Yamato Steakhouse of Japan — Restaurant in Somerset

I apologize up front for the length of the review but I feel a thorough explanation is needed for why I would score this place in the negative if google would allow. Also note I’m a SERVER it’s what I do for a living!!

My mother in law took me here for my birthday lunch. We were the first table after they opened at noon. (This is the only restaurant that I’ve been to where they list Hibachi and do not cook at your table.) No greeting when we entered just a “how many” and then POINTED to the table, which was definitely not well cleaned. The server was wearing torn up jeans, her hair was not put up she was clearly grumpy and acted as though we were bothering her by being there. Took our drink order (2 waters, super difficult....) and then had to come back to double check what we wanted. She had a trainee with her and I’ll tell you I feel so very sorry for the poor lady she was training who was clearly trying but given no direction, explanation, introduction anything. The server took our order acting like it was an inconvenience. The menu says no substitutions which we were fine with we simply asked to omit the zucchini and onions. The server then asked if we wanted the soup and salad that COMES WITH THE MEAL! My MIL got both, I asked for just the soup as I wouldn’t eat the salad, no sense in wasting. She asks my MIL what kind of dressing she wanted, well when she brings the salad the dressing is poured on top in a glob and spilling over the side. She also did not bring me soup which I had wanted, I’ll give the Benefit of the doubt seeing as a server like all people only has 2 hands I figured ok maybe she went back for it. Well 10min later the server still has not reappeared, another 5min later she is out to the floor and it takes me 4 try’s to get her attention, there is now only 1 other table which another server was helping. When I ask if I can get the soup she acts like it’s and inconvenience and says she forgot.... how do you forget something that COMES with all the hibachi meals!!! It’s not like she forgot I didn’t want the salad... which I could understand as items that COME with a meal are normally so well engrained and kinda automatic for servers. But to not bring it... finally get the soup which is sent out with the trainee who apologizes and tells us it’s her first day and she’s nervous but trying. (The trainee was very nice and I hold nothing against her). Entrees come out are basically “dropped” onto our table with a “I’ll get the yum yum sauce” ignores our trying to talk to her as she walks away, only one of the meals was as ordered the other had zucchini and onions, again something that I could over look as a busy cook had we NOT been the only ones in the restaurant when we placed the order, therefore it was server negligence, in response to our letting her know there is no apology just “I’ll tale it back and PICK them out” as I said before I’m a server I’m aware that there are cases where that does get done... you most certainly don’t present it that way to your guest!!! She told the server no and just picked around the unwanted items. Not offered refill on my water, acted like it was a hassle when I asked for one. The server NEVER checked on us during the meal. Could not be located to get the check, took 15 min to come back for the card to process the payment, which took far longer then it should have to process (another 15min) then when she brought the card back she stood and waited for her slip with her tip..... even made a point of indicating where to put the tip. Which I had previously suggested to my MIL that she not leave but she felt pressured to leave one anyway (10%). Sooo many things that made this the worst dining experience I’ve had. I let the trainee know when I did tip her separately in cash that I felt she would do much better elsewhere and let her know where I work was hiring. Now for the short, the food was meh! The lobster over cooked, the rice scorched, everything was overly salty. The food wasn’t great and far over priced for...

I wish I could tell how the food was but we never got that far. The service here, at the least the service we got when we went, was absolutely terrible. I am hard pressed to think of a time when I had worse service.

Our server only had our table and one other but still left us waiting a long time before taking our order. After we ordered, we sat for about 15 or 20 minutes before she came back and asked if we wanted the soup and salad....that comes with our meal. That is the only food we got.

After eating the soup and salad our server came back and asked if we needed anything. We said possibly the appetizer we ordered...to which she looked confused. We told her what we ordered again and she left.

She proceeded to come back to our table every two or three minutes to ask if we needed anything while never bringing our appetizer or meals. At one point she even assured us by saying, "He is back there. I think he's making it now." I can only assume she meant the cook. I was slightly heartened to know the cook was in the kitchen.

At this point we had another long wait on our hands before our server came back and assured us our soba noodles were almost done...We didn't order soba noodles. We repeated our order yet again and she just walked away. This is when we gave up. She had never put our order in. We went to the front intending to just pay for the miso soup and salad...I gave it one star because they at least didn't make us pay for that...also you can't leave 0 stars.

I'd like to also mention that it sounded like our server was trying to blame our order not being put in on someone else to the lady, possibly manager, at the counter. That's not cool. She is the one who botched the whole thing. Also, to the other server who went out of her way to clear up our soup and salad dishes because our server obviously wasn't going to I'd like to say thank you. You're a rockstar.

Overall, our visit could have just been so terrible because we got unlucky with our server. It was still a very bad experience that will put us off from going there again, though. The quality of service is one of the most important aspects of dining. I don't know whether our experience stemmed from lack of training or something else, but I'd definitely recommend taking measures to correct it.

If you want to try the place out, then go for it. Maybe the food is great. I wouldn't know. I mainly just wanted to warn you that the visit may not be all sunshine...

Despite our better judgment, we thought we would give this place another shot in hopes of improvement since it had been over a year since our last disaster of a visit. Once again, we were very disappointed. Let me start by saying that first and foremost, our waitress was possibly one of the best I have ever seen. What in the world she is doing working there is just sad and a waste of true talent. Our horrible experience had zero to do with her, she was as frustrated as we were. It took over 1.5 hours to get our food. Mind you, it was just my husband and myself and the only other people in the restaurant was a family of 3. My husband got his sushi right away, but waited all that extra time to get his rice he ordered to go with it. I had ordered the chicken bento box and I'm guessing they had to go out and ring it's neck first. I've no clue what the holdup was. I ate about 1/3 of my meal and offered my husband to help as I could not eat it all. The taste was ok at best, but you would have thought that for such a long wait it would have been hot. Nope. Anyway, by this time we are more than ready to leave. We went to bed that night and at about midnight I woke up with my stomach killing me. I took some OTC stomach meds, didn't help. Finally I thought relief was coming as I felt the urge to throw up. I had horrific vomiting and diarrhea with extreme stomach cramps. I yelled for my husband to bring me some water, but he did not come. I walked through the house to find him experiencing the exact same thing in the other bathroom. We both did that off and on thought the rest of the night and a large part of the next day. We both felt great prior to eating there and can only assume it was the food. That place is disgustingly filthy, and that's the area we can see. I can only imagine the kitchen! This place is forever off of our local places to dine list. Never again. I will be notifying the health department of our experience as soon as the holiday weekend is over. No way this place...