Hibachi Express — Restaurant in Palm Bay

Hibachi Express ~ 2.5 ⭐️

“The Valve”

195 Malabar Rd #4, Palm Bay, FL. 32907

All aboard all aboard!!! Last call for anyone boarding the Hibachi Express.. Where we are almost going somewhere fast. Come take a trip on down to Palm Bay, FL. One of the greatest cities on planet Earth.

Pull on up to a standard decently located plaza. Not hard to find. Right off Malabar Rd. Walk in and first impression, family owned. 3 younger humans on their phones, but they snapped right into action once I walked up. Some hard workers. One older gentleman peeking out the back.

Now I’ve been to a few of these hibachi express type joints in my travels, one in particular is Kobe Express in Cherokee, NC which I’ve been to many times that’s comparable. The only difference is they have servers and this place doesn’t. They have a walk up and order when you know what you want system going. Cleary an in & out set up. Mostly To go orders I’m sure.

All paper plates, plastic utensils, and styrofoam cups as shown in pictures. Some bottled beverage options as well. Fountain drinks like the fountain where when you want just water it’s connected to a Hi-C punch and your water comes out pink no matter how many fills.

Place an order for steak and chicken hibachi no mushrooms with fried rice, a modified shrimp tempura roll, and fried ice cream just to see what they’re doing here. (Side note they don’t have soy paper and only offered regular seaweed paper).

Now this whole place screams like the Walmart equate version of Hibachi and the food matches. It’s not the best food you’ve ever eaten nor the worst. The steak and chicken meal was quickly put together. I’m guessing that’s where the express comes into play. Once again each bite didn’t do much. Medium quality meats. The fried rice wasn’t really fried and not much to it. More like fried rice’s distant cousin bland rice, but it got the job done essentially. It’s a quick pull up spot with fast put together meals for on the go I guess you could say.

Now I didn’t really eat the shrimp tempura roll because I’m not a fan of seaweed paper, but pretty standard set up, also quickly put together.

Now let’s get to this giant chunk of fried Ice cream. This thing was like a mini asteroid. The shell was like almost rock hard. By the time I got inside of what started to feel like I was digging thru some like ice cream soaked breaded armadillo shell, ice cream was pretty much melted, but that was probably my fault. Got to the point where it all became a squishy mess. Almost felt like If I dug any further I’d end up in the upside down regions of Stranger Things. So I just ended the journey there.

Anyways fairly clean joint. Quick service. You may or may not like depending on your standards. Not much...

REVISION 2/2025–maybe I jumped the gun….while the yum yum sauce is DEFINITELY my jam, these guys are going to lose my business because they are unwilling to make ANY substitutions whatsoever, even when I’m not asking for the price to be altered! My father is diabetic and loves shrimp tempura, but having the veggies done tempura is too Much breading, so he requests the veggies are steamed or stir fried instead, and they are 💯 unwilling to substitute in any way. On top of the fact that you are charging $10 for 3 pieces of shrimp and a handful of veggies, now I’m supposed to pay another $4 for a side of veggies if I want them another way?? Not cool. 😑And any substitutions I have asked for, including being willing to pay an up charge, are met with a firm “sorry, nope” so, beyond a sushi roll once in a blue moon, I guess I won’t be returning here often after all. 😓 I finally found my Asian cuisine place!!!!!! My dad and I moved here almost 3 years ago and have been searching for some delicious Chinese/Japanese food, and someone who does YUMYUM sauce and not that disgusting spicy mayo for sushi, and HERE THEY ARE!!!! 🤩🤩🤩everything we got, the shrimp tempura, the filet mignon & chicken hibachi, the crab rangoons that actually have crab AND cream cheese in them and they give you a decent quantity in the order, it was all just PERFECTION!!!!the steak was so tender, the portions were good sized, and Not to mention, the restaurant was bright, smelled good, it’s definitely a get it to go place as there wasn’t much seating, but it’s not that dark, dank sketchy hole in the wall like so many others are!! The people were very nice too! I just can’t tell you how over the moon I am to have found this wonderful place!! It will absolutely be my go to from now on!! Please PLEASE don’t change anything or go out of business!!!!...

So close to home, I have ordered here a few times over the years. So happy to see a family working together and including the children in the daily operations. Yet, after ordering 2x this week and both times the woman owner has been very rude and caught an attitude both times. The first time was because when I ordered and paid, I ask very kindly how long it would be. She did not want to answer and gave dirty faces as her son just kept asking how long. The second time was tonight when I ordered from tje all day sushi bar where it says it comes with salad or soup or spring roll or egg roll. When ordering over the phone, it was discussed that I wanted a #10 within that selection with one egg roll. When picking up the food, there was not an egg roll. I asked and was told it was not included unless I chose 2 or more on the list, which it CLEARLY does not say on the menu in any way at all. The woman owner was again rude and making faces. Instead of arguing, I just explained that the menu does not read that way but I will remember for the future. The question was: if I stated on the phone during my order that I was selecting one egg roll, why would they not have added it to my order instead of choosing not to give it to me?

No answer, just an eye roll and walk away. As much as I wanted to support their success, I will not continue...