Kobe Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Lake Zurich

This has always been my favorite Japanese restaurant, and I’ve tried them all in the N, NW, and W suburbs. But lately, and I don’t know if Sharon the owner is aware of this, it seems like customer service has taken a nosedive. I’ve probably eaten at Kobe close to 30 times over the years. Right after restaurants just opened back up for dine in, I definitely wanted to support Kobe. But when my new g/f and I stopped in, the place was nearly empty, and we were told by the “hostess/bartender” (whom I’d never seen before) that we needed a reservation. I looked around at the nearly empty restaurant and we started to walk out. She then seated us, but told us SEVERAL times, and throughout dinner, that we need a reservation. OK, got it. One thing I don’t appreciate is feeling like the hostess is doing me a favor by seating me.

Fast forward a few weeks, and when I called today (Friday, March 5th) to make a reservation an 8:00 dinner reservation, I was told that I could NOT make one “because it was too late”. My girlfriend and I work, and our schedules did not permit us to eat at 6:00 tonight. The woman on the phone (I could tell by her voice that it was the same “hostess” who had told me weeks before that we need reservations) then informed me that we could not eat dinner at Kobe at 8:00 because “we close at 9:00”.

As much as I prefer (or at least USED to) Kobe over Tsukasa, Tsukasa (who ALSO closes at 9:00) GLADLY accepted our 8:00 reservation.

Perhaps someone needs to remind the hostess that a restaurant closes when their guests finish eating. The silver lining is that HAD we been allowed to make an 8:00 Friday night dinner reservation, I’m sure it would not have been a positive experience as we would have been rushed by the “hostess” to eat as fast as we could so that she could be sure the doors were locked at 8:59. I prefer to not spend a $200 dinner lifting my legs while the staff vacuums under our chairs.

5 stars for the old Kobe; 1 star for the new Kobe. ...

I used to frequent Kobe multiple times a year, and then had moved on to another hibachi restaurant. I had recently returned in December of 2022, and the food was as expected (not superb, but definitely delicious). During this dining experience, a staff member named "Nino" (I believe) made comments about my appearance that made me uncomfortable and then started sharing a lot of personal information with my party and me. We all felt a bit uncomfortable, but went on our way.

Tonight, a friend and I returned to Kobe for a nice birthday dinner, and Nino ended up being our actual cook. Nino did not give the traditional hibachi experience, and he was so distracted talking to another family at our table he made several mistakes with all of our orders. (He cooked steaks to wrong temperatures, didn't add certain things, made things out of traditional order, forgot a steak entirely, etc.) He again made a few comments about my looks (having not remembered me) and kept saying "if you all don't talk to me, my mind just goes other places," implying that if we didn't talk to him, he'd not pay attention to his cooking. Which, as stated, he already wasn't paying attention to.

There were quite a few other small discrepancies in his cooking routine, but I digress.

I will not be back to Kobe after this. While I'm sure Nino means well, I don't like being made to feel uncomfortable at dinner by a complete stranger. I've always felt the price for Hibachi is fair given the amount of food, quality of the food, and the "show" aspect of it. But for $122 for two people, I do not think it was worth it in the slightest. Hoping to see them turn the tide back to their former glory. I will continue going to the hibachi restaurant I had moved...

This is a great restaurant for an indoor dining experience, but HORRIBLE if you order takeout. Their order-online website has a horrible interface and when you order, they don't tell you when it will be ready. No one answers the phone in the restaurant. Don't order off of Grub Hub! They are not partners with grub hub, and the delivery driver has to place the order once he/she gets to Kobe. Which takes much longer for delivery. We ordered on Grub Hub at 5:30 and the earliest was a 7:00pm pick up, but then was eventually pushed back to 8:30pm. So we cancelled at 7:00pm because we were hungry and ordered directly online (simple order) and it said it would be another 2 hours. Are we supposed to pick up when they are closed at 9:00pm? We decided to go in around 8:15pm hoping it would be at least on their list.. But I came in only to find out they were out of half the food and said they wouldn't be able to start the order for another 20 minutes. Like I said, great indoor experience but don't waste your time ordering...