactly what's going into your meal and how fresh the ingredients are. This last trip we ventured out a bit. My husband ordered the lobster, shrimp and filet combo and it was wonderful! Quite easily the best lobster either of us have ever had. The filet was cooked perfectly as well, but we knew they rocked steaks as the ribeye has been a staple every time we've come. They have a very extensive sushi menu as well. My husband hates avocado but we were still able to find several options he enjoys without it. The Angel Roll and Yummy Yummy Roll are delightful. The later being flash fried so it has a wonderful crispiness that isn't found in a lot of sushi. The portion sizes are HUGE. We always leave with at least one (usually two) to-go boxes filled with leftovers that I enjoy for days afterwards as lunches. Yes, it's obviously more expensive than a chinese buffet/hibachi grill but you're also paying for the experience and the freshness of the food, not to mention the quality of the ingredients. The steaks are beautiful, chicken breasts are large and well trimmed and the shrimp are nowhere near the "quarter size" mentioned in another review. Even the more expensive things like the filet and lobster tail are good sized portions and when you get the combos you have more than enough to eat. I saw reviews complaining about there being too many people at a grill or "not following COVID protocols" but I didn't see that as an issue. While you do only have a chair between you and the party next to you it's not like people are sitting there breathing on you. We're all there to eat some delicious food. The waiting area is large enough to be spaced out. They only bring one group through at a time and the grills are positioned so that people aren't sitting directly facing anyone else. We've eaten there at least twice since the COVID mess started and had zero concerns. I'd be more concerned if they limited their capacity and ended up closing down due to lack of business because it would be a major loss for the area as there's nothing that really...