Kobe Steakhouse & Lounge — Restaurant in Seal Beach

I've been here several times in the past, and we always enjoyed it. But admittedly I haven't been here in the last year. Seems things have really gone down hill. We went there to celebrate my son's 20th birthday last Thursday. We arrived at about 6:30 and didn't leave the restaurant until almost 8:30. And we didn't even have dessert. I don't see how they can make any money turning tables every two hours. We had a few appetizers and my wife and I ordered some drinks. I think our waitress was late to her shift because we had two other waitresses before our final waitress arrived. Took for absolutely ever to finally get her to take our dinner order. I had to flag her down, and she still made us wait a while before she came back. My son ordered the Yaki-Soba/Udon, which actually looked the best of all our meals, with a side of fried rice. The side of fried rice finally came when he was almost done with his meal. I ordered the Tempura Dinner, which was just ok. Had two pieces of fish, shrimp and scallops, but very few vegetables; it needed more vegetables to round out the meal. It was also supposed to come with a bowl of steamed rice, which I never received. I asked the waitress about it (after I finished my meal, she was barely around to check on us) and she didn't think it came with rice. She checked and said, yes, it was her mistake, it did come with rice. She offered to take the price of the fried rice off the bill, which was nice, but I would have preferred to have the steamed rice with my meal. It would be easy to blame the extremely slow and poor service on the waitress, but I'm not sure it is entirely her fault. Seemed she was constantly rushing around, and didn't know the menu very well. I think the management here is doing a very poor job of training, not supporting their staff, and not scheduling enough help during dinner service. The food quality has also declined; food was ok but not good enough to justify the high prices. I think the only thing probably worth going here for is to take young children to see the show at the Teppanyaki grill. But as an adult, it's the same show every time, and the food again is mediocre. The bar scene and happy hour seemed to be very busy, so maybe this is where they are now concentrating their efforts. Unless you're planning on taking small children to see the Teppanyaki grill for the first time, I recommend staying away. What used to be a good Japanese style restaurant is now mediocre food that is overpriced with very very bad service. Too bad, because this place is only about a mile from my home, but I will...

I would love to rate this place and my experience higher, but things went from pleasant, to bad, to even worse in 10 short minutes due to poor service. Me and my fiance was enjoying our two year anniversary as we dined and partied with the Beatles tribute band on 1/28/2024. We were really having a pleasant afternoon up until it was time to pay the bill. That' when things went left. While grooving to one of my favorite Beatles songs, I was approached by a waitress. She whispered to me that they had lost my credit card and that she's gonna try to find it. I was like "Wait, what??" I couldn't even enjoy the show anymore because I was too concerned about my credit card and worrying about theft and fraud. The waitress came back and asked me what credit card company did I bank with. I wasn't sure if I should cancel the card right away or not. After standing by nervously for ten minutes wondering what action to take while everyone enjoyed the show clueless to my situation, the waitress returned with my card. Crisis avoided, right? Wrong!! As I stated earlier, things went from bad to worse. The waitress returned a few minutes later with a bill. I told her I already paid the bill and showed her the receipt. Realizing their mistake she reluctantly informed me that they charged me TWICE for the same meal! I said, "You're kidding me, right?" She wasn't kidding. She asked for my credit card, yet again so she could go undo the overcharge. I was hesitant to give up my card a second time because I was afraid of loss or theft again. But what choice did I have? I was overcharged so I felt like I had to give it to her. The second charge was eventually voided but unfortunately the whole Kobe brunch experience was tainted as a result of the poor service. The fact that we weren't offered a compted meal or a discount of any kind didn't sit too well with me and my fiance either. Through no fault of my own our anniversary brunch was kinda ruined. The atmosphere is very nice but end the end, the service was lacking. This is why my rating...

If you have food allergies, stay away. I notified the server of my food allergies, and the chef first gave me a plate full of shrimp (one of my allergies) then tried to give me a plate of steak that had a lump of butter on it and soy sauce (dairy and gluten). Had I not noticed, I could have had an allergic reaction, which for me means a trip to the hospital, not mere tummy pains, mind you. Then I had to wait for another steak that came out rare when I had ordered medium-rare, but ate it because I was sick of waiting, but the cherry on top was that they not only charged for the first meal but the second steak as well. I should mention I did not get any vegetables with either of my orders. Just steak. When my friend tried to explain it to the server, the server said it was "too much" to take off one of the steaks, took his card and walked away. Didn't even give my friend a chance to speak after. It was extremely loud in there too so he had to raise his voice which probably put off the server, but that's no excuse for that behavior. He then brings the card back and says the first meal was taken off and then apologized, but I know damn well he wasn't sorry. I've worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years and I'll tell you right now that he didn't care one bit about the mistake. One that could have put me in the hospital had I not been paying attention. A few more little things; how does a Japanese restaurant not have brown rice for people with allergies to white rice? My hole-in-the-wall place place down the street has brown rice but this big fancy restaurant doesn't? Didn't appreciate the fan blowing on me on max level the whole time, good thing I brought a jacket. Not one good thing to say about this experience. Made my friend's birthday feel awkward to...