Hibachi Bistro — Restaurant in Wilmington

Edit*: I went back and gave this restaurant another try and the issues I mentioned below with the rice and soy sauce were both addressed. I was very happy with the experience and changed my overall review of the restaurant from 2 stars to 5 stars. Thank you! Original Post: I first discovered this restaurant in 2008 when I was an undergrad student at UNCW. I absolutely loved this place and was my favorite place to eat. I would eat here multiple times per week and spent most of my food budget here because I loved it so much! Sadly, things seem to have changed for the worse. I no longer live in the area but my wife and I sometimes visit. I introduced her to this restaurant because it holds a special place in my heart.

During our last 2 visits, I was sad to find that both the fried rice and white rice were nearly inedible. The rice was so dry and hard, it was like biting into plastic. It wasn't the entire plate of rice but there were dry bits of rice mixed in with the good rice. I would be eating the rice then suddenly I would bite into a patch of rice that was hard. The rice we were served was clearly leftover rice from the previous day that had dried and hardened overnight. It's as if somebody came in the next morning and just mixed the old batch of rice causing the dry and hard rice on the edges of the pot to mix with the soft rice in the center of the pot thinking nobody would notice. Unfortunately when you do this, it virtually ruins the entire pot of rice because as you're eating the good rice, you'll suddenly get a nasty surprise that I had to spit out multiple times as I kept finding hard grains of rice mixed with the good rice. The first time it happened, I shrugged it off thinking maybe we got a bad batch so we came back a 2nd time to give it another try. I was extremely sad and disappointed to find the same problem during our 2nd visit.

Another note is that during our most recent visit, we found the soy sauce is no longer the Kikkoman soy sauce. I tried the new soy sauce and it seems to be the cheap generic soy sauce that you find in most Chinese takeout restaurants and it wasn't very good. One of the reasons I came to eat here was because this was one of the few restaurants that used premium Kikkoman Soy Sauce and it made a huge difference in the taste of the food. I urge the owners to go back to the premium Kikkoman Soy Sauce if possible. I realize the generic soy sauce is much cheaper but the previous Kikkoman Soy Sauce is so much better.

I love this restaurant and I hope it stays open for many years to come. However the past 2 experiences have made me question if I want to go back. There are many other Hibachi restaurants in the area and whenever I'm craving Hibachi, this place is no longer #1 for me and I may want to go elsewhere instead.

I really hope this message reaches someone who can make a difference. Even something as simple as making a new batch of rice each morning can mean the difference of customers coming back vs finding a different Hibachi restaurant to eat at. Or heck, you could even just have someone go and scrape the hard dry rice out of the edges of the rice pot in the morning. But whatever you do, please don't mix the dry rice into the good rice and ruin the entire pot. I don't know when I will be returning to Wilmington but I am willing to give this place 1 more chance. If nothing is changed by the time I return then sadly I may have to say farewell to this restaurant and find a new...

I had hoped to email a manager directly, but when I called the location I was told it wasn't possible to contact them directly, I could only leave a message. So I'm going to post this review and if they want to contact me, they can.

I placed an order online last night and was told the order would be ready at 6:35pm. The order consisted of one hibachi entree and one sushi roll. I arrived at 6:30 and let the girl behind the counter know I was there. She pointed to a bag on the counter and said my entree was ready, they were just waiting on the sushi.

15 minutes passed, still nothing. People came in, placed orders, got their orders, and left. I went back up to the counter at about 6:50; she went to the back and returned to tell me they were working on it.

Finally at 7pm I go back to the counter to tell them to cancel my order and refund my money. Rather than talk to me when I approach, she rushes into the back again, this time coming back with my sushi. When I said something to her about the fact my entree has now been sitting there on the counter for at least 30 minutes getting cold, she ignored me and moved on to the next customer.

I've always been a fan of this restaurant, but if this is the level of service they accept now, I won't be going back. I feel like I did not at all get my moneys worth as, when I got home, the food was cold and soggy as I'd feared. Very disappointing; and even more so considering the manager doesn't have a direct...

My family is not from the area, but was in Wilmington shopping and sight seeing and decided to dine here after our day ended. It was HORRIBLE, DIRTY, and DISGUSTING! The food here was definitely not worth the price especially for all complaints we had! Mind you all we had a party of 10!!!! The food on the buffets had been out for God knows how long! Food was all over the countertops of the buffets, even the grill section was filthy. There was no one out wiping down or cleaning up NOTHING other than the waitresses who were waiting on customers. There was no fresh food brought out the entire 35/40 minutes we were there, this explains why the food looked old once we got to take a look at the buffet. The sushi sucked too, I never seen sushi looked the way most of there sushi looked the taste explained it all!! YUCK!!! Lastly, my daughter grabbed a plate that was supposedly clean off the stack of plates and there was residuals of fried rice all over it! I mean at this point I was beyond livid and cleary my dissatisfaction was of no one concern of the restaurant. I really wished we had read the reviews of this restaurant prior because we would have never patronized here! So to spare the next person the same mishap if you are reading this... RUN FROM THIS PLACE!! This place deserves zero...