Hayashi Midtown — Restaurant in Lubbock

Let me start by saying, we visit this location regularly. I understand a bad night. I do NOT understand arguing with a customer. Tonight our waiter was terrible! We requested another waiter however, that didn’t happen. My husband arrived first, was seated, and waited over 5 minutes before he waved down a server from another section. He was able to place his order for a bottled beer and an appetizer, was told he would place the order and let our server know. He then waited 5-10 before waiving down another server, asked about his beer and eventually it was brought to him. I arrived 15-20 minutes after my husband and seated myself. Again, we waited a good 5 minutes before waving down another server. At this point my husband’s beer was gone as well as half of his edema. I ordered a beer he ordered another beer, and chopsticks. We received our drinks in a reasonable amount of time, still NOT from our waiter, no chopsticks. Our waiter comes and gives some story about how where we are seated is not his “normal” section and he forgot about us. He apologized and said he would take good care of us. We understand things get crazy and said no problem. Our friends arrive, our waiter finally comes to the table takes our drink orders. Everyone ordered a drink but me. The waiter goes and places the order comes back and rushes us to order. We told him we were not ready and would appreciate our drinks as well as time. He comes back with drinks in 1-3 minutes, 1 water with lemon, one Diet Coke with very little ice and another water. At this time he ask if we are ready to order appetizers or sushi, we say no we need time. I ask for a water. He leaves. He comes back in 5ish minutes still no water! We order sushi, he attempts to take the menus, we tell him we will order entrees after our sushi. He appears very frustrated, not sure if with us or something else. We wait..flag him down and order 2 more beers, remind him about my water. Also, I dropped my fork and request another one. I have now waited 15-20 minutes for water!!!! He returns with beers assistance from other wait staff with sushi. I have to request a fork again! My sushi as well as the guy across the table from me, not related to me, sushi arrives on the SAME plate. I immediately tell him we need separate plates for that, he argues!!!!! With me tries to tell me sushi arrives like this and we can have smaller plates. I explain to him, we are not sharing, take it back and replace it. I do NOT accept this and demand! It be on separate plates. He returns with separate plates. My sushi is not correct however; my husband and I just share it and move on. He comes back asks if we are ready to order, still no water! We order entree’s. The couple that joined us have to request refills of water and Diet Coke. Diet Coke comes with 3! Slivers if ice. I still do not have water. The waiter then comes to the table with a beer for me that I did not order, I send it back. I had 3 drinks of my 2nd beer. Still no water. Our entrees arrive. Still no water! We were never asked about hot mustard or ginger sauce, no little dishes for soy sauce. Just a terrible experience. Needless to say we will NOT sit in his section ever again....

Everything was wonderful! We really had a nice dinner and great service and even better food. There was of course a few areas that could use a slight improvement but overall it was delicious and we will be returning!

We were greeted by a hostess that was nice enough, she was on her phone but greeted us promptly. We were sat down in the bartenders section and were waited on within 5 or 10 minutes. Appetizer: We got a Tokyo Maki sushi roll as an appetizer and it was the best sushi roll I’ve ever had! The wasabi is also perfectly balanced. We also had a “house salad” which had such a weird tasting dressing but I couldn’t stop eating it anyway lol.

Our entrees: 2 hibachi combination steak & scallops; scallops were cooked to perfection. IMO, The steak could have been taken off the grill a couple minutes sooner and it would have been perfect but it was so good regardless. The veggies could have been left on a little longer but were still great tasting and flavorful. The rice was really good and the sauce under the steak and scallops was delightful!

Dessert: If you’re still hungry, you gotta try the tempura cheesecake. It is AMAZING! Our bartender/waitress recommended it for us and I was not disappointed. Thank you for a lovely dinner. This may become a regular...

The fish in the salmon roll didn't look like salmon. Not bad, but clearly not salmon (I've caught enough to know; flesh was grey, not pink/red-orange). Salads were swimming in enough dressing for 3x the greens. Lettuce was fresh and crisp, but drowning. Only one fork for salad and main entree. Disposable bamboo chopsticks.

The dinners were a saving grace. Both the hibachi teriyaki beef and hibachi steak plates were very good. Beef was tender and flavorful and veggies were firm but not crunchy. Fried rice was very good too. Might've been a one-and-done for us but the hibachi plates were good enough to repeat.

Update: I discovered the morning after my visit my credit card was missing. I returned to Hayashi Midtown (last place I used the card) 15 minutes prior to them opening for lunch. They let me in and returned my card which they'd secured overnight in their cash register. The card had not been used. Extremely pleased with their collective integrity. ...