Sapporo Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in University Place

My grandson and his family invited me up to Lakewood to take me to lunch at Sapporo's, which is the newest restaurant owned by Max and Tina. They also own Zesty's Steakhouse, Cajun Grill Bar, located on Bridgeport Way in Lakewood, which I had gone to with my grandson and his family. Just as I gave Zesty's an excellent review, I have no problem recommending Sapporo Steakhouse. My grandson had made reservations, which I would recommend. Sapporo's offers an extensive menu complete with Hibachi preparation at your table. I had never experienced it, and my compliments to Adie, who was our personal chef, and put on a mesmerizing show from start to finish.

I had the NY Steak & Chicken, with the steak prepared to order, which I chose as a medium rare. I don't remember the last time I had steak that flavourful and melt in your mouth tender. I chose the fried rice, which is also prepared on the Hibachi in front of you. I normally prefer white rice but decided to try the fried rice, which was prepared to perfection with subtle flavors of egg, onion, and petite peas. You get soup, which is broth with slices of mushrooms in it, and salad with your choice of dressing with the meal. We each ordered a starter, and I ordered the Coconut Shrimp, which I first tried at Zesty's and loved it. Their menu is extensive and available online, complete with prices. While I could try to describe Adie's showmanship on the grill, I couldn't begin to do it justice. I swear, it was as close to being a magical experience as an adult can have. Have you ever seen an egg roll? It's not what you think it is and is part of the magic, as is the Smoking Onion.

I would be remiss in my review if I didn't mention our equally outstanding server, Rose. Empty dishes discreetly disappeared and did not distract from what Adie was doing. Rose was cheerful, seeing that we promptly had anything we needed. She provided take-home boxes and bags to put them in, and even the napkins were of a higher quality than what you typically get in a restaurant. You could tell Rose enjoyed her job and making her customers happy.

In closing, Max and Tina have outdone themselves with their Sapporo Steakhouse, from the quality food to their quality staff. You owe it to yourself to experience the Hibachi magic at least once at this 5-star restaurant. I drove up from Vancouver, and it was well...

Not sure what is so great about this restaurant or why they have a 4.5 star rating. We sat on the regular restaurant side cause I’m not a huge hibachi fan. For reference, I’ve eaten at many Japanese restaurants that are steakhouses and I’m from a place with traditional Japanese fare. (San Francisco, Bay Area, Hawaii)

There are a decent amount of sushi, nigiri, and appetizer choices. The lunch menu looks typical, but decent. DO NOT expect any traditional Japanese meals. I really wanted donburi but it wasn’t on the menu. The teriyaki and tempura section was either-or and did not have an option for a combo entree. The meals were pretty bland. I love sushi, but I also don’t like rolls where you can’t fit a full piece in my mouth at once (I hate rolls falling apart if I have to bite into it). I ordered a tempura roll and that’s what I experienced. I like a good amount of flavor and ratio of rice to “filling” and both were off. The flavor just wasn’t there. I had the tofu tempura…bland. The dipping sauce…bland. I love a good fried tofu and can eat it for days but I was unimpressed here. The vegetable tempura were soft had zero crunch left. But also, it just tasted like oil. All in all, I was quite unimpressed and it’s way overpriced for the quality. I also grabbed the side of my chair to scoot myself in and it was sticky. So I quickly wiped it down with a cleaning wipe and it was black. That was pretty gnarly. The hibachi area seemed like they were having a good time but I wouldn’t come back here to find out...

Exceptional service and food! Went there for a birthday party, called ahead to make reservations. The lady on the phone suggested we set reservations for 5:30pm instead of 6pm because it gets really busy. Best advice ever! Parking lot gets really full and while we were leaving there were tons of people waiting for service. We ordered shrimp, calamari, steak, chicken, and scallops some with fried rice and some with noodles, as well as the takoyaki. Takoyaki had the perfect texture; crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The fried rice was a little on the dry side, I think that's because of the variety of rice that is used but it was still delicious (and nothing a little yum yum sauce can't fix). This is the first teppanyaki restaurant where I have had the option to order fried noodles and they were amazing! They tasted like garlicy yakisoba noodles and I fell in love with them. Steak was perfectly medium rare as ordered, the chicken was pretty darn perfectly seasoned too. The calamari and scallops were perfectly done and well seasoned, perfectly complimented with a dip in the yum yum sauce as well. The theatrics of the chef and interactiveness of the entire dinner was the best! We had two chefs and they worked in tandem, one would do the big flame and the other would wait a couple of minutes. Everyone laughed and had a great time. The birthday girl got a light up crown, free birthday drink, and a dessert with a happy birthday song sung twice. I will definitely return and next time I have got to...