Izumi Sushi & Hibachi All You Can Eat — Restaurant in San Antonio

Updated review - Izumi Sushi & Hibachi Restaurant - Thank you for your prompt response. Just some needed clarification...

When you checked the cameras, you should have noticed ours was the very last table in the back of the room, giving us a complete view of the entire dining room and all of the diner's therein. This seat also placed us directly in front of the wait staff station and across from the area where all the floor staff were gathered together during our waiter's reprimand. Although we could understand our soft spoken waiter fine when speaking to us, we could not hear anything he said to other staff or to the floor manager. However, everyone in the dining room could hear the words of the floor manager, (or whatever her title may be), and this should be evident on your cameras, by all of the diners turning to stare.

If you are being told a reprimand did not take place, your cameras should provide you with all of the evidence you need, from the angry look on the floor manager's face while she was talking to the gathered staff, the turning of heads of the diners and the faces and body language of the wait staff.

Although, again, we understand that it is important for staff to receive instruction so they may learn and grow, it is NEVER appropriate to reprimand them in front of customers and other staff. If the exchange had to happen before the end of the day, (when is should have happened), he should have been taken into the kitchen area, away from the diners and other staff, and performed in a manner that others could not overhear. Original review (revised to make room for the response) - We happened upon the Izumi Sushi & Hibachi Restaurant as what we thought was a happy accident on Christmas Day. Not only were they open, but they were open late. We loved the thought of the made-to-order all-you-can-eat and our waiter was very polite and polished...a combination that is difficult to find in staff these days.

About the time our food came out and we started to eat, the lady behind the counter (floor manager?), started reprimanding our waiter, very loudly, in front of all of the staff and guests. We were horrified. You NEVER discipline staff in front of other staff or clients. This awkward scene caused discomfort in the dining room and appeared to cause several diners to quickly finish up and leave. Later, staff could be heard trying to comfort the visibly shaken waiter. After watching this inappropriate exchange be handled in unprofessional manner, my husband and I completely lost our appetite, paid our bill and left.

Imagine, you are paying $27.95 PER PERSON for the food and $3 and change for a cup of hot green tea, (which was comprised of one tea bag and hot water....not traditionally brewed Japanese green tea), and some lady starts yelling at one of the staff while you are trying to enjoy your very expensive meal.

Furthermore, the food is not that great. Most was heavily breaded and greasy. There are several Japanese restaurants in San Antonio, at the same price point, that provide a traditional Japanese experience and taste, with a proper level of decorum - IE, if I am paying OVER $70 for my meal, I expect the atmosphere to be appropriate for a meal of this price.

Although we were really excited to find such a place open on Christmas Day, we were really angry that this staff member felt the need to ruin the atmosphere in dining space in this manner. Despite his best efforts, you could tell the waiter was shaken, (anyone would have been), and the rest of the staff seemed distracted trying to comfort him. I don't know who owns this restaurant, but management and basic Human Resources training is necessary

In our multiple years on this earth, we have never witnessed management treating staff in such a manner, even when traveling through third world countries. Having worked closely with Japanese in my former position, I know that they, too, would have been appalled to have witnessed this behavior. This is not a culture thing, this just a bad...

Living in San Antonio I knew of only one decent all you can eat sushi place that I would attend regularly, Kobe Teppan and Sushi in Live Oak. But I recently learned of Izumu & decided to try it out.

I stopped by for lunch on a Thu at 2pm, it's a small but pleasant restaurant, overall everything seemed very clean.

I was seated & informed the waiter I was there for the all you can eat, he brought me 3 copies of the menu & pointed out the rules: Lunch is $16.99, mark on the menu what you want to order but leftovers trigger a 25% surcharge. You can't just take leftovers home, that's extra. Fair enough, nothing unusual there.

I ordered, Miso soup, Dumplings, Cheese Rangoons, Hibachi Steak (with noodles), Spicy Salmon Sushi, Spicy Tuna Sushi, 3 rolls & green tea ice cream.

The miso arrived first, very hot. Typical miso soup flavor, nothing special.

Then the Hibachi steak arrived with a bit too much rice. But I was pleased the portion was small, I can always order more & I'm really here for sushi. I selected and was expecting hibachi noodles and not rice though so... not a great start. However the flavor was good, & I finished my plate. It did taste mostly like bottled teriyaki sauce, so while it was good it wasn't unique.

The rolls and sushi arrived next, nicely set up with some decoration. Fun.

I noticed that the "sushi" pieces weren't nigiri like I expected, instead they were ground fish on a pillow of rice wrapped in seaweed, but they were still fine. The fact they were ground is probably due to the fact I ordered them spicy. Not a bad thing, but I do prefer nigiri & wish the menu specified it wasn't that.

Now for the rolls. Anyone who eats sushi a lot will tell you, really cheap sushi always has the imitation crab sticks just placed inside with everything else. Better sushi places will make a kind of a ground imitation crab with mayo and some spices. The flavor and texture really improves when done this way.

Sadly, Izumi uses the former method. Disappointing.

One thing Izumu does better than most however, is avocado. The rolls I ordered, that contained or were topped with avocado, had plenty of it. Very pleased as many places usually do a very tiny amount of avocado. So that's a plus.

As I was finishing my rolls & noticed I still hadn't received my plate of dumplings and cheese wontons, but about a min later right as I finished my rolls they arrived. Good.

They were the standard fare of dumplings and wontons, tasted like they were purchased pre-made & frozen & just quickly reheated. They weren't bad, just not memorable or great.

I finished the last plate &, after requesting them, they brought me the check & the ice cream. The ice cream... was really bad.

It's obvious they prepare little bowls ahead of time to take out of the freezer for guests, it had the texture of large grainy ice crystals. I didn't enjoy the flavor either, but I'm not going to judge it on that point as I'm not familiar with that flavor. This was the one item I just couldn't eat, unappealing.

The staff was friendly, & contrary to other reviewers I never felt rushed. They never asked if I was ready to leave while I was still eating, & just brought me my order & then the check with dessert. I did eat in less than 30 min, so perhaps if you stay for 40+ min that's when they start asking if you're ready to leave? I don't know.

Overall, not my favorite sushi restaurant but I am glad I went to try it out. The food was filling and, while mediocre, for the most part it wasn't bad.

The menu has variety, & they did bring my rolls very quickly. Plus the cleanliness of the restaurant, generous use of avocado & friendly staff are all good things too.

However, it just doesn't shine in ways that make me want to come back. Most disappointing was the plain sticks of imitation crab just placed in the rolls, and the large ice crystals in the ice cream.

I don't like to rate lowly as I know how significant low ratings can effect an overall score. But I was overall dissatisfied with the experience, so I'm...

I hate to leave bad reviews, but my family stopped eating fish for a month and sushi for 2 months because of the food quality here. We dined in about 3 months ago for the dinner buffet option, and I'm just now getting around to leaving my honest unpaid review. The sashimi were thick and variable in sizes. We were excited when the plate came out but our excitement quickly dwindled into quickly eat so we dont waste the food. There were fish bones in at least 7-10 pieces (salmon and tuna...we've never experienced fish bones in sashimi at any Japanese restaurant before). The atmosphere was not authentic, no Japanese person in sight, not even at the sushi bar. Our server was nice, but he wasn't cleaning off our table for the new dishes that arrived, so we had to place finished plates on an empty table nearby. However, we got shunned. When we asked if plates needed to be placed on the floor, he tended to us quicker. My brother had fish water spilled on him from one of the sashimi dishes, and he didn't get an apology or extra napkins. It was like our expectations were too high based on these reviews. For San Antonio, maybe this is decent. But as food fanatics, this was disappointing, especially for the price. The diversity of guests was lacking too (a sign to us that the usual guests are less experienced with sushi). They were eager to get us in and out, instead of taking care of us. Even my kids were frustrated at the quality of food and service (their waters were empty for at least 30 min). The fried cheesecake tasted horrible! It was stale and tasted like frozen plastic...not a good way to end a subpar meal. My family of 5 and brother will definitely not return to this place, unless the quality improves. The cleanliness is questionable as the tables and chairs were sticky. Food was so subpar that I didn't want to take any more pictures. It was crowded to sit a party of 6 (of 3 were kids). We're average or small...