Ōdōri Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in North Myrtle Beach

The shame of this review is that it could easily have been much higher apart from one very unfortunate incident and some key mistakes in the aftermath.

I’ll cut right to it, my brother-in-law found an entire press-on fingernail in his soup. I don’t think there’s a soup in the world good enough to overcome how nightmarish it is to pull someone else’s nail out of it.

We informed our waiter about this immediately. He was incredibly apologetic, but had very little ability to offer us much by way of compensation for it. We saw him speak to many other waitstaff, and presumably the manager about it, although we are unable to confirm this because no manager came to speak to us. In fact, we went the entire rest of the meal without being spoken to but anyone but our horrified waiter, even though we felt the eyes of basically the entire staff on us the whole time. I guess waiting to see if we would make some kind of scene.

When we did finish our meal — and by “we," I mean my husband and I because my BIL had no appetite for the rest of the night — we were brought the full check. Nothing comped. Still no managerial intervention whatsoever.

We paid, and started packing up the completely untouched leftovers of my BIL’s meal, and then who should grace our table but the manager herself. She apologized profusely for what happened, particularly for the fact that our waiter rang us out “before she could say anything.” She made no offer to void the transaction, so forgive me if I’m a little skeptical that she would have rang us out any differently than the faultless college student that had to be the PR face of this incident. She also swore that she had no idea how that could have happened because none of her staff even wear fake nails. Never mind the fact that we spent the entire evening watching the hostess walk around sporting the exact same pattern on her press-ons as the one that came out of my BIL’s mouth. Or the other waitress wearing even longer acrylics serving the table right next to us.

In the end, the only offer the manager made to us was a gift card for our next visit, as if we would have considered going back to the scene of probably the most traumatic dining experience I can remember personally witnessing. We declined, and she said to ask for her next time we come in. I have already forgotten the name she gave us because I will never need it.

So yeah, that’s my warning to all considering dining here. The unsullied food we got was delicious, and the restaurant does not appear to be the kind of place where this sort of thing would occur, as all the kitchen staff we could see were fully gloved as they prepared the food. But truthfully after what happened, I’m wondering if there’s more of a story behind those gloves than I first thought.

I might have considered giving them another chance if they had done literally anything besides act really horrified, but as they offered no true compensation whatsoever or take any true responsibility for what happened at all, that will not be happening. I’m sure they’ll do just fine without my patronage, I just felt it was my civic duty to caution the public to consider whether admittedly delicious teriyaki is worth the risk of the health code violations you may have to endure to get it.

TL;DR: paid full price for soup with a fingernail in it. Go full Karen if you want any kind of meaningful compensation for being a victim of whatever kitchen nightmare they’ve got...

After hearing the buzz around town and getting the recommendation from a friend, I knew this was where we had to go when my boyfriend craved hibachi.

A Friday evening heading into the holiday weekend and being right on Main St, we expected some sort of wait... especially with the current staffing ceiling. We approached the hostess stand and asked how long for a party of 2; a pleasant hostess replied 20 minutes and I thought okay not bad. They use a text message system so I gave my name and number. We loved the convenience and ability to wander and browse the nearby shops while we waited. Almost exactly 20 minutes later I got the text. We were seated and momentarily our server Ethan approached the table for drink orders.

From that moment, Ethan was prompt and attentive and expertly orchestrated our dining experience. He never let us sit without a beverage and each course came out as ordered and in a timely manner. My boyfriend had the Hibachi Steak & Chicken and I had the Shrimp & Chicken. The steak was cooked perfectly, which we find to be an unfortunate challenge for some cooks so we greatly appreciated it. The shrimp was good and we both agreed the chicken was absolutely delicious! The sauce/marinade is flavorful and keeps the chicken moist. The veggies and rice are both cooked and seasoned perfectly. Ethan offered us an assortment of sauces to accompany. My boyfriend and I both needed to-go boxes for sizable portions (and it was just as good the next day!) The sherbet is a pleasant finish to a great meal and is included in the price.

Overall, this meal was a great value for two people. Each entree comes with appropriately sized soup AND salad, rice, veggies, your chosen protein(s) and is finished with sherbet for dessert. Yum, yum, YUM!

I really loved the open kitchen and the decor, both make for a very enjoyable atmosphere that backdropped a perfect dining experience. Thank you Ethan and the rest of the staff who made Friday date night so enjoyable for a local couple... we...

Owner-operated Odori Japanese Steakhouse is a wonderful addition to NMB. The food was delicious, cooked perfectly and plentiful! On the left is ribeye (so tender!) & shrimp hibachi (GF). On the right is shrimp & chicken hibachi. Both were nicely seasoned, not salty or over dressed. Included is soup, salad & sorbet. They are refreshingly knowledgable when it comes to a gluten allergy. The soup and sorbet are not GF. For salad dressing I used alittle white sauce and lemons but their ranch dressing is GF. They even have GF soy sauce 😉 The restaurant opens at 11:30am. From 4-6pm they offer Early Bird specials making the left entree $29 & the right $23. That may not sound reasonable but I assure you it's more than one serving! Plenty of protein is given to allow for two meals. I'll get three meals! There's no surcharge added to the bill. Ethan was one of the most attentive servers I've ever had! In the open kitchen the owner had a watchful eye on food preparation and also took the time to walk around the dining room speaking with patrons to make sure everything was fine. More than fine for me and my friend!

Odori is located in The Shops on Main, NMB. The village has unique shoppes, galleries, a wine bar & restaurants so it is a nice place to stroll around. I look forward to going back to try...