Ronin Steak House & Sushi — Restaurant in Monroe

I am visiting for a graduation and decided to go there and have my favorite salmon teriyaki with my daughter. At $17.99 a plate, I expected it to be nice, at least. The food was fine. The vegetable roll was the best! The service was not great. Though my server was new, she seemed to sheath aggravation beneath a southern smile, and I am Southern so I know. First, gyoza is NOT the filling. Asking what the filling is is not and should not be a pain. I was told a couple of times that it is “right under what it is” but gyoza is the name... does it have pork? Is it with chicken? I gave up and did not order it. I kept ignoring things like this. Our food was not hot when it came. The salmon was luke warm. There was no rice, no salad and no soup! She never came back! I waited and picked at my salmon but then I thought this is ridiculous. I asked a busboy very nicely if he could get my waitress. She came back with feigned cheer. Now, other people had been served thier entire meals. We had not. We waited five more minutes and got rice, hideously halved in bowls, ONE salad and two soups. :-( Again, she got sucked into the ether and later came back and said we could stay there all night if we wanted to, she didn’t care but did we need anything else? whipped out the bill and never returned. WOW! How awful! My first time here and my first restaurant. :-( Usually, waitstaff comes back. I decided to pay $60 cash, three twenties. I waited and waited.... no one asked to pick up the check. What if I had a card or needed change? I tipped 15% even though this young woman was awful, but where was she? I again asked for her because maybe I would ask about the cheesecake and then hand her the check. Nope. As I started my ruse to be normal and hand the check, she was southern rude AGAIN! Apparently, fried cheesecake is what it is: fried. The other one? She doesn’t know, not going to find out, and kept it moving. I didn’t have time to even hand her the check. She didn’t even ask. My daughter asked me what would I do? We just left. I did not change the amount. I just left. It made me wonder if it were her or just if my daughter and I were not welcome there. Honestly, I was offered a position in the area. I was happy to be able to check it out and not be on an official visit. I was happy to find a Japanese restaurant as we love Japanese food, but now I am even happier where I am and not looking into moving here. Treatment in a restaurant is a big indicator of what daily life can be like in an area. I hope she was having an off night because this was not a good intro to the city and I do not plan on trying out anywhere else. It is unfortunate. The place is beautiful & interesting on the inside. The water feature with the “jellyfish” are so super cute. But one has to wonder... everyone else was not a minority... we are minorities... other people had attentive waiters and got their food... we did not... also, glimpsed some people at other tables near us staring like 1) they finally had gotten their very own, special, dinner party anecdote and it was like unicorns! or 2) they couldn’t believe there were unicorns eating at Ronin! or 3) “who’s that girl?” sung with complete accompaniment of Madonna and with appropriate 80s gear in their heads... etc... sigh of sadness and...

This is a hibachi only review, and their table grills are not being used, so the hibachi came from the kitchen. To start on a positive note: the service was great. Our server, Ashley, was attentive without being overbearing. She brought refills without having to be asked. The warm sake was also good, though it was missing the wet paper towels or hand towel that I've come to expect from other hibachi places. That's it. Everything else about our visit was terrible. We ordered 4 meals, two hibachi dinners and two kids dinners. The adult dinners were a scallop and shrimp combo and a NY Strip (rare) and scallop combo; the kids were a NY Strip (medium) and a shrimp, both with steamed rice instead of fried rice. The kids orders were piping hot while the adult orders were just above lukewarm, my guess is they had sat for about five minutes while the kids orders were made. Then, the proportions were way off from other hibachi places. They only served about half the amount of rice I expected would come with it, and about 2/3 of the veggies I expected, while being between $3 and $6 dollars more per plate than other places. Both steak orders and both shrimp orders were overcooked, while both scallop orders were slightly undercooked. The scallops were not dangerously undercooked, but the texture was unpleasant. The complimentary soups were lukewarm and bland and the mushrooms in them were cut too thick, so they were mostly raw rather than blanched in the hot soup. We went there a year ago and the food was not like this. Easily the most disappointing hibachi meal I've had, and not nearly worth the $88 (pre-tip) that we paid for it. I don't know if the kitchen was just having an off night or there is new management, but I wouldn't go...

8 years later, new location, same disappointment.

Few notes, I only had sushi, service as a whole wasn't bad and very clean. I truly put off re-trying this again because the last trip was so dismal. +1 star however for least being a neat place.

So, the sushi. Got an alligator roll, Louisiana roll and sweet "poe" roll.

The sushi rolls were prepared well and skill is evident here but I don't feel they taste their own creations. Special Roll sizes are either fair or too small.

Louisiana Roll had fried catfish on top.... yep. Reality was panko fried thin swai. Everything was entirely too sweet, the batter, rice, shrimp, crab mix. Really not a good bite.

Alligator roll, tiny pieces of fish, huge chunk of avocado and yet again, sweet and no distinct flavor profile.

Sweet "poe" roll had cheap cream cheese and yep, sweet batter.

Service was attentive but felt super rushed. I had my check moments after the blistering fastly prepared sushi hit my table.

Now for the ambiance. If you want spice girls blaring meanwhile the hibachi chefs (on other end of restaurant) repeat the same minute long drum solo with their spatulas, this place is for you!

Rant aside, this place just needs direction, and perhaps some competition (cuz tokyo ain't it). Being only true option in town and trendier has lured people into thinking they are better than they are. Taste test your sushi, its pretty but taste don't match the looks. Also, soundproof hibachi some, no one wants to be on a date and hear travis barker...