Desaki Restaurant — Restaurant in Pocono Township

I have never felt so discriminated against by anyone as I felt by the staff of this establishment. From the servers to the manager and even the owner!

We had a party of 10. We walked in and they sat us at the back of the restaurant at a 20 person table. We had kids so we asked if there was any way we could wait for a 11 person table. The Server Aylin was so RUDE! She said “NO you have to sit here if you don’t want to follow that you can GET OUT!” Excuse me since when does a family oriented business treat their customers like this?

We asked to speak to a manager. William comes over with Aylin. As he’s speaking she’s standing next to him smiling and making smirks at us so we asked to speak to him without her being there. She leaves goes to the bar where she starts talking to the servers and bartenders there. She starts pointing, laughing and saying remarks about us to them. Not even hiding it! She directly looks at us and mouths GET OUT! I can’t make this up.

William puts us in a waiting area and says you can have the next 11 person table you just have to wait which we said no problem. 15-20 minutes pass by and a new family of 4 come in and they sit them at the table we were waiting for.

My husband goes to speak to William and asks why we weren’t seated at the table and he says the owner said we can’t sit you there since you refused to sit at the big table you have to wait and are no longer a PRIORITY!! again excuse me what!?????

Now my husband asked to speak to the owner. That’s when Williams says you can have that table which is another 20 person table that we would have to wait till it’s full before they start cooking we’ve already been waiting 30+ minutes just to be seated.

The owner walks in and my husband asks if he can speak to him about getting the 11 person table and he walks passed him and says I’m not talking to YOU PEOPLE! That was the last straw.

My husband said what do you mean you’re not talking to us but I guess that meant we were no longer welcome cus William started to put his hands on my husband! That’s when it got crazy because there’s no way you just wasted our time making us wait when they had no intentions of serving us. So we left after a good earned ** this place.

We dodged a bullet because I’ve read the reviews and we’re not the only ones that have experienced such poor customer service!

SAVE YOUR MONEY! and drive another 8 minutes to Paradise Hibachi Steakhouse where they treated us as family as soon as we walked in the door!!!

DO NOT EAT AT THIS AWFULLY OVERPRICED AND RACIST...

This was a wonderful restaurant up until COVID. It was an experience vs. just a meal whether you sat at a Hibachi table or not. It was always on the pricey side but the food was excellent and the atmosphere/experience were great. Now however, the prices are outrageous!! I don’t mind paying alot for good food and I understand the terrible inflation there is but this is just insane. People we sat next to from NYC even said the same so that tells you something. You get a good bit less but pay so much more. First, they took away the salad. I thought this was standard for hibachi but I guess not. Next the signature sauces are now available upon request. Ok, maybe people wasted them so fine. But, the menu says yum yum and ginger sauce. I asked for both and the ginger was not the same but some chintzy version of soy sauce with a hint of ginger flavor. Then the show, or lack there of. Yes we had fire and the chef threw vegetables at us but that was it. What happened to the onion volcano? What happened to the egg “roll”? What happened to the little guy “peeing” on the fire? It just seems like they don’t really try anymore. And to boot,the way the hibachi tables are now, some people are behind the chef! The NYC’ers next to us actually had to ask to be seated at a different table so their kids could see! Then, the automatic gratuity. 20% which is generally standard for good service but the service isn’t even that great anymore. Maybe as another reviewer said they know they’re getting that so why bother? Yes, they split the tips 10% server and 10% hibachi so I can see both sides of it. But after the ridiculous cost who can actually tip even more?? Next the drinks - 3 drinks ordered separately from the bar for $64 that also included the 20% gratuity!! This is absurd! From what I understand, the whole gratuity thing is a result of inflation driving prices up and people were tipping less. So this was a way to ensure servers didn’t get screwed. Makes sense but this place does it excessively and absurdly. Lastly, the sushi. The sushi is excellent and may be the best I’ve had in the Poconos. However, the prices (again) are insane. Around $200 for 4 specialty rolls and maybe one regular roll. So in summary - the food can be very good, and yes the Poconos are a tourist destination, but given everything I experienced in my last two visits, the prices are inflated beyond reason and no longer a viable option for even a middle class...

Like most other people, this was our go-to spot for hibachi when we got together in the Pocono.

We went yesterday (6/2/24) and were excited. We had a group of ten, and upon entering we’re told that we cannot be seated until the entire party is present. Okay, that’s not a problem at all, we were invited to the bar and were willing to wait on our last 2 people. Drinks at the bar were good, although expensive, but the bartender did a great job with presentation and taste.

As we were waiting for our two friends to show, the waiter then, out of the blue, said that he was going to seat us with only 8. Didn’t they just say we couldn’t be seated without the entire party present? We were essentially pressured to get seated while we were waiting on the last two in our party. We then realized that there was another couple already at the table and they wanted to fill it up as soon as possible and get the service started. We were also all sat in a straight line, making it impossible to talk or have a good time. There was a perfectly good table specifically made for 10 people they could have sat us at when we were all there which would have made it more enjoyable and easier to chat with each other. But of course they want to cram as many people in a table as possible. The place was also dead, maybe a dozen people on a Sunday afternoon.

After being seated, the waiter took drink orders and then they got the edamame and soup out. However, we are STILL waiting on our last 2 friends. Then the waiter proceeds to take entrée orders. We advise him yet again that we are waiting on two people and then, for the first time in my 31 years on this earth, I had a waiter ask if I COULD CALL OUR FRIENDS AND ASK THEM WHAT THEY WOULD LIKE. I was honestly floored by what he just suggested. When our friends did arrive the waiter pressured them to order quickly with a half hearted “not to rush you but…”. It was just very rude. We were willing to wait and buy a few more drinks at the bar. They also didn’t take reservations, which would have prevented this situation from happening.

Prices are astronomical. For a chicken and shrimp combo and a jumbo shrimp entree it was $140 after automatic gratuity. $50 a plate is insane considering just a few years ago it was around $30-$35 a plate.

Food was good and the show was fun but it just left a bad taste in how we were treated. Do better Desaki, we used to...