Update 6/12/19 I can see Yamato from here!! Can't wait to get in there. 20 minutes and counting... Here!! Alfonso and Stephanie are On Point today!! They have RAISED the Bar! BAM!!!!! 5 Stars, JUST LIKE THAT! Due to these 2 Competent Individuals! Glad to see that the 2 Managers were Not around to necessarily ruin Our Meal this time. 👊😉🤙
Update 3/26/19
YO ALEX!! You and Taka need to Smile!!! Why make Your Customers feel like they are a Burden to You. Whenever I see you Two Cats, You Two either have an Angry or Indifferent look. What's Up With That??? Thankfully the staff here Does NOT follow suit of the 'Management Team'. NOW...On to the dinner!! $150 for 3 is a bit high for this type of restaurant... Particularly when served with ATTITUDE on the side. And by No Means, was it the Chef's or the Waitresses, nor the Greeters... It's ONLY MANAGEMENT!!! Maybe You Two should consider staying in the back and allowing the restaurant to run like the Well Oiled Machine that it is. And for God's Sake, stop using 2 distributors for your FISH!!!! :-(
EDITED 2/9/19
Took my son here for a Much Deserved Sushi Fix. Perhaps a Big Mistake today. Service was phenomenal, as expected, by Alfonso! He is a Master at what he does! Lili was great too. Sadly, the sushi was NOT good today. 3 out of 9 plates were Bad! And I don't mean Not Well Made Sushi, but actual Bad Fish!! Had the manager, Taka, come and try a dish. Despite him stating it was good, the look on his face told a Completely Different story. One plate of bad fish is Not good. THREE in one sitting though?? That's a Serious and Very Concerning Issue! Despite removing 2 plate charges and tacking on a 10% discount, it may be a while before my son can bring himself to eating at his Favorite Restaurant of All Time. Overheard some of the wait staff stating that there are 2 sources for fish at Yamatos and perhaps quality control wasn't implemented correctly? We have Been coming here for nearly 20 years!! I'd Hate to Leave Them, but I refuse to allow my 11 year old to be subjected to Rotten Sushi!
Yamato's is what Yamato's is! Which is Good! No Benihana for us, when Yamato is in our backyard! Great Sushi Chef's, Equally Awesome Teppan Chef's ! The Wait Service from the ladies here is Amazing! If only that Asian manager, Taka, would crack a smile every now and then, I'd give them 5 Stars. Oh what the heck, he doesn't need to smile. The rest of his staff makes up for his lack of friendliness. Been coming here for almost 20 years! Had my daughters 16th Birthday here with 16+ girls at 1 teppan table. Nothing much, except Most of the faces, has changed. Happy to see some of the Original Teppan Masters still here. Who says you need to have a Japanese Chef to have an Outstanding...
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We walked in an asked for a seat at the sushi bar and Samantha told us it would be 15 minutes. After 5 minutes two gentlemen came in and they asked for a seat at sushi bar and were sat down. They weren't told it would be 15 minute wait. They didn't even put their name down. Kai the other girl at front host desk asked did you sign in and they said no, but they still took them back to go eat. My husband got up and went to say we have been waiting and Kai and Samantha said oh you were waiting. It's insane how customer service has gone totally down hill. When my husband complained Lucas another at the desk interjected and said we had to wait and that there was no one to help blah blah blah. Then my husband said well why you take those gentlemen and then they proceeded to sit up down. As we were walking away Kai and Samantha thought it was funny and laughed like little girls. Horrible customer service. Need better more professional customer service/host people. We asked for manager unfortunately it was a different one than normal. We spoke to him and let him know, but he didn't seem to bothered or anything and didn't apologize. We ordered sushi and it came quick, but when we needed refills or anything else they never came back. It took us forever to get our check to get out of there. Never will come back here. This place needs to either get there stuff together or close down! 2nd update We usually love the sushi here, but service is lacking like crazy. In the photo I attached the seats were empty and we were told it was a 20 minute wait. We wait 20 minutes and when I went to ask what is taking so long the girl says there are no servers. Service sucks and on top of that the manager has such a horrible attitude. I managed to see how he treats his workers. One of the young men were going to hit the drum which they do for birthdays and he quickly and rudely grabbed the stick and said go. The worker looked so bothered. The next incident happened when he went to get the sushi he grabbed way to many and he dropped the plate and blamed it on the worker. The poor sushi guy making sushi had to pick up the broken plate while manager didn't even care he just walked away. Im sorry, but that is horrible manager skills. To top it off he walks around just bossing people around then helping them out. Girls at front counter are not friendly at all. This place has really gone down hill. You think the hiring sign would be huge, but its super small and on...
Read moreYamato is the only Japanese steak house that I have been to in Southern California. I first visited about five years ago. Since, I have probably been once a year. I’m sad to say that each time I have gone, the experience has gotten worse.
I last visited January 2024 for a lunch service, and it was the worse experience yet. When we were sat down at our hibachi table, I noticed that there were about 3 tables that had not been served yet. Maybe 2 tables were being served at that moment. So, by the time that the other three tables had been served and the chef arrived to our table, we had already been seated for an hour and fifteen minutes.
When our chef arrived, he discovered that the hibachi burners were not turned on. Therefore he turned them on and walked away while waiting for them to heat up. Obviously this wasn’t his fault but it delayed the service even more.
The food was definitely not worth the price paid. The portion sizes were much smaller than what I have experienced at other Japanese steakhouses in other cities. I ordered chicken and shrimp. The chicken was way overcooked and dry. The other guests at our table ordered scallops. I noticed that they were also way overcooked, some of which were burnt.
The other guests also ordered a side of brown rice. After waiting for several minutes they asked the waitress and she didn’t have an explanation of the delay. Several minutes later they asked again and still no explanation. Finally the chef had to get involved and asked the waitress to go to the back and get an answer. Finally their rice came.
At the end of the service, the manager came out and apologized for all the delays and poor quality of service. In total, we were there about two hours. He offered a complimentary dessert to the other guests at our table as compensation. I’m not sure why they were the only ones offered this. I think it would have been more appropriate to comp them the rice that showed up incredibly late at a minimum. We paid over $120 for a lackluster lunch service for two adults and one child. Definitely not worth it.
We left Yamato and said to each other, “thats probably the last time...
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