Shogun Restaurant — Restaurant in Temecula

Someone to cook for me, serve me, and entertain me... sure, why not?

We came as guests with a party of 40+ after a funeral some months back and, despite the event, we all enjoyed each other’s company during this time of mourning. Although I’ve been to many teppanyaki places and have seen the routine before, the chef made us laugh with his tricks. As I looked around the room, it was the same for the other tables in our party and I was glad to see family and friends of family enjoying themselves over this communal-style dining.

Before our reservation, we went to the bar to get appetizers and drinks. We ordered Calamari Rings, a Mango Mojito, and a Strawberry Lemonade. The Calamari Rings came out piping hot and was super crunchy. I enjoyed dipping it into the Sweet and Sour Sauce.

When we were escorted to the teppan area, we all sat around the grill. The server took our drink orders, as well as our main entree orders. After a few tricks here and there, our entrees were served. I was surprised to see that they served a larger portion than Benihana and Ooka.

Food: Because everything is cooked on the grill, I would advise calling the restaurant if they can accommodate for those with special dietary needs or those who have certain food allergies (e.g., eggs, seafood, soy, etc.). For those without allergies, you can enjoy your teppan entree with either an onion or miso soup or Japanese salad with Ginger Dressing, fried (or steamed) rice, and Hibachi Mixed Vegetables. I ordered the Rib Eye Steak with Shrimp. It was great with one of the two dipping sauces they provide.

Location / Parking: This Shogun Restaurant is located near the Temecula Promenade. It is quite busy but there is plenty of parking.

Ambience: Dimly lit, communal-style (U-shaped) seating around a chef cooking on a teppan grill. It’s fun and entertaining, and the kids and adults enjoyed it. Who doesn’t love the classic fried rice heart or an onion volcano? Or the flaming grill? Moderate to loud noise levels, depending on whether you’re seated next to the chef’s portable speaker. One of the chefs had a mini disco ball with laser lights flashing about, which the kids enjoyed. If you’re aurally sensitive to knife-on-metal grill sounds, it might not be the place for you.

Service: The service here was great! Everyone was respectful, they had smiles on their faces, and our orders were brought in a timely manner from both the bar and teppan areas.

If you’re on a time crunch, I would skip the teppanyaki and go for something on their regular menu. I would skip the teppan if you have rowdy kids because their grills can reach up to 500°F! They do have kids (Komodo) meals available.

Overall, it was an enjoyable dining experience with the party I was with. It turned a mournful day to an enjoyable one, and it left us with laughter, smiles, and a satisfied tummy!

Thank...

Much better than what I expected but a couple of strikes against them:

I was impressed with the food. I had them prepare something that was not on the menu: A custom salad for my pregnant wife (who is very picky under normal hormonal conditions and unreasonably impossible under pregnant conditions).

The grilled salmon that came with this custom salad was "absolutely incredible", according to her. Pleasantly surprised to hear her say this (as opposed to walking out in a quiet rage), I sampled the salmon and it was quite literally 4 star restaurant quality. 6 stars out of 5 here.

The salmon sashimi with jalapeno was fantastic. Excellent quality sushi grade salmon.

The pan fried dumplings were also very good.

I had the rib eye steak with white rice and sauteed veggies. The only thing that i did not like about the steak was the fact that they chopped it up and stir fried it. A definite no-no when it comes to rib eye steak. I would understand if the item was described as such on the menu, but I found this place by looking up "best steak near me" and the pictures i saw were of whole steaks. They made up for this by making me a custom salad that was a home run.

I should have been told this when I requested my steak to be served medium rare and the waitress paused for a moment but apparently decided against notifying me that it's a chopped steak. That oversight aside, the steak was tasty but that had more to do with the sauce used. I was turned off by several pieces of pure fat that i had to spit out. If you're going to chop up a rib eye before you cook it, then once you're done, discard the fat. If you chop it up after it's done, then trim the fat and discard.

The steamed rice was dry but I figured that was due to me not mixing the sauteed veggies into my rice because I didn't care much for the Zucchini in the mix. Nonetheless, steamed rice is only dry when it is not fresh (i.e. refrigerated and reheated) 2 out of 5 stars.

Atmosphere: No...

Sushi eating etiquette. Does such a concept exist with your friends and/or family? Well for this particular Review Team we reached consensus to adopt a “family style” approach. All of the dishes were regarded as communal property and available to the first interested party within striking distance when assisted by their individual chopsticks.

Regularly frequented by @ct_miller19 and @taylormarie_19, “Shogun” offers a large assortment of rolls that ought to satisfy even a large group of diverse palates.

We sampled the Shrimp Tempura Roll, GSC Roll, San Diego Roll, Crunchy Dragon Roll, and Crazy Boy Roll. Although each of them provided a unique path to Flavor Town, they all shared a similar fate: complete domination and utter annihilation! In fact, all of the plates they were served on provided almost no evidence of their prior existence. 🤤

Also impressive to me was the tanginess of the Cucumber Bites, the balanced proportions of the Garlic Edamame, the controlled aggression of the Spicy Mayo, and the tenderness and flavors of the Gyoza (easily the best I’ve had in the U.S.).

You and your crew are free to adopt your own views regarding sushi eating etiquette, but I recommend that you agree to give Shogun a chance to impress you.

And that’s…Henry’s...