Okawa Steak House & Sushi — Restaurant in Santee

We came here after my sister’s wedding ceremony for dinner. There were 9 of us (6 adults & 3 kids). Right off the bat, the service wasn’t great. They weren’t really attentive or friendly. We had to ask several times for utensils and napkins. Not once did I get offered a refill on my drink. The guy at the grill was focused and quiet, not really interacting with us. My husbands filet was good, but the noodles were over cooked and mushy. The soft shell crab was hit or miss. Some bites were good, some tasted doughy and fishy. Everyone was mostly happy with their food and we were willing to come back until the bill came. The bill was $411 and my husband noticed the receipt already had included the tip. However it seemed a little higher than expected. We assumed because we were a larger group it would be added, but the total didn’t make sense. The receipt said nothing about what percentage was added. Inside the menu, it stated that for parties over 6 an 18% gratuity would be added. That is all that was communicated anywhere. However, the tip automatically added to our bill was 21% after we did the math. My husband didn’t want to say anything and just paid knowing that we just will never come here again. The difference between 18% and 21% isn’t going to break us, but to me it’s the principal, especially when the service they provided us, even after I had so excitedly mentioned that my sister and her husband had just gotten married didn’t warrant such a large tip. It almost seems like because they knew they’d be getting tipped regardless they didn’t need to provide better service. Imagine how much they are adding up by the end of the month in sneaky tips. My advice, if you dine with 6 or more people is that you check your bill and ask about hidden charges because we also had a few of...

Honestly, this experience was disappointing especially for the price. We made a reservation for 7pm, got seated right at 7 which was good. It took our server 15 minutes to come and greet the table, and our drinks didn’t get to the table till 7:30. The sodas were off, they tasted like there wasn’t enough syrup in them. I ordered a Dr Pepper and my mother in law ordered a Pepsi. Mine tasted super weak, kinda like the two were mixed together. My mother in law said hers tasted like there was Dr pepper in Hers. My husband did like his bottled beer. We ended up ordering hibachi, spicy garlic edamame, rock n roll sushi, and a Las Vegas roll. The rolls were okay, nothing special at all. The edamame was not great. It didn’t taste like much other than edamame (no spice and garlic was very weak). The actual hibachi tasted really good. The performance was good, and the food was yummy. Portions were off though. My plate ended up with a lot of noodles, and the last person at the table got maybe a third of the serving I got. After he finished up and left our server came by one time and that was it. She was nowhere to be seen for the rest of the meal. No one asked if we needed refills, which we did. By the time someone came around it was a different server and he dropped our checks. When the receipt came back for a signature their suggested gratuity was listed on the bottom, but it seemed off. They do suggested gratuity based off the total after taxes, which isn’t right.

All in all, very disappointing overall experience. Slow service, bad sodas, and meh appetizers/rolls. The only saving grace was the taste of the hibachi itself. If it wasn’t as good as it was this would be a 2...

Not happy with their service or food. We wanted to enjoy two drinks and talk before our food, I know this is a concept many Americans don't understand. But we asked them to give us a little time to do just that. They could see we were deep in conversation but continued to approach the table, almost aggressively, I'd say eight times between three people to see if we were ready to order food. I am not talking hours here, I'm talking about under 30 minutes. There was an empty table for two next to us. So I don't know why they would not just leave us alone. Finally, after a lot of attitude, which I don't understand, we were obviously paying customers, we felt we had to order, we asked to get the fried rice with the meal and that seemed to be an issue too. The roll was the okay we've had way better. Same with the rice. We both got really sick, all night for me, it was from the food for sure. Something I never get and hadn't eaten anything else except that meal the entire day. From start to finish it was very disappointing. We both want to support small businesses, we still tipped great, but from start to finish a not so great experience. If you see people in deep conversation and looking at the menu, leave them alone! If they ask you to, leave them alone! The kitchen was still very open and the place was busy, we had hours until close. So,...