Takeya Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Ormond Beach

First off, we love Takeya and the food and service are always up to par, we often go there for birthdays with our large group of friends and family. A few weekends ago, we went to dinner as a group of 14( all adults) and when we walked in I noticed the regular bartender, Michelle, was working. We have seen her many times and often purchased drinks from her at the bar while waiting to be seated, on this particular evening I approached Michelle with a smile to order a drink, she immediately greeted me with an angry/annoyed demeanor and asked "what do you want.." I proceeded to order a drink and still tipped her 35% despite her attitude. After our group was seated we order a round of Saki, our server, who was extremely friendly and helpful the entire time, accidentally spilled the tray of drinks onto the grill. He quickly cleaned it and apologized tremendously for his mistake, as well as grabbed us new drinks. Once we received our drinks, everyone (excluding myself DD) did a Saki bomb, about 10 minutes after the Saki bomb was taken, Michelle (bartender) approached our table and very rudely yelled at us for making the server spill the drinks and causing the entire restaurant to "stink" and stating we were going to break "HER TABLE" as she was the OWNER of the restaurant.. we let her know the server spilled our drinks and it was not at all our fault. We continued our meal and when we were leaving a member of our party stopped at the bar to apologize for the mix up and spilled drinks. When he stepped up to the bar Michelle immediately threw her hand in his face and told him to "shut the f* up"!! After this her an I exchanged some words before we left. Come to find out Michelle is NOT the owner, just a bartender and assistant manager. I have been calling the restaurant for WEEKS to speak with a manager and have been put on hold several times to be told they are busy... I understand its the holiday season but all the more reason to not act like an @$$ while working? We spent nearly $1000 if not MORE in this visit and I am truly blown away by the poor customer service we received and are...

Never have I been told by a manager I was being untruthful... we showed up with 10 people for a birthday. We did have 6 extra people who were not anticipated show up, so we were moved so we all could be closer. There was a little confusion because a few people at our table had already ordered appetizers and drinks, and us being moved. We definitely made it a little challenging. All of us work in service industry so no worries on our end. We got situated at our new tables and had a different server than our other table. Our other table was served promptly by the original server, while we sat for 40 minutes with nothing. Mind you that our table had the birthday girl at it. In the forty minutes we were trying to flag down the host who was helping out due to the restaurant being a little busy. He was doing his best but obviously not a server. Meanwhile there’s 3 people behind the bar leaning, and two servers on their phones. After 40 minutes I finally have seen enough and ask for a manager. I am told to wait because he is in the back, and finally comes out five minutes later. I explain the issue to who I assume was the owner, and explain the confusion we caused but after 40 minutes it was wayyy too long. I was then rudely interrupted by a female bartender who exclaimed “no that’s not what happened! you showed up with more people”. Totally out of line and unacceptable. Owner told me he was sorry but they’re busy and doing their best. I told him I understand, however there are 3 servers STILL on their phones, which I showed him, and 4 people behind the empty bar, and the owner/manager in the back. If it’s so busy why aren’t you all helping?? No way. They dropped the ball big time. Never coming back and I urge you to proceed with caution. Very bad sign when an owner/manager tells the customer they’re wrong and allows an employee to interrupt a guest like that. Does not know how to effectively manage a busy place, and has no control over the wait staff. We all were there to spend money on a friends birthday, 16 of us. Our redheaded server however was great when she stepped in...

I have been to Takeya numerous times and will probably be back but there are a few things to mention. The staff has been nice every single time I’ve been here and never had any issue with the service. The prices here have always been a bit higher than other Hibachi places but recently (and understandably due to inflation) the prices are a bit ridiculous in my opinion for what you get. This Hibachi restaurant’s vegetables provided are only zucchini, mushrooms, and onions. I just like to mention because it’s a little underwhelming compared to other similar restaurants that also give broccoli, carrots, etc. They seem to be cheap in that regard at Takeya. I’m typically also underwhelmed at the portions but this most recent visit they seemed to pile on the rice, maybe to make it seem like you’re getting a better value for your money with these inflated prices. I ordered the dumpling appetizer which is pictured below for $8.95. I was extremely disappointed in the small size and quantity of dumplings (4) for the price. I would definitely not order this again and if you are expecting an appetizer for two to share, this is definitely not it.

As for the Hibachi experience, it was non existent. Our chef did not do anything besides the onion volcano. No knife clacking, not much guest interaction, no knife twirling, egg throwing in the hat, flames on the table, drawing anything with a cracked egg, “egg roll” “butter fly” nothing at all so if you are seeking that, don’t come here for it. I’ve been here about 10 times in total and have never really had any of the chefs provide much of a show.

Now with these negatives I’ve mentioned I will say that the food is always tasty and is the reason that I do return when seeking hibachi for dinner and not having many other options close to home.

Dinner for two, an appetizer, and one soda...