Hiro Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Wilmington

We got there approx 4:45pm on 12-30-17 which was a Sat night but since it was so early there was no wait at all & they offer an 'early bird' special if ur seated between 4-6pm every night for $17.95 combo vs $22.95. The food was great as it always has been, the chef was awesome in regards to his attitude, entertainment, & quality of the meal he prepared even tho he informed us he was fairly new there the dinner itself was excellent. However our waitress on this visit kept them from that 5th star, I was already disappointed w/her service or lack of, actually felt jealous as I saw table in front of us receiving great service from their waitress. I witnessed other server tell her customers of the specials inc. early bird specials, introduced herself so they knew who to ask for if they needed anything & was attentive while we were not told of the specials we only ordered it from past knowledge only got our servers name from other server & off receipt which btw I had to have changed after asking other server 'wasn't this suppose to be on special?' the other couple at our table had same 'special' but had already paid w/o questioning the overcharge & left as they had 2 young children (an infant & toddler) that were starting to get antsy once the chefs show was over. I was about to pay the $15.00 inflated bill (3 combo meals @ $5 savings each) + substantial until I decided to fortunately ask other server about my bill as ours was nowhere around & other one informed me our meals were part of the early bird special & she would have Baylea come out to talk to me. She came to ask what was wrong, acted shocked that I caught the over charge since she never told us of the specials to begin with & got me an amended bill which still wasn't completely correct bcuz she thinks I was unaware of the sushi specials during the same hours & she did not fix that so I took that out thru her tip or 'lack of' This in my opinion was NOT a case of a simple mistake of accidentally ringn up wrong price esp when I was very nice when I pointed out the mistake & just simply asked 'weren't these suppose to be on special?' I didn't have any bad attitude at all but when I asked her words were 'oh Im sorry I rang in the wrong price I'll go fix that & get u a new bill' but as she said it she kind of got huffy with an attitude & even rolled her eyes as she walked off & when she brought new bill to me she some what slammed it on table in front of me saying 'here!' with an attitude & rushed off acting mad not just busy but as if it was an inconvenience to her & in regards to lack of service the place was packed with a wait when we left but not when we arrived, Iv waited tables b4 so Im very understanding & look at the circumstances of WHY they may not be...

Hiro Let me Down.

The food was good and our chef was skilled, but I think that's about all Hiro has decided to make a priority with their Wilmington classic these days.

In short, it seems that owners and management are content with serving us the hibachi we expect while allowing the building, decor, and overall ambiance to fall way down from the Hiro we know and love from the past.

In some ways it's endearing that quite literally nothing has changed at Hiro in 20 years (not even the pillows at the sushi party tables), but it mostly grosses me out and cheapens the experience completely.

I remember when Hiro was a hot-spot for fancy Japanese dining and was and experience both for it's food/chef entertainment as well as it's unique decor and ambience.

Walking up the exterior of the building recently, it was clear that things like landscaping, pressure washing, and general maintenance have fallen way behind for ages. There is trash and weeds along the sidewalk, dark paths of dirt in the entrance walkway, and the turtle fountain was dried up except for a bit of green slime and trash in the bottom corner. It honestly looked like the restaurant had been closed a few months.

Upon entering, everything is like it's in a time capsule from 1999. Nothing has been updated. The fishtank seems improperly lit with dirty water and seemingly scratched glass. Generally speaking, everything in the foyer seemed dark and dingy and that goes double for the bathrooms which could use a deep clean.

As we were seated, I noticed that the chairs are well worn with deep pits in the middle of each pad, wallpaper is peeling off the top of the wall, and like the fountain outside, the wall fountains were no longer working.

It was at this point that I really started to wonder about the state of the kitchen. How's the dishwasher? When was the last time the ice machine was cleaned and sanitized? How clean is the walk-in in the back? Based on the condition of the outside, foyer, bathrooms, and dining room, my outlook was bleek.

I thought for sure that our chef would be a hack and the food wouldn't taste any better than the quick combos I get from Express (which are good but much cheaper)

Luckily I was wrong. Our chef was skilled and friendly and our food was good. Protein portions should have been more from what I remember, but that's ok these days with shrinkflation I guess.

Only other problem was being charged $3.40 for "club soda" when ordering carbonated water which we all know comes from the soda machine and not Perrier!

Do better Hiro. Your place is falling apart and it's a bad look. I'm taking the family to Okami next time or at these prices, maybe I'll get a Blackstone for 2024! ...

• EDIT TO BE CLEAR* Doug Jacobs manager wrote an apology letter on HIS behalf not the restaurants behalf, not the owners behalf, and definitely not the chefs behalf… I went in for a sit down with the owner Mae, manager Doug, and the chef.. The only one that showed compassion and apologized from the heart was the manager Doug Jacobs.. I think Doug Jacobs would be a better fit in a restaurant where the owner as well as employees value their customers… I am still not happy with the results from the owner Mae Ling…

Where do I begin?? This is what happened... My daughter had prom Friday night (April 19th) and after prom her and 3 friends went to Hiro Japanese Steakhouse. Their cook came out and asked their ages and they all said 17 yrs old. The cook then asked if they could handle an R-rated show..they ignored him...he then preceded to make jokes about "where are the boys?" " where are your dates?" They said they just came to eat alone..He then talked about shots and alcohol. He then made very inappropriate jokes about the eggs looking like butt cheeks and then made jokes about HIS privates and made the finger gesture that his privates were small...mind you the girls got this all on video..Someone that works there cleaning the tables passed by and told the cook his jokes were inappropriate because they were minors... When I picked my daughter up she told me what happened and I immediately called Hiro and of course no one answered. I went in the next day to speak with the manager (Doug Jacobs) and he was very nice and seemed very upset stating that he himself has a 16 yr old daughter and it would upset him if that happened to his daughter. He assured me that he would speak to the owner and call me back with some sort of resolution. He did call back and I missed his call. He left a voice mail and said they talked and he would like to speak to me regarding this situation. I called his cell phone back and it went to voicemail and I have not heard from them since. I have called and nothing...It is not my job to keep calling them when it is their screw up.. I have been going to Hiro for years and have taken my family, friends etc and I never would have thought that my 17 yr old and her friends would have experienced this sort of thing at the restaurant. My daughter said she would NEVER feel safe there alone again...