Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Vancouver

4 of us went for dinner on Sat night about 5:30. It was packed, but we noticed some people sitting in the bar area, so decided rater than wait for the main dining room (and show) we would just eat in the bar dining room. Let me just add this was the first time for 3 of us and the 4th in our party had only been for lunch during an off time. The decoration was HIDEOUS and very outdated and "old" looking. Which was surprising for a newer renovation. We knew this place as Lacamas Bank. Anyway, the tacky, old, and trashy looking 70's decor aside...we took a booth and sat down. A very nice waitress greeted us soon after and got us all drinks (water). We should have coveted this water because it would be the ONLY time during the entire 90 min to come that we would be offered any... Soon we were served 2 appetizers:calamari and pot stickers. The calamari was 6 pieces cut and breaded like onion rings - super tough and disappointing although the sauce was good. The pot stickers were a bit soggy, but edible, and nothing special. Moving on to dinner, we ordered teriyaki chicken, tempura chicken, and 2 orders of Hibachi Chicken and Shrimp-one with sauce and one without. The dining room we are in, starts to fill up and we only see a couple waitresses working it...and no one has come by to refill the water. About this time my husband makes a fast move and says he killed a bug! Then another. They appear to be gnats or fruit flies... The waitress comes with 3 meals and says she will be right back with that. Time passes. We watch her take more orders at other tables. She disappears a lot. There is no one in the dining room. A table is seated near us for at least 20-30 minutes without a waitress to get them silver or even a drink, they have finally had enough and get up to leave. Only as they are putting on their coats does a young man come by to ask why they are leaving... the 4-some at that table mention how long they have waited for no one, and point to us and mention how we are "sharing water" around the table because no one has come to refill ours either. I called him over to our table to ask if he was the manager, to which he replied no and suggested it was the owner, "Sunny." I would have thought he would have communicated to SUNNY, that people were leaving and unhappy in the bar dining room and perhaps she should check it out...but Sunny did not appear. Meanwhile we continue to kill bugs at our table and wait for my dinner to arrive. The teriyaki chicken was "OK"... the tempura chicken "ok"... the Hibachi chicken and shrimp didn't look anything like it...no sizzling Hibachi style, no grill marks, soggy frozen shrimp that was watery and cooked so HARD it was inedible. Meanwhile I am killing more fruit flies and waiting now 20-30 min for my dinner to arrive - which she has clearly forgotten. She never came to ask how our meal was, ever! Finally she did show up with my meal and a short apology. Everyone else was done eating at my table, and by the time my dinner arrived I had little appetite for it. For the first time in my life I politely explained that I no longer wanted the dinner, I had been killing bugs and everyone else had eaten what little they wanted of their meals - so it was pointless to serve it now. Besides, we still had never been offered more water. We soon quietly left, and paid the bill, although we should not have had to pay for the terrible service, atmosphere and food. Please enjoy the photo of the little "friend" I had to keep me company where my dinner plate should have been... a fitting end for this dinner and Kyoto. ...

I'm sad to even be writing this review because I literally go to this place four times a week minimum and I always place a food order to go whether it is a kids, chicken hibachi and an adult chicken hibachi or just the kids chicken hibachi I always 3 to 4 times a week. I'm here. Last night I went and I was getting food at the end of the night which I get. They were probably ready to go home, but if you are not capable of making food that's going to taste exceptional regardless of if you're closing or not then don't make it and dish out poor quality food. I never complain. I've been coming here for over a year every single day. They know me by phone number there when I call. I simply called and let them know that the rice and chicken for the kids hibachi that I got was just cold. The chicken was uncooked and the rice was hard so I simply let them know that thinking as much as I go there I always tip. I'm a regular customer there that they would take care of me and say no problem let me make you a new one or the next one is free mind you my kids didn't eat because it was literally hard rice and the chicken was still slimy. I called and I spoke with Freddy. He let me know he's going to talk to his manager and call me back and when he called me back, he offered me two free fried rice. (Which I always get chicken hibachi) so I figured okay. Well when I call are you going to just charge me like 6-7 bucks for chicken? He said no. Can't give you the whole meal free , only two sides of rice .. mind you I get the same thing every single time for over a year three times a week so why not make the whole thing free? So then I agreed he charged me $11.09 dollars for the chicken $1.50 for the Yum Yum sauce. When I got the chicken it was literally half of a chicken breast for 11 dollars . It was just terrible customer service never in 1 million years that I think they would charge me on a mess up when I have been a loyal customer to them for a year now. Sunny is amazing she is the only reason I kept going there because she is the best manager there is' but whoever is there now because she is out for a little bit just made them lose a customer . I simply do not care about the money again. I spend $25-$30 three times a week there for me. It was just a lack of empathy and care for them to just comp one meal so sad to say they have lost me as a customer. Sunny is amazing and she is the only reason I would hate not going back for . Please get it together because as a big establishment this is poor customer...

We first had lunch here with friends on a weekday in January, seated in a booth (no grills operating at the time). It was quiet and the server was very attentive. We all enjoyed our lunches very much, and wanted to go back for dinner soon. I would rate that lunch a 4 or 5. We went back last Saturday evening, for my husband and son's birthdays. I made reservations for the four of us for a grill, but when we arrived, we had to wait 20 minutes to be seated. There's very little waiting room for the crowd - we had to stand next to people seated in the other room and dodge servers. Once seated with 6 strangers, we waited another 20 minutes just for our drink orders to arrive - mine was supposed to be a mojito, but tasted like very watered booze, with no lime flavor, a brown colored lime slice garnish, and 1-1/2 leaves of mint. I tried 2 sips and sent it back, not wanting to try another mixed drink because my son's dirty martini had the olive juice sitting on top, not mixed in - not a pleasant first taste! Then we waited more for the guy to start grilling. The grill show was ok, but not spectacular - kids would be impressed. We didn't get the most gregarious guy, for sure. We got a bigger kick out of a table behind us celebrating a birthday. My guys ordered from the kitchen, as they have shellfish allergies, and didn't want cross contamination on the grill. They both really enjoyed their meals. My daughter-in-law and I had shrimp and scallops, which were ok, but not great. The grill food came in waves - first rice (not cooked evenly on the grill), then the meat, and finally the veggies, almost like courses. Even though I had mentioned we had 2 birthdays in our party, nothing was done about it. So unless you have a large party to take up all the seating at a grill, up to 10), and because the kitchen meals are better than the grill food, get seated in the regular...