Kobe — Restaurant in Tempe

I have been a regular customer here for years. I’ve never been left so disappointed and upset upon leaving. My friend is a vegetarian, we made the server and the chef aware of this. Once the soup and salad start coming out the server, Alex Z. would come by every two minutes trying to take either the soup or salad away from people that were still eating it. Quite a few of us stressed to him that it had just came out two minutes ago and to just please give us our time to eat. He did this throughout the entire time. It was very uncomfortable. We felt like we were all being rushed. Once the chef came out and confirmed everyone orders, including my friends… He used the same utensils to cook his chicken and steak and shrimp and then used them for her food afterwards. We felt so uncomfortable that we couldn’t say anything. We were just taken aback by the level of either lack of care or incompetence by a chef, that can seriously get someone sick that is a vegetarian. Not to mention it is a clear health code violation and a very big known thing to not do! The chef was so lackluster didn’t really care and it seems like it couldn’t wait to get the food cooked and get out. A lot of our food was also overcooked and burnt. For the first time ever going there the food was very under seasoned and super lackluster. The chicken tasted old. We try to enjoy our food, but once again felt like we were rushed to leave, Alex Z. was at it again trying to clear things.. Wish our server so attentive after dropping off the checks.. this time he is nowhere to be found and we wait a good 15 to 20 minutes for him to come back by that point all of us had gone up to the front and gotten checked out somewhere else. Only to find out that they added 19% tip on our meals. There was only two of us so unless that is now mandatory thing that is not listed anywhere, not on the menu, not upfront nor at the table.. I do not think that is appropriate. When I go out, I usually tip 25 to 30% for good service. I don’t think that it is at all OK to force or precharge tips unless it’s a large party of six or more. For two people you should not be adding a tip yourself. A 20% tip should not automatically be added. That’s added for good service not for mediocre service. Once we received our processed payment, it also had another tab for additional tip. To make matters worse, we both got sick within 30 minutes of leaving. I called the restaurant the following day to let them know and gave them our reservation name and number. The manager wasn’t available at the moment but supposedly they left a message and we haven’t heard anything back. I unfortunately will not be coming back to this place I used to love it so much and I’m so disappointed in how it is...

I have to say, very disappointing. Initially inquired about a table with the table top grill for teppanyaki - we didn't make a reservation so there were not really expectations for this but figured we'd try. We were told we could take someone's spot if they didn't show for their reservation, so there was a 5 minute window. They ended up showing up and taking their reservation, again, no big deal as we weren't expecting to get this option anyway. So we ended up being told it was a 20 min wait for another teppanyaki spot so we decided instead of the wait, we would just take a regular table. We were seated right away, which was a nice relief. However, we were seated in the back of the back room at a dusty, dingy table that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since it was reset after the last customers sat there a month or so ago. At this point, we were just basing our visit on the service, considering there was a sign posted at the front desk about an "automatic 18% gratuity that is applied to every check". That being said, we had our drink, appetizer, and food option picked out and 30 minutes had gone by. We hadn't spoke to anyone since we had been seated. At this point, we could hear the sushi chef training a new person on how to "cook the frozen fish to serve the customers first before it goes bad" on top of making very uncomfortable, distant eye contact with a busser and a waitor who quickly diverted to a different room before we could wave them down. We ended up leaving by taking our menus back to the host and stating we were going to head out. Not a single question as to how everything was or regarding our early departure. Needless to say, this will be the last time I swing by this place... Certainly not the experience I expected to have. And made for an interesting trip on our anniversary night out. I remembered coming here as a kid and it was always a pleasurable experience. Just disappointing and unfortunate to see what has happened to what used to be...

I've been here a few times, for various celebration-ish reasons, so I feel like I've gotten a decent amount of time invested to make a semi-informed review. Long story short, main points would be 1. Decent quality food: whether or not you get a chef that can heighten or just kinda cook is a draw; I've had really good meals & barely tolerable ones. Also, with Teppan, the particularly bad chef actually threw shrimp in my eye. An honest mistake, but none the less painful and slightly embarrassing. 2. Server service is mediocre/fairly decent. I've had a waitress bring out my appetizer as we were paying. After our meal. She also didn't even realize I had ordered sashimi until I canceled the order as I was eating my main meal. She just grabbed the sushi order sheet and never looked at it. But I've also had very nice, thoughtful and observant waitresses too, so that made up for it. 3. Host/Hostess and initial entrance: I have never had a good experience with the hostess. They're always different, have always been rude and like it seriously emotionally causes them distress and anger to even talk to you. I've only ever had snobby, resentful service. And this last time they didn't even have my reservation, which I had confirmed just the day before. Plus, as I was leaving, they stared my whole party down and said nothing. I mean their eyes said some objective things but they certainly didn't say anything out loud, which I suppose I should be thankful for. Luckily you only have to deal with them briefly. Most of this review sounds like a 3 star, but the reason I give it 2 is because every time; from the good service to the bad service, by the end of the meal, we always just want to get our check, and get the hell out of there. As an establishment that's geared toward entertainment and camaraderie, your customers should not just want to leave ASAP when their meal is done. It isn't a very...