Taki Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Urbandale

Hit or MISS forsure ! Tonight was BAD! I have been to Taki Many times and food is always outstanding. Last Friday a bunch of my family members decided to go to Taki for a get together. The waiter took our drink order and food order and was kind. We then got an amazing performer/cook. I ordered the steak and shrimp along with 4 other people from my family. The shrimp was heavenly! The steak was cooked great but you couldn’t chew it! It was like leather. I thought it may have been just me 🤷🏻‍♀️? I looked over and everyone else was trying to eat and unable to chew the steak up either ( I thought it might have been a joke )Needless to say no one ate the steak because it was not etible. Strange right ? Never encountered anything like this before. I told the server and they took 10% off our bill. Thanks I guess... I didn’t argue as they didn’t seem to want to hear of our issues and quickly dismissed our concerns and blamed it on their vendors. They wanted us to pay and leave. We didn’t cause a fuss just wanted to give Taki a chance to make it right. We left and got a cheeseburger as our steak was not etible. Taki you had a bad night which is ok. What is not okay is the owner dismissing our concerns and not even wanting to hear me. No eye contact nothing. I won’t be back! Owner was also yelling at server over a spoiled bottle of wine that a customer sent back!...

Last Saturday evening, I decided to try Taki Japanese Steakhouse, a place I had heard so much about but never visited. The moment I stepped inside, the warm glow of lanterns and the soft sound of trickling water from a small indoor fountain set a calm, welcoming mood. The air was filled with the rich aroma of grilled steak and sizzling teriyaki.

I was seated at a hibachi table with a few other guests, and soon our chef arrived—an energetic man with amazing knife skills who introduced himself as Kenji. He started the show by juggling spatulas and making a volcano out of onion rings that erupted in a tower of flame. Everyone at the table cheered and laughed.

For my meal, I ordered the filet mignon and shrimp combination. Kenji cooked everything right in front of us, perfectly searing the steak and tossing shrimp tails into his hat with incredible precision. The fried rice was buttery and full of flavor, and the fresh vegetables had the perfect crunch. My favorite part was a surprise dessert: a tempura-fried banana drizzled with chocolate.

By the end of the night, I left Taki Japanese Steakhouse not only satisfied but also entertained. It felt like I had been part of a small dinner theater performance, and I couldn’t wait to tell my friends about this...

Giving Taki 2 stars for the benefit of the doubt because it's been good in the past, but we attempted to do dinner there tonight and the sign on the door adding they're hiring is obviously legit. They really didn't seem that busy (a Thursday night), only one table of 3 ahead of us waiting, but it took over 5 minutes just to be seated and we waited 10 minutes at a table before leaving and were never even brought water. While waiting we noticed several tables that had clearly been waiting for a while that were just having rolls delivered to them (just tables of two) and one table of two which has been seated the entire time we been there (even before getting seated ourselves) that seemed to be waiting eagerly to order themselves (at least they had water). After we saw the table seated AFTER us was being waited on and their order taken before we even received water, we decided that was our queue to seek...