Rein Sushi and Hibachi — Restaurant in Springdale

Let's review a local NWA favorite: Rein Sushi and Hibachi. Located in downtown Springdale, AR, Rein recently celebrated their 1 year anniversary. We dined here orignally when they first opened. It was a lunch date, and I remember loving the atmosphere and having great service, but we ordered hibachi and skipped the sushi during that visit. It was good, but I knew I needed to go back and have an adventurous sushi meal to really see what they were all about!

Flash forward to this spring when we finally made time for a family lunch date on my husband's birthday, and I knew just where to go! When we arrived, the staff at Rein was so welcoming and kind. The small dining area has fun swinging seats and an open sushi bar. It may be small but does not feel crowded at all and is very open and bright. When we were sat, the owner and sushi chef came over to greet us and recommended skipping the menu and dining on a selection of his favorites and the restaurant's most popular appetizers and sushi. Let me tell you, if the chef offers to send over his dishes of choice instead of ordering off the menu, always say YES! It was all beautifully crafted, amazingly fresh, and absolutely delicious! Some of our favorites included the Crab Wonton Nachos and Monkey Brain Stuffed Avocado appetizers and the spicy Smokey Ozark Sashimi. The sushi at Rein is hands down the best I have had in the area, and I kid you not when I say every single piece I ate made me close my eyes in ecstasy! To top off our amazing meal, we shared a creamy slice of Yuzu Cheesecake, which is now my new favorite.

So next time you are craving sushi, hibachi, and fresh seafood, check out Rein Sushi and Hibachi for lunch or dinner. They are open 6 days a week (closed on Sunday) and are truly one of the best meals you will have in NWA!

🍥Appetizers pictured: Crab Wonton Nachos Baked Green Mussels Monkey Brain Fried Stuffed Avocado Fried Calamari 🍣 Sushi pictured: Smokey Ozark Sashimi Cajun Tuna Sashimi 🍰Dessert...

I was really excited to try Rein as I have heard many good things. We went as a group of 3 on a Saturday to enjoy some sushi and was a bit disappointed in the overall service. We placed our orders and asked about the Ebi shrimp which we were told and confirmed by our server that it was “raw shrimp” on rice leading us to thinking it was the raw sweet shrimp (ama-ebi) that is offered at other sushi restaurants as sashimi that we usually enjoy. We specifically asked again if it was raw sweet shrimp to double confirm. When it was brought out, it was a cooked shrimp ontop of rice. When we asked our server, she still said it’s raw and that they have to say it’s raw per policy because the shrimp gets steamed. We didn’t intend on ordering plain cooked shrimp on rice as that is very plain and overpriced for the quality of cooked shrimp you get on a piece of rice. We just went ahead and kept the order and ate it though we were misinformed. After that exchange, the service went downhill. We got the rest of our order and did not even get sauce bowls, wasabi, or ginger. We had to try multiple attempts to flag someone down to get sauce bowls. Then again for wasabi and ginger. The vibe from our server from that point on was unpleasant. We also had several other items including the Emma Roll, Tyson Roll, fried Calamari, and 2 orders of salmon sashimi with the 2 orders of COOKED shrimp nigiri. The rolls were decent quality but calamari was very small and came out in little strips. We spent in total over $100 including a 20% tip despite the not so great service. I really wanted to like our experience but unfortunately we overpaid for not a great...

Our waiter wasn't great and didn't come around much. They asked to take our order, and before we could, they immediately left, saying they'd be right back(they didn't come right back). It feels like the staff is all running around in circles. We watch them all stop halfway to turn around to grab extras or missing items. If they took their time, it would be more efficient for them to gather what they need and not be moving in circles. Our sushi took too long to come out. We would have asked if they forgot our order had our waiter bothered to check on us. We didn't get food until we were there already for about 50 mins. It also wasn't the best. The broth was boiling hot, and a warning about that would have been nice before i burnt my mouth. Our 2 rolls were almost great. The rein roll wasn't the freshest, but it had the potential to be amazing. The shaggy roll was great, but you have to like mayo because it gets very overwhelming towards the end.

The atmosphere is very loud, and you constantly hear the waiting staff banging metal trays and pushing chairs around every second. I didn't even hear the background music playing with how loud it was and everyone having to speak over other conversations. Great for going out with small groups of friends but not a romantic date night...