Hibana Kosher Hibachi — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

I am absolutely furious and appalled by my experience at Hibana Kosher Hibachi. The sanitation and food preparation were shockingly subpar, and I have serious suspicions that either the food or the sake was contaminated. The sake tasted bizarre—nothing like any I’ve ever had before.

To make matters worse, I became violently ill shortly after dining there. When I reached out to the restaurant to inform them of my condition, the manager's dismissive response was infuriating: “Nobody else called and complained.” Are you kidding me? This is utterly unacceptable behavior when dealing with a potential food safety crisis. It shows a complete lack of accountability and concern for customer health!

What’s even more disturbing is that a quick look at Yelp reveals that this restaurant, despite scoring a 93 out of 100 from the health department, has an alarming list of violations, including: Food not properly protected during storage, preparation, or service (like uncovered food, mislabeled items, and improper sneeze guards). Non-food contact surfaces of equipment filthy. Inadequate or missing thermometers for checking food storage temperatures. Handwashing facilities that are either inaccessible or improperly equipped (missing soap and towels? Seriously?). Floors, walls, and ceilings in a disgusting state of disrepair.

Given these violations, my experience is a glaring reflection of their apparent disregard for basic food safety practices. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this restaurant, and I strongly urge others to think twice before stepping foot in there. This is...

I had an incredibly disappointing experience at Hibani Hibachi and feel compelled to share so others know what to expect. My party of four had a 6 p.m. reservation, and we all arrived by 6:10. Despite that, we were left waiting for 45 minutes while other groups—some who arrived after us—were seated promptly.

When we asked what was going on, we got contradictory excuses from management. First, they claimed another group came in with extra people and took our spot. Then they gave other vague explanations that made no sense. If you’re taking reservations, honor them—don’t give tables away and leave customers stranded.

After waiting far too long, we asked if we could have our own private table since it was clear our reservation had been mishandled. Instead, they crammed us into a tiny back room, squished in with other people, making for an uncomfortable and frustrating experience. At that point, we decided to walk out.

Thankfully, we ended up at Barbacoa, where we had a fantastic meal and great service. But as for Hibani Hibachi? Never again. The staff was unprofessional, the service was an absolute disaster, and the way they treated us was completely unacceptable. If you’re considering dining here, think twice—you might find yourself standing around, ignored, and frustrated instead of...

We came with a party of 8 and waited Over an hour and a half for a chef to come to our table & prepare our dinner. After all of that, we finally got our food and ate. I will say, the wait staff was nice, but slacked on refilling water. The chef was funny and entertaining. While we waited for the dessert menus, they came to clean the stove top and poured chemicals all over the cooking griddle and filled all our faces with the chemical smoke. Terrible smell and inconsiderate! We requested to speak to the manager and after we asked multiple times, he came and we expressed our disappointment. He offered a single dessert for our party of 8 as compensation. That's not much effort on the restaurant to try correct/improve our experience. I will add, if you are an influencer and show up with a nice camera and ring light like the table next to us did, they will run to get you a chef as soon as possible and treat you like every customer should be treated. In the end, we spent a nice amount of money for a bunch of meat doused in soy sauce. Beware of where you...