Hibachi To Go — Restaurant in Wilmington

2 days ago, my wife and I had to make a choice as to what to do for "Lunner" (about 3-ish) and her very first suggestion was Hibachi To Go. I have only eaten at Hibachi To Go once before, in the past 2 years. I remember the first experience not being the best experience nor did I conduct a review and I honestly wasn't blogging nearly as much as I do today. Usually, my wife and I will go round and round attempting to meet somewhere in the middle on where and what to eat. She's picky. I am not. :). At times, this becomes so agitating; I believe anyone reading this can empathize with me. But her first suggestion had me intrigued, so I agreed. The call was made. The order was placed, I pulled up 17 mins later and this is my take on the 2nd visit. FOOD: Hibachi Steak (ordered medium) with fried rice, veggies and their house, white sauce. Teriyaki Chicken with fried rice and white sauce. My personal meal was the steak and I was impressed for round 2! The steak was cooked as I ordered it, the food was hot, the veggies delivered that fresh "crunch" without being al dente and the rice was cooked well. Each bite of steak was juicy and hit me with blasts of flavor, as if the meat had been marinated for 24 hours. I mean, it isn't Wagyu Beef imported from Japan kinda quality, but It was very good for a local to-go restaurant. My wife's chicken also possessed this same wonderful flavor effect ...but the chicken was slightly on the drier side, thus, requiring the included white sauce mixed in to help rehydrate the bird. A few grains of the rice in this dish were slightly al dente, with smaller clumps of steamed rice, not getting fully "fried" up. This dish wasn't terrible but, after eating the steak entree, I wouldn't order the chicken again. Just my take on it though. SCORE: 3.7 STARS!!

SERVICE: As I walked into Hibachi To Go, I was greeted briefly by the young gentleman attending the counter. The interior is closed for dine-in, all chairs were stacked on top of the tables and there are sanitizing stations as soon as you walk in. Masks are required, the staff were wearing them properly and I noticed gloves being worn. Well done on the COVID-safety measures. Your restaurant appeared to be as sterile as a hospital! The customer service given by the young man was acceptable; he was kind, soft spoken and accommodating. Chop sticks were included, 2 additional white sauces were offered at no charge (maybe due to a 5 min wait inside?) and there were plenty of packs of soy sauce. Although I wasn't "blown away" by the level of service provided, it was still good and I felt welcomed for my brief stay inside. SCORE: 4 STARS!!

OVERALL SCORE: This second visit was a vast improvement over the first visit almost 2 years ago. Not sure what changes have been made, but it looks like it worked with the current staff now. The steak entree was very good, gave me value for my dollar and I was satisfyingly full. If the chicken had not cooked for a minute too long, I think it could have been easily as good. With the chicken being more on the dry side and random clumps of rice not being cooked properly, I probably won't order this dish again. The service was nice and I felt good about this visit....

This use to be my #1Togo spot. Unfortunately, it has changed tremendously. The cooking area inside isn’t appealing at all. The front refrigerator is broken and falling apart. I am a frequent customer here at Habachi Togo. About 3-4 months or so ago they were struggling for help BUT, the food was AMAZING. Within the past month or so everything has changed, the food quality and temperature, the wait times, the availability of the business and it’s employees. I have been here twice within the past two weeks and EACH time my order was missing something or the quality was poor. The cooks are walking around in the kitchen without hair nets on. There’s a guy in there right now with blue hair without a hair net. One day I came and my food was incorrect so, I had to drive back to the restaurant , just for them to have the front door locked. I had to pull around to the drive thru and the reason for the door being locked was “they can’t take any orders”. However, you can run my card and take my payment. It didn’t make any sense. But then I would see employees in the back of the building playing around. It is terrible now and I DO NOT RECOMMEND. I’m not sure how the other locations are but this is not how it use to be. I don’t think I’ll be back to spend any of my money.

I also attached photo of the wontons. The size of them gets smaller...

Placed my order over the phone for pickup and waited 25 minutes in line at the pickup window. After I paid and had my food I was stuck in between two pickup windows for 13 minutes because apparently you can order at one window and wait at the next window. Only problem is there are other people in line behind that can't move because management is so inconsiderate of their customers time and apparently way too busy to ask the customers that wait until they get to the window to place their order to kindly move to a parking space and we will bring the food out. Oh no the three people behind you that have their food and are now stuck in line are way less important than you kind sir that is holding the rest of us hostage. Never again! There are way too many hibachi joints in this town. And to the manager I know you already know about this because I had enough time to video all the cars I could see behind me,5 in my rearview mirror, and send it to my husband . He called and spoke to the nice girl at the window and she offered for him to speak to the manager. He told her I would speak to him if I ever got to the second window where he was. And guess what I was greeted with at the second window? Stainless steel bowls. No human. No one to give a suggestion to. But thank goodness there is...