13 Apr, Lunch
I am a steak lover and was looking forward to this meal, but honestly met with quite a disappointing experience overall.
I made the mistake of missing out on the obvious tourist trap signs: overly-marketable" restaurant name, frontal location at the entrance to Chinatown, excessive English signposts. While the cheapest Kobe-beef cut is advertised outside (3850yen~), staff will try to subtly encourage you to buy the more expensive cuts available in Kobe city-only (they have outlets in other cities), creating an illusion of higher value.
Food: I have tried other versions of Kobe beef, and felt like the final product of the dish did not tally with the price at all. Ordered the special premium steak but beef arrived slightly lukewarm-cold, with only the top slices seasoned - flavour of the meat below was honestly rather flat unless paired generously with accompanying sauces/salt. Sides (vegetables) that accompanied were cold & appeared to be pickled and stored in bulk. Steakland's teppanyaki set at 1/3 the price was a much more enjoyable meal in comparison. Presentation however of the food was good, and could see the effort put into it. Would have been great if the meat could have been served on a warm plate.
Service: On the plus side, waiters were friendly and could see them making the effort to engage with each guest + patiently explanaing each menu item.
Overall, I felt the meal was not worth it for the 13000yen~ paid. Like some other reviews mentioned, you can definitely get better experiences at other steak in the city.
