TLDR
Save your money. Quite possibly a tourist trap.
Overall Impressions
It’s beyond me how this restaurant has such high reviews. This was our first time going to a specialty Kobe beef restaurant, and we made the mistake of not doing enough research and booking in advance. This was one of the only places that had same day reservations—clearly there was a reason why. The whole experience felt subpar and tacky, from the venue to the service to the food itself—certainly not worth the price point of over 10,000 yen per person. You’d be better served going to a high end yakinuku place at comparable prices. Lesson learned to research more thoroughly, book at least two days in advance, and look at the menu/cuts of meat in advance.
Dishes Ordered
Kobe Beef Combination set (tender red meat, premium rare part, premium rib eye roll) with A set (salad, miso soup, and garlic rice) addition: 2/5
This was the wrong thing to order. None of the cuts of meat were particularly good—certainly not up to the reputation of Kobe beef and in particular, one of the cuts was extremely tough. The meat tasted completely ordinary and evidently not too fresh as later I experienced some stomach trouble. Perhaps other cuts would have been better, however, this particular set was disappointing. In the future, I recommend looking at the menu/researching cuts of meat beforehand.
The beef set came with an assortment of small grilled vegetables, toast, and grilled beansprouts. These tasted simply average.
The A set addition included miso soup with some small and tough cuts of beef inside. The garlic rice was grilled on the teppan at the end of the meal with small cuts of beef. This also tasted simply average. The salad was quite good and was perhaps the best part of the meal.
Ambiance/Vibe: 2/5
The restaurant is close to Sannomiya station where a large number of Kobe beef restaurants are concentrated with garish advertising signs. It’s unclear to me if it’s this particular restaurant that feels tacky/scammy or if the whole enterprise of Kobe beef chains in this area has a similar business model/vibe. In any case, the premises itself has multiple stories and we were led by the chef to a rather dingy dining area on one of the upper floors. There were perhaps ~10 seats in front of the teppan and all English menus were already placed on the counters. The chef offered a photo opportunity with the cuts of meat in front of various awards/trophies the restaurant has received. How they received these awards is a mystery to me. In any case, it’s clear this restaurant is not quite a regularly operating upscale restaurant, but one designed for especially for tourists.
Service: 2/5
Service was utilitarian bordering on careless. For a price point of over 10,000 yen per person (almost $100 USD), I would have expected exemplary service at American restaurants let alone a Japanese establishment. Perhaps working conditions were less than optimal, perhaps they were short staffed, however, there was limited communication (despite the fact that we could understand some Japanese), dishes were set down carelessly, and ingredients were tossed about and dropped on the counter. In general, it seemed like the chef was not having a good day. Normally, I don’t like to complain about service, because I understand that service and staff attitudes are often a product of poor management and working conditions. However, at a so-called “upscale” restaurant charging its customers fine dining prices, presenting service that is of lower quality than I’ve received at some konbini registers is simply unacceptable.
2 stars because at least basic civility was still maintained.
Bathroom: N/A
Not used.
Things to note:
English menu available. Servers speak some English.
Rating Scale
1: truly awful, 2: below average, 3: average, 4: above average, 5: truly excellent
