Kiku Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Middletown

Ate Dinner here on Friday, September 5, 2025 This was my first time at this Japanese Steakhouse. Certainly not my first time at a hibachi restaurant. Upon entering we were greeted by who I would assume manager and hostess. You get the option of sitting in the restaurant or hibachi. We had to wait for our 3rd person to arrive before we are seated. Keep in mind, it is a Friday night and we were on the cusps of peak time. Once he arrived, we were seated. All started off good. There was another young couple already at the hibachi we were seated at. What brings this review down to 4 stars is the server. She seated us but was constantly preoccupied or distracted. When it came to asking for our drink and food orders, she would ask but wrote on her pad while looking elsewhere. It was determined that she was looking out to fill her station. After taking all orders once our hibachi was filled i had requested an order of Gyoza. Guess what, because of her being distracted she totally forgot them. Thankfully, not on our bill in the end. Soon after, the hibachi chef arrived. If I understood him right, his name was Ben. He did a great job however the young couple next to us told us they love the fried rice at this place. I may not be Asian but their version of fried rice is mehhh. It was literally pre-cooked fried rice (as it should be) in oil with soy sauce squirted on with some fried scrambled eggs. Certainly not the traditional version that I make at home. And to be frank, mine is far better! And not so greasy! Yes, lots of oil used in the making of the food from the protein to the veggies. And because the hibachi is at a high temp at the risk of charring your food it tends to be undercooked. My scallops could've been a minute or two more but the chicken was cooked well. The shrimp was overcooked and veggies were quite al dented. The food was good but inconsistent. Ben did a fine job cooking and 'entertaining' us but it is evident he is going thru the motions. He did do the squrting of the Saki into people's mouths and flipping of the food as well. Here's were the 4 stars come in. When it came down to paying, I wanted to use my apple pay. The server told me they didn't do that. I had to pay cash. Told her I didn't have any. According to the young couple who did use card, they were attacked verbally by her when it came down to the tip. She made them pay more!!!! The same with us, she insisted we pay to. There was no doubt we were going to buy she was extremely pushy and IN YOUR FACE, literally with the menu that states 18% gratuity. That left a bad taste in my mouth and very upsetting. The bill was paid and we left. Aside from that it was a good experience but I won't be returning. If you get a server that is a bit older, petite with long black hair in a pony tail and bangs, SIT...

Summary: Horrible. Do yourself a favor and read the other reviews. If you feel the need to gamble, take the $100 you will spend here and drop it in a slot machine - your odds are better.

I am a Hibachi enthusiast. I have visited Hibachi restaurants all over the East Coast. I've had several mediocre experiences - never a bad one until here.

Arrived Sunday afternoon. Surprised to be seated right away. Seating is rather crammed. I'm used to and expect a certain amount of performance but here was excessive. Their singing Happy Birthday was more of a screaming chant with over use of the percussion to an extreme - I had a headache within the first 3 minutes of being seated.

Again to the performance. I find serving Sake by the chef squirting directly into Patron's mouths offensive for a family setting. Followed by "kid sake" in a baby bottle is just poor taste.

Salad. The salad lacked any tomato. The ginger dressing was separating and gritty. It had the color of bright yellow mustard. There was at least 1/4" of dressing sitting at the bottom of the bowl. The color, texture and taste were horrible.

Rice. The rice was prepared with only soy sauce. Horrible taste. Lacked any vegetables other than onions.

Noodles. I hoped the noodles had a better taste and the rice was just off. No. Their sauces clashed with the food.

Shrimp. Larger than most places. Give them a thumbs up here. Task was again horrible. So many contradicting tastes, all unpleasant.

Scallops - unsure if they were bad but the taste was horrible.

Dipping Sauces - I automatically give a thumbs down when they serve the mayo based yum yum sauce. The other was a ginger sauce of similar taste and texture of the salad dressing but of brown color. It was separating in the dish and unpleasant.

Overall this restaurant was horrible. Dover is great, Bear is decent and then you have Middletown. I literally left hungry because I could not eat what was placed in front of me it...

Second time we went to Kiku. The first time the service wasn't the best. The food way okay. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and wanted to give it another shot and take my whole family.

The second time was absolutely horrible! Right from the get go we had a waiter that acted like we didn't exist and he did not care of being there. I'm all about customer service and this guy was not even close. I had to go find the manager just to have our waters refilled. When our waiter did appear he placed both my wife and my meals in front of us. When I told asked him where my fried vegetables were he said I do not get them with my meal. That it would cost extra. I told him that I believe the menu did say they were included. He told me I was wrong. So I asked him to get me the menu. When he brought it over I clearly pointed it out that it said it. While I was telling him this another waitress appeared out of no where and just took my wife's meal and walked away!

While all of this was going on the manager sensed something was wrong. He came over and told the waiter he was wrong. That I was supposed to get fried vegetables.The waiter stormed off and he never came to our table again! And get this.... The manager had to finish waiting our table! When I asked what happened to my wife's meal the manager said they made a mistake. It was someone else's... They actually took the meal that was sitting in front of my wife and gave it to another table!

The experience was a shame because my kids and wife were looking forward to it. The customer service severely lacks from my experience. If your looking for a place with excellent customer service go across the street to the Green Turtle. When you have customer service that goes array it ruins any chance of creating positive experiences with...