Sakura Japanese Steak House — Restaurant in Toledo

My husband and children visited yesterday evening for dinner. The rating is mostly based off of food prep and quality. Please allow me to explain. While the waitress forgot to put in our appetizer order and never brought any refills, she did admit that she was serving by herself for the first time. I completely understand this and asked that we still get our gyoza appetizers. We were going to be there a while anyhow, and we didn't mind waiting. However, when she brought them they were mostly steamed apart from being flash fried on the bottom. This was so disappointing and this gummy (not crispy) texture was very offputting and made them almost inedible. This was not her fault. We then soon learned that this hibachi did not carry yum yum sauce. This was the first time we had ever been to a hibachi that did not serve it. Also, the first hibachi we'd been to that did not give noodles with the meal. I ordered them separately for my 4 year old. After the chef was finished cooking everything, we discovered the waitress had never put the order in for the noodles so they had to be prepared in the back. Okay I suppose, but when they came we were already finished eating and the noodles were of no flavor and my daughter wouldn't eat them (I tried them. It was really no good). The portion sizes were wonderful, and the meat and veggies were delicious and perfectly seasoned. The rice however was very dry and tasteless. Overall the experience wasn't terrible, but it was the worst hibachi experience we'd ever had, because before last night we had never had a bad experience at hibachi before. This was so disappointing because we love the hibachi experience, and never mind paying the higher price for good food. But honestly the texture and quality of rice, appetizers, and noodles was so that it was not worth the money. Our bill would have been $70 before a discount was applied, and the food/service we received was no where near $70 worth. Hardly the $40 that we paid. This establishment is beautiful, and everyone was friendly, but we will find a different hibachi location for next time...one that definitely serves...

I've been going here for years and tonight was single handedly the WORST experience I've had here or perhaps anywhere. We had a reservation for 5 adults and one baby. They asked us when we got there if it was 5 total or 5 plus a baby. I tell them 5 and a baby, 6 total. They ended up seating us in the absolute most ridiculous place where you could seat a family with a small child. We were in a corner up against a wall making it impossible to maneuver. We were essentially stuck. They also didn't bother to count my baby as a sixth person, giving us only 5 places and didn't give us a high chair for our baby. We ask for a high chair and the woman who brought it to us refused to go all the way around the table, choosing instead to make us hand the chair over our heads when we couldn't really move in the first place, and over top our baby. God forbid we dropped it because the girl was too lazy to go around. It only went downhil from there. I'm a vegetarian and have been for over 15 years. After going out to my car, I see our cook is cooking my tofu and veggies touching the meat. I ask him to not cook my veggies touching the meat cause I'm a vegetarian. Turns out he doesn't speak or understand English and not only continues to cook my veggies next to the steak but then mixes it with the shrimp and chicken. I was stunned. I ask my waitress to have the kitchen remake it without touching meat. No offense, but a man who doesn't speak English shouldn't be a hibachi cook. He should be in the kitchen where he can receive more oversight. What if someone was allergic to something and they couldn't tell this guy that and he killed someone? The room was so hot it was so uncomfortable and miserable. Everything sucked. I asked to talk to a manager and he did comp my food, but quite frankly it wasn't enough and I don't think...

My wife and I came into your restaurant around 5:00 p.m. this evening to dine. We got a booth. It, unfortunately, took your waiter -- Selena -- at least five (5) minutes to greet us. Once she did, she got us our drinks and came back to take our order. We ordered a Dynamite Roll as an appetizer, Hibachi Chicken, and Vegetarian Hibachi. Our meals came about 20 minutes later with the exception of our appetizer -- Dynamite Roll.

Selena came to check on us once after that. This was about 20 minutes into our dinner with what had shown up. When she came back 20 minutes later, she claimed that the "Sushi Chef" was extremely behind and it would take a bit longer for us to get our appetizer. Mind you. We had already finished our meals!

Selena then brought us our Dynamite Roll once our plates were finished from our meal. I promptly asked her for the check. The check contained everything we ordered and she, not once, tried to accommodate us for our AWFUL experience. Selena did bring us a box for Dynamite Roll and, unfortunately, our $16.00 Dynamite Roll ended up in the trash since we had other things to attend to in Toledo before we could make the hour back home.

I'm extremely disappointed in the service we exhibited tonight from your restaurant. I am extremely upset that I put down $53.00 on a meal that, quite frankly, never came in an orderly fashion.

My question to management. Should I come again? Should I take another chance on awful service and a disregard for my hard earned money that I am spending at your restaurant?

I did speak with, who I perceived was the manager, when I was walking out the door. His solution to this disaster was, "I'll talk to Selena about your service." Let's not just talk. Let's improve and make a customer satisfied with what they are spending their hard...