Genji Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Omaha

Took our children to Genji for their first time to celebrate our oldest daughter's birthday. We made a reservation for 730pm. We arrived 5 minutes early and weren't seated at our table until about 8pm. Our waiter took our drink order and admitted he was new when our daughter ordered hawaiian punch which was on the menu and he wasn't sure if that was available. We ordered our food and soup was brought out maybe 15 mins later, followed by salad. It was apparent they were short staffed as there were many tables waiting for a chef. All of our drinks were empty and weren't refilled for some time. Our 2 year old's chicken tenders and fries came out about 840pm. We had 3 small children and a baby and waited for our chef, who finally came to our table at 920pm. Only a few minutes before did our server offer an appetizer "on the house" and apologize for the wait. When the chef finally made his way to our table and began cooking he told us that 3 chefs and 2 servers called in sick. He apologized for the wait, had them bring us out another appetizer. He also apologized and said they were told they couldn't do "the show" because they needed to hurry. Our chef did great with what he had to work with and gave us all extra food. I felt bad for the staff who were all working extra hard to make up for being short staffed. Never once did a manager come over to apologize or check on our table. We were charged full price for our meals and all of our drinks. I understand it was not the staff's fault, however management should never have allowed every reservation slot to be filled, knowing they were down so many staff. A warning when we checked in would have been nice, we probably would have went somewhere else with all of our small children. We didn't end up leaving the restaurant until about 1020pm. This restaurant has really gone down hill over the last few years. Trim in the dining area was partially coming off the wall and there was a large hole in the men's restroom. Overall, I do not think my family and I will be returning to this restaurant. Their prices are higher than Kobe steakhouse and it is definitely...

We love the food at Gengi but the last 3 or 4 times we've gone, the cooks have been a little on the boring side. They just come out, cook the food and leave without very little to no entertainment. That's half the reason people go to places like that so get a little bit of a show with their meal. The last guy we had barely did anything. He didn't do the onion volcano thing, he didn't do the rice heart thing that the kids love. He basically just the shrimp toss and cooked the food and left. The food was really good but it's lacking in the entertainment area. It used to be so much better. UPDATE Since I'm unable to write a new review, I am adding to my original. I don't think we'll be going back to Genji. We are regular customers and have been greatly disappointed over the last 6 or 7 times we've eaten there. We went last night and the half of the experience is getting some entertainment with the dinner. Our cook barely said a word to our table. The food wasn't fully cooked. My shrimp was chewy and made me sick. My wife's steak wasn't fully cooked the way she liked it and the veggies were still hard. The whole meal took about 15 mins to cook for 7 people. It was another customers birthday and there was no special attention given to him. My 5 year old son actually asked the cook if he was going to do anything as far as "tricks" for the show part of the meal. He looked at my son and said "no" then walked away after he was done. He did the initial fire at the beginning and that was it. He didn't say anything else or make any jokes or anything. Zero presentation. It's gotten so much worse over the last year or so and we used to love Genji. I've seen several negative comments about Genji with no reply at all from Managment which tells me, they really don't care about the customer experience anymore so my family has decided we are done with Genji and we won't be returning. I hope they actually take what their CUSTOMERS are saying to heart and change things or they are going to start losing a lot...

UPDATE: 1/10/22: After this above mentioned experience, I knew I had zero desire to go back to Genji. A friend of mine asked me to go to dinner and mentioned Genji. I explained that I had no intentions to go back to Genji but that I would make this exception. We went there on 1/3/22. I checked in, sat down, and we waited for the rest of our party to arrive. Once everyone had arrived, the owner/manager came over to our table and said that he didn't feel comfortable with me being in the restaurant because of the review I had left over a year ago. He also mentioned that his staff was uncomfortable at which time my son looked around and the staff looked so confused, they had no idea what was going on. I replied to the owner a simple "OK". He kept talking in circles and repeating himself. I kept saying "OK". It was obvious that he wanted more of a reaction from me in response to his "kicking me out of" his restaurant. I finally said more than OK. I said, "I understand, I am fine with leaving, I did write the review, and that I did not want to eat there, that I was only there because that is where my friend chose." The seven of us left and we went to KOBE and had the best time! Between the negligence during the city mandatory mask mandate and my experience of his unprofessionalism last week, I am confident that my review a year ago and this update is needed. Thank you for teaching my son what not to do and how not to act as a business owner and for giving me the opportunity to show him how to react to confrontation. PREVIOUS REVIEW FROM OVER A YEAR AGO: Owner does not wear a mask and does not enforce the mask mandate on his employees. After picking up my take out order, I called to address my concerns and apparently he has a deviated septum (no excuse for not wearing a mask) and he lets his employees decide if they want to wear a mask or not. We used to be regulars here but not anymore. Kobe and Osaka can have...