Kira Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Toledo

This was our first time here. After reading the reviews we were excited to go to a new hibachi. Our group got there for our 7:45pm reservation and we were not seated for 45 minutes due to: "the previous party being cashed out but are just sitting there". We got told 2 more minutes every few minutes for that entire 20 minute time. Finally we got sat.

We hadn't put in a drink or food order at all and they start bringing us salad and soup, which was odd. About 15 minutes goes by and we finally get a drink order in, took about 10-15 minutes more to get those and one drink for our party was missing (mine) and she had to go back and get it. By this time it's almost 9pm and our food order hadn't been put in yet.

The Waitress comes back, gets everyone's food order @ about 9:15pm. We had someone in our party allergic to mushrooms so we told her not to put mushrooms in anything. Another 40 minutes goes by and the chef for our table (who was absolutely great) comes out. He gets the grill cleaned off and ready, dumps the vegetables on the table and there's mushrooms all in it. So at this point we have to tell him the veggies are wrong. He says "it's not on the ticket did you tell your server?" we said yep we sure did. He pulls all the veggies off the table and sets them aside, and cooks some of the meats separate.

Halfway through cooking, the grill goes out and won't re-light. So now we have no veggies, cold rice, and half cooked meat on the grill in front of us. They light the grill behind it to finish our order up. Manager comes over and apologizes, says we can have 50% off our bill, which we come to find out is food only later. After he told us that the service actually got even worse. By this time our waitress has forgotten at least 7 or 8 different drinks for different people in the party. Icing on the cake, the chef prepares the veggies with the mushrooms and for the person in the party that can't eat mushrooms they bring a bowl of raw vegetables for him.

One person in our party was fed up with everything and asked for a manager. The "manager" comes over in a dirty food covered black Kira t-shirt and baggy long sleeve t-shirt underneath, looked totally unprofessional and not like a manager. He just kept saying "half off is all we can do, it's Saturday and we are busy". Then come to find out the owner was there, or a person from the family that owns it, either way when a party like ours received the kind of service we did the OWNER should be the one coming over, not some random person who claimed to be the manager.

Our server was straight awful, constantly forgot drinks (for just me she forgot mine 4 times in 3 hours), rude, and oh yeah she lied to us about the bathrooms near our table. One person in our party asked if she could use the restrooms near our table (they were somewhat behind a curtain) and she replied "no those are closed, I'm sorry" and literally an hour later we saw patrons were using them. The 'owner' was not willing to help us out any further...it was literally the worst dinner experience I've ever had for sure, and probably everyone else in the party. The apology and the "50% off the bill" he gave was a half a** apology for suffering through how bad everything was for 3 hours. And yes, that's correct, literally from the time we walked in for our reservation at 7:45pm to the time we left and finally cashed out was 3 full hours.

I'd like to wrap this up by saying this was for my wife's birthday and you guys absolutely ruined it. If there was a way to rate 0 stars I would for how we were treated. Nagoya will remain our place we go due to the poor way we...

Honestly this place feels fancy, the vibe is almost like it should be big city downtown night scene. Lol. That said, the staff are so down to earth and super friendly, that it's perfect for families too! Drinks were amazing, the food was great!

Initial impression of the menu: it didn't look like much, no pics to draw you to any specific item (see above-fancy place detail). The prices were what you would typically expect at a nice restaurant. Party of 2: drinks, an appetizer, sushi, and hibachi x2 came out to just under $100.

My SO, mentioned that the sushi menu variety was ok, doesn't appear to have any Kira specific sushi rolls, looks like everything in their sushi menu is something you could get at any other sushi bar. But who needs variety, when the quality of sushi is pretty darn good. Now their hibachi, that's where the magic is.

My swordfish melted and was absolutely divine. 🤤. Hibachi menu variety score! I'm also thankful we got the chef we did; we saw another that was more family oriented/a little more over the top than my company and I wanted to deal with. But this guy was A+: knife skills, overall manner, attention the detail - in the expert way he handled the food, as well as in the service to us as individual guests at his table. This is also definitely the first place I've been where the hibachi chef does tricks with sake instead of just veggies/shrimp. May have gotten a wee bit tipsy 😅 (note this review is the day after, so I'm not reviewing under the influence 😉)

The waitress did bring us to-go boxes as soon as the chef cleared out, but not in a "hey time to go" kind of way, it was more along the line of "I've been here for a while, so I know what you need before you even ask for it" kind of way. 😏

I mention this only because typically, I don't really like it when they bring out the checks and boxes so soon after being served, but... when she arrived with the boxes, I legit greeted her with relief, exclaiming "you knew!" Her eyes laughed above her mask, as she answered "pretty much no one ever finishes all the food."

Boy was she right! I may have been feeling the sake 🤪, but I'd like to say I can tuck in a pretty good amount of food, but THERE WAS SOO MUCH FOOD. 🤯 So for the amount you will spend, if the service doesn't get you, believe me the quantity of food will...

My first experience with Kira's was very disappointing. My rice was over cooked and the presentation was nonengaging. I did let the waitress know in which the manager came over with his apologies and offered apetiziers for my next visit. I always give restaurants more than one visit to get my full view of the restaurant. I ordered twice on my lunch and the food was AMAZING..! Tonight my husband and I had a taste for habichi and after his 12 hour work day I wanted to grab dinner and watch the game. I arrived at the restaurant as soon as the game started and THREE waitresses was standing there and not ONE of them greeted me. I made it known that I was picking up my to go order and asked if anyone of them seen me standing there with my baby as we waited to be at least acknowledge. The hostesses who took my order came up and asked me my order in which he repeated what I ordered as he was the one that took my order over the phone. He went to the back arriving 5 minutes later. I arrived home in the second quarter of the game and quickly noticed my order was messed up. Completely missing my shrimp from my meal. I call to voice my complaint and the same guy who took my order said he'll redo my order or put in a credit for a side order of shrimp.! At that point I told him I would come for a full refund. What would I do with a side of shrimp when the whole point of going to an habichi restaurant is to have a mixture of rice , veggies and SHRIMP. Apparently if you want good food you'll have to order around 12pm. I will not be...