Hanami Teppanyaki Grill — Restaurant in Norwalk

I share my experience with you, as I want you to be aware when you see foodie reviews on Instagram and decide to visit them as I did. I was inspired to visit this location today based on a popular IG foodie post. It seems I wasn't alone as there were customers calling in orders and stopping by. I only wish I had the benefit some of the later customers had of being told your food would take 45 minutes. Before I was done with my meal, customers were being told 90 minutes. I wasn't informed of this, and as I was only there 3rd customer when they opened, I didn't even think about waiting for food. The tables were empty except for the two previous customers. It took 45 minutes for my steak and chicken combo plate with no special extras to come up. This only happened after I saw the clerks give away other food to call-in customers who were arriving well after me. The food did not stand out as extra special to me, as stated in the IG post. The prices did. Sorry to say, I have removed this restaurant from my favorites already and don't plan to return. The clerk was friendly and there was soft music playing. The tables were also very clean. Some benefits. I don't want a full negative review, but there is plenty room for improvement. Teamwork might be one of them, as the clerks were not agreeing on how long to tell customers the food would take to cook. Work it out and do better please. Better luck...

I was extremely excited to come here after the raving IG posts. I did make the drive to Norwalk to try it out, and after finally eating the food, I was very regretfully disappointed. The wait was long... about 60 mins wait for my 2 entre to go order. I ordered the New york steak, chicken and shrimp with the fried rice, and the 2nd entré was the New york steak with chiken and steamed rice and 1 drink. I sat waited for my order. Saw people come in and order for indoor dining , get their food, finish and leave. Not sure why my order was taking too long. The staff did seem apologetic and I was told twice that my order would come soon. After $66.00 on 2 items and an hour wait, my food was ready, and I took it home to eat. The steak was bland, flavorless and so was the chicken. The shrimp was overcooked yet salty. The fried rice was very mushy, soggy and had a not so appealing taste... it reminded me of heated up plastic. The vegetables were great and so was the steamed rice. But $66.00 for vegetables, steamed rice and 1 drink is definitely not worth it. The portions are generous but now I need to figure out how to recook my food so it's edible. The food was very disappointing and now I wonder why I questioned the universe as every time I tried to make it something came up, I said screw it and still made it happen... next time I...

Sounded like a great idea after reading the reviews. However: Pros - friendly and gracious greeting! The food was good, some good sauces, fresh food. My choice for filet would be medium rare. We ate in so everything was nice and hot. The locals love it! They were saying the food was very good! Cons - We are first timers so we didn’t know to order ahead. Who would? It was a hour and fourth-five minute wait 😞. I would not eat there again unless I was visiting in the area. The food was good not great. I asked after we were served “how long would it take if I ordered now? The reply was an hour and a half. Lol 😂 😂. What waste of time. If you order ahead you may not be able to eat in, that’s because the tables are full of people who are waiting for their orders! 😳 A week before we tried to order, we were told to come back tomorrow because the kitchen was backed up. Again the food was good, but you can find the same food closer to your home. In our wait others were saying that they wouldn’t be back. In all honesty if I happen to be in the area I may try it again depending on the wait time! ...