Teriyaki Madness — Restaurant in Lake Forest

I have always wanted to try this place but find myself driving up the street to Yogi's for my teriyaki chicken fix until today when I actually went in as I needed a battery from the battery store next door.

I ordered a large chicken bowl and asked for light rice... that didnt happen... I still got way too much rice and way too little chicken. The quality was decent but the proportions were off big time.

As I ate in the restaurant I couldn't help overhearing the manager/owner talking to some marketing person in a meeting about how to boost sales.

Forgive me if it's unwarranted but I have had a lot of teriyaki chicken and from a customers viewpoint if the manager is reading this I would like to give an opinion about boosting sales from a customer's perspective:

#1) include bigger portions of chicken I am talking like 10% more chicken would have left me content (especially when the sign on the window reads 'big portions'.... it just lead to a 'big disappointment ' when that was not the case. .. and if it isn't possible to that, at least cut the the chicken into small pieces to give an impression that there is more chicken.... that would help!

#2) Give bigger sides of teriyaki sauce and not those little tiny cups reserved for hot mustard at Chinese restaurants. I mean I needed like 4 or 5 those tiny little sample cups and wasn't able to completely cover my rice.... bigger sides of teriyaki make people who enjoy teriyaki come back.

3. as a customer I want more options for fixings instead of just steamed veggies, especially for me like an option for green onions is standard at most teriyaki spots.... I did enjoy the steamed vegetables (I requested on the side) but I would have been content with scallions on top and paying extra for mixed veggies (if I wanted them).

Sorry for the long message but the food isn't bad here it's just not served correctly and no amount of marketing will help if customers like me don't care to come back on a normal basis.

Hope this place finds its footing... it could be great instead of just...

Ok, so if you're going to try to cater to people with allergies then you should be properly training your staff on the ingredients.

I came here to pick-up for a friend and noticed that the Chicken Teriyaki Bowl had a GF symbol by it. I asked if the soy sauce in the teriyaki sauce was gluten free to which the reply was a snobby "Uh teriyaki sauce is always GF".

I corrected them and let them know they were wrong, and they persisted that the sauce is indeed gluten free and I do NOT need to special order anything..

I got a bowl and brought it home, but I'm still skeptical so I called another location and asked if it is indeed gluten free....

They did not know what I was talking about and had to ask management who explained that the teriyaki chicken bowl needs to be ordered without sauce in order to be Gluten Free!

I'm now hungry and out $10.44 because no server across TWO stores knew what they were talking about, and even I'm still not sure if your house sauce is gluten free or not.

Please train your staff better, because you can make a killing if you sold GF teriyaki...

I just happened to be in the area and said to myself, why not?? Sounds like a decent place - and no wait at all. I totally dig the idea and concept of building your own bowl. The customization is a solid method and the choices for what kind of meat, rice, noodles, and/or veggies you is amazing. I felt a little bit adventurous for my first time and decided to order the spicy chicken teriyaki bowl. Whoa momma! That is DEFINITELY spicy!! Needless to say, I toughened it up and finished my bowl. Thank goodness for lots of napkins and refills haha. Would I go back? Of course. Would I stick to a regular chicken teriyaki bowl instead of the spicy...