House of Kobe - Schererville — Restaurant in Schererville

Here in Northwest Indiana, we typically have common food, but this restaurant served something out of the ordinary. The temptation will surely be there for some, as it was for myself. I dined inside here with my girlfriend around the grill. I wasn’t too hot on sharing a table with strangers, but that’s kind of what your experience will entail if you dine here. I would recommend bringing some friends or family, so that you can fill up the table yourselves with people you know. I believe our table sat eight guests.

I ordered a Diet Pepsi and we also went with two Cocktails to get the party started. We chose the Kobe Punch and the Blue Dolphin. The Diet Pepsi had a smooth flavor and came with free refills. The Kobe Punch and Blue Dolphin were so different, yet so similar in the sense of them both being watered down. Don’t get me wrong, they were sweet at first and really enjoyable, but the water retention in these things was a bummer. They were each $8.41, so it wasn’t a total waste, though.

We ordered the Kobe Royal and the Chef’s Special to share. The Kobe Royal was filet mignon and boneless chicken breast. The Chef’s Special was steak and boneless chicken breast. The menu said the Chef’s Special was only available Sunday through Thursday. The meals came with 2 pcs. Shrimp, Soup, Salad, Vegetables, Noodles or White Rice & Ice Cream. I chose White Rice.

Our cook started off on the grill with an onion stack. He blew some flames and kicked things off. He made the Vegetables and once he was finished with them, he threw a piece in our mouths. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch mine. I blame the thrower for that. The veggies were served on my plate in a hefty amount. I’d go as far to say that there were too many. I just wasn’t too interested in them. I think they were given to put on a facade that you get a lot of bang for your buck. The onions in the mix were pretty good. He gave us a dipping sauce tray with three sauces. The sauces were a ginger-type, mustard-type, and Yummy Sauce. I’d say the only sauce that was really yummy, was in fact the Yummy Sauce. Who would have guessed?

The Kobe Royal came with a good amount of meat. The filet mignon was very soft and tasty. The chicken had some nice flavor. The steak from the Chef’s Special was rough, but not too bad. The chicken on this special was good, as it was the same one from the Royal.

We were given Ice Cream for our final serving. I chose chocolate ice cream and it was a tasty finish to end the meal.

The service started off good, but declined rather fast. It seemed as if our waitress was working at two restaurants at once with her absence being so common. Our cook was friendly and good at what he did. The restaurant did charge us a mandatory gratuity of 18%, which was unfair due to the quality of service we were given. I just really expected fast service at a place like this.

Overall, the experience was alright. It had plenty of positives and negatives both. The food was on a solid line of good. The price was steep, I’ll tell you that. I do wish the smoky air didn’t arise in my nose the way it did. With open cooking going on, there’s not much control over that. It did take away from the flavor for me, though. I’m more of an introverted guy, so I wouldn’t return here with just the two of us, but maybe if I formed a group, I may give them another try.

Date of...

I had an absolutely awful experience at House of Kobe in Schererville, IN, and I would never recommend this place to anyone. From the terrible service to the unsanitary cooking conditions and disgusting food, everything about this visit was a huge disappointment.

We chose the hibachi experience, expecting fresh, flavorful food and an entertaining chef, but what we got instead was a complete nightmare. The cook was not sanitary at all—he kept wiping his spatula on a random towel, which looked like it hadn’t been changed all day. It was unsettling to watch, and it only got worse when we noticed that the grill was absolutely filthy. You could tell it hadn’t been cleaned properly in a long time, with layers of built-up grease and burnt residue. It was so bad that even the other guests at our table were disgusted and openly said they would never come back.

As for the food? Absolutely terrible. I ordered the chicken and steak, and both were practically inedible. The chicken was bone-dry, as if it had been sitting under a heat lamp all day, and the steak was completely bland, lacking even the most basic seasoning. The lo mein noodles tasted like paper—no flavor, no texture, just plain and lifeless. And the vegetables were burnt to a crisp, making them bitter and completely unappetizing. It was clear that nothing was fresh, and the way it was cooked only made things worse.

The service was just as terrible as the food. The staff was unfriendly and inattentive, barely checking in or making any effort to improve the experience. They just didn’t seem to care.

It got to the point where we couldn’t even eat the food—we left everything on the table and walked out. It’s rare for me to leave a restaurant hungry, but this place was so bad that I would rather eat anywhere else than take another bite.

If you’re considering dining at House of Kobe, do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. Between the dirty cooking conditions, flavorless food, and poor service, this was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. Avoid this place...

This is one of very few options for hibachi grill in the NW Indiana area, House of Kobe, does have two locations one in Schererville off 41 and one in Merrillville off 30. This is a very expensive restaurant, expect to spend a minimum of $50/per person that does NOT include tip, which is normally 20%. The Schererville location is the newer of the two; it's a large location right off the main road, it has a large parking lot and a nice brick outdoor facade and covered entrance which would allow for valet parking (not available).

As you walk inside, you enter an incredibly outdated and tacky waiting area with a Host station. You're then seated at large square table cut in half to allow for the chef to cook as you sit around the table. The tables and chairs were incredibly uncomfortable. We were jammed into a space with way more people than should have been seated. When you have a $130 bill, you expect elbow room and comfortable chairs. We ordered calamari as an appetizer ($9), and it was in one giant block of squid all fried/stuck together. Ordered a pina colada with Malibu ($8), was excellent, but Mike hated his Blue Bahama and had to send it back. The waitress was good, but did not return to the table enough. The chef was very cheerful and friendly, I was excited for the actual hibachi since everything else sucked so far. She did a very good job cooking, but knew almost no English and it was hard to communicate. She then tried to toss pieces of egg into everyone's mouth; she missed every person, like 10, she even tried a couple more times... missed again. The lobster looked amazing, but at over $40/pound I opted for shrimp w/egg sauce, scallop, & chicken, which was amazing. Mike got fillet mignon and shrimp which was also excellent. We both got shrimp fried rice which was amazing. Despite the food being amazing the atmosphere sucked, and it was very uncomfortable seating which could be easily fixed and updated. I would not return to this restaurant simply because the price should equate a 5 star experience,...