Hibachi Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Philadelphia

On April 14, 2025, we had a family group of 9, which included (2) from out of town. I chose, and we agreed on Habachi Japanese Steakhouse on Columbus Blvd, Philly, because it was closest to the hotel where our out of town family members stayed. Also, the fact that it would appease a variety of appetite desires. I last visited this Habachi 10 years ago. It was beautifully decored, clean and the meals were absolutely delicious. The chefs displayed a very entertaining show of food and knife tossing creating a wow factor from their audience. And on this day, in 2025, I bring family and guest to what I thought would be a fun evening filled with delicious food and entertainment. I cringed as I share this experience. The restaurant had a dark dingy entrance at the back end of Dave n Buster's parking garage. It cost an expensive $30 to park for the evening. Outside the restaurant was not lit or esthetically appealing. Making it difficult to locate. We prayed the dark rickety elevator would successfully take us up to our floor. Once we reached the lobby, we looked upon carpeting that was worn and seemingly not cleaned in quite sometime. My utter embarrassment at the disappointing ambiance of the restaurant's outer appearance of neglect in no way compared to the, again dark, dingy spaces inside. The reception area had no lighting and the leather furniture was old and extremely worn with the looks of what you'd put in your basement for the kids to play on. They decorated with old dusty plastic flowers, a dusty antique Komono sat in the front desk area inside a dirty glass incasement. The carpeting was old, discolored and worn. Old framed pictures hung in oddly arranged, random spots on the walls. We walked to the back of the restaurant, and were seated around an uncleaned grilled with left over rice and food in its crevases. Mind you, we were their first guest that evening. So the grill was not cleaned well from the night before. Trust me, the pictures that you see from previous post, were accurate. The bathrooms had not been renovated since the 1970's. Rolls of brown paper towels were lined up across the sink counter, not in a pullout machine. Women needed to have knees that are in great shape to use their toilets, as they were too low to the floor. We endured because another choice was too far away and reservations were required. In my opinion the food rated a 5, on a scale of 1-10. No flavor. I was truly embarrassed and disappointed with my choice of dining for my family who followed my suggestion. But, they were all very gracious and understanding. Lastly, the family gathering was especially put together to share time with one family member who visited from out of town. The restaurant forgot her meal order out 9 people. Avoiding the risk of our food getting cold, we ate, while she waited. 15min. later they brought her a saucer, not a 10" plate, of veggies and a side of rice at no charge. Needless to say, I was livid. The meal were wayyy over priced. Starting at $39 for fried rice w/choice of ingredients, and choice of chicken, shrimp, veggies, steak and salmon is more...SMH!! Never again!! Next time I will visit a restaurant before inviting guest. A dining out experience should also include great ambience when that kind of...

I mostly eat at Benihana, so my review will be a direct comparison on most things, but overall I would not return to this restaurant or recommend it to a friend. I'm giving this a generous 2 star rating, simply because the servers and staff were friendly and attentive, and the prices were slightly less than benihana ($2-5 per entrée). The view was OK, it overlooked the river. I ordered the lobster and scallops with a mai tai to drink, and the meal came with a salad (a bowl of iceberg lettuce and half of a tomato slice, drenched in thousand island dressing), veggies (zucchini and onions which were cooked ok, and broccoli which was basically raw and somehow burnt), fried rice (dripping with soy sauce, it seriously looked like cooked brown rice with soy sauce), and a shrimp appetizer (tails removed, but slightly burnt). The mai tai was not mixed very well, and tasted like pure liquor. The scallops were burnt on the edges and soaked, and I mean soaked, in soy sauce, which made the taste of the scallops non-existent. The lobster cooked in a dish where it sat in a jacuzzi of bubbling soy sauce and butter, until it was reduced to rubber. It was also lit on fire, for an entertaining flare, but didn't burn the meat. My wife had the the filet and shrimp. Her shrimp was the same as mine, burnt edges and drenched in soy sauce. Her filet was prepared medium rare, and was close, but slightly under cooked and a bit too red for a steak as thick as your thumb. It still had that red fleshy texture of raw beef. The outside was burnt, yes burnt and charred, and... you guessed it, drenched in soy sauce. If you could get past the burnt taste, you tasted soy sauce, very disappointing. The meal could have been salvaged had it not been for the overuse of soy sauce on every bit of food which touched the grill. They have bottles of soy sauce at the tables for the patrons, so a lighter amount while cooking would go a long way. I would have been happier waiting an additional 5-10 minutes for the food to cook, rather than have everything in the center of the grill and burnt. All the entrée meats and veggies were placed on the grill and plated in the same amount of time, it felt rushed. It could have been an off-night for the cook, but we went there at 7 on a Friday night, and there were 3 other couples in the entire restaurant, so there wasn't a high demand for tables. Try it for yourself and hopefully your experience is...

Extremely disappointed. Was invited as a group activity and you would think a place with such location and name would be good. Since the beginning we were not expecting too much as the reviews of this place talks for itself. Regardless, we wanted to have a good time and food. We arrived and the service was good. They sat us at the teppanyaki table and we waited over 20 m for someone to show up or take the order (no the only table that complained about this). Be advised, this was a Thursday and at the time we arrived it was empty, only a handful of tables. Then the problems started. First, dirty silverware which clearly it wasn’t cleaned (dried sauce on it). Second, how can I placed with Sushi in its name not have available nor be upfront about it and waited until someone tried to order it to tell us, no sushi. Fine, we proceeded to order from the hot menu. After a long waiting, the cook appeared and proceeded with the “show” (honestly I have been to way better shows). The food was ok if you settle for low quality, very bland, and severely overcooked. The portions were decent but the flavor was missing so technically not worth it. Then I proceeded to order some noodles as an extra. OH LORD! They are horrible! I cannot even describe how bad, horrible, foul, and spoiled it tasted. I literally took a bite and pushed it to the side (clear indication that something is wrong but was ignored by the server). At the end of the meal they asked us if we wanted something else to which we proceed to order fried ice cream. Well, guess what, they didn’t have dessert. I was baffled at this location. No sushi, no dessert, bad food, service is meh but acceptable, and overall expensive for what they offer. I don’t mind paying anything for food, but the price and the quality should be up to par with the price. Well, in this place is not, as it is expensive, overpriced, bad, and they forced gratuity on the tab which this is based on the experience. You are just paying for the view which is a good one. But that is it! I would have rather eat at D&B and the parking had a discount too (not for this place). If you want good teppanyaki and/or sushi, go somewhere else. This place is not worth you...