Oishii Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Lincoln

Do not recommend dine-in. Leaves much to be desired. Poor experience. Scandalous prices.

From the outside the place looks legit. When you walk in, it smells like fried canola oil, it looks and feels cheap, and the floors are sticky. The bathrooms are equivalent to a service station where you need a key to access it on the outside. The ambiance is as graceful as an inner city Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Not kid friendly at all.

Two stars for the chef who had fun, did some tricks, interacted with us best he could with a language barrier (Spanish...not Japanese), and cooked decent food. Not good or great, but decent food. I later saw that chef bussing in the back, so they must be short staffed. At least he smiled and made jokes which is more than could be said for the other "trainee chef" who was very serious and slow. We felt bad for the families that got that "chef" in a baseball cap. She was so not the vibe, that we asked to ensure we weren't getting her.

This place was popular for take out and maybe that's what it's good for. Our waitress was too busy managing the take out orders to be bothered serving us. She handed my son a handful of straws and told him to pass them out. When my husband asked about the beer option, she gave him a hard look,as if she was confused by the question, and directed him to the menu. She also forgot to serve us our soup and salad. We had to ask for them while the chef was already serving us our hot food. We also had to ask for the check (get us out of here! ) as she was yet again too occupied to give it to us in a timely manner.

I was so disappointed that after our meal I asked to speak with the manager to let them know the waitress needed retraining, and supposedly there wasn't a manager present. (If I ever take the time to ask for a manager, it's to give accolades, but this was ludicrous and needed to be addressed. )

I have no idea how this place is operational.

You pay the same price as a good Japanese Steakhouse but get lackluster food, poor customer service, poor ambiance.

After eating hibachi for over 20 years in several New York locations, California, and Wyoming, this place ranks the worst.

Do not recommend.

If you enjoy hibachi, have eaten it before, and have expectations, go somewhere else. Save the efforts and money.

On the other hand, if you're ever passing through Rawlins, Wyoming, I highly recommend Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse. It's right off the highway (80) and everything you want and didn't know you...

Seriously one of the worst meals I’ve ever had. Please do not eat here. You will regret it.

The waiter did his best but everything was literally terrible. This photo is of, and I’m not kidding here, flame cooked hot sushi. Many of us ordered miso soup and the waiter said “the chef said this was French onion soup or whatever.” The waiter brought out a couple of our meals and some sushi before telling me they were out of the pork katsu I had ordered 15 minutes earlier. He offered that they could do beef katsu, which I reluctantly agreed to, only to receive something that was somewhere in the neighborhood of well-done breaded shoe leather. After the entrees came we asked about the soup, which had been forgotten. That’s when the mystery soup was provided. After that they brought out some woefully unappetizing salads.

As bad as all of this was, the low point was when we spoke to the manager on duty about how terrible everything was. I told her it was criminal to charge us anything for the abject disaster we had just experienced, but I’d be willing to pay half out of the kindness and generosity of my heart. She told me there was nothing she could do about it and would charge us full price. We pushed and she reluctantly agrees to give us the 15% off “friends and family discount.” It was so offensive and uncomfortable I nearly walked out without paying.

I never say this about any businesses, even the bad ones, but I sincerely hope this restaurant goes out of business as quickly as possible before more people fall victim to their disastrous customer service and their nightmarishly terrible...

Sept 3rd Soft Opening.

First off, they were not busy at all. So keep that in mind.

Ordered egg rolls, Teryaki Chicken /w Fried Rice, Teryaki Shrimp /w Fried Rice. Somehow we ended up with an extra plate that had Teryaki Chicken and Shrimp /w Fried Rice and Veggies.

The seasoning was perfect on everything. Shrimp was amazing, chicken was amazing. I loved the rice. We have been looking for a ppace that could serve Hibachi without oversaucing, but instead using good seasoning. This place hit everything we wanted. Loved it all and will come back definitely.

Again....please keep in mind that we came while they were NOT busy. Great service...great food.

Update 10/4/22: We have been back 2 more times since our initial visit on their first day. On both occasions, food and service was the same quality as our first visit. It is unfortunate that others have had bad experiences. It is clear that this place has some efficiency things to iron out, but all three experiences we have had were 5 Star. Most complaints seem to be about wait times and sushi. Our wait times were reasonable and I don't eat sushi. Hopefully if you chose this place, you will have the same experiences and great tasting food that we have had all 3 times....