Kenji: A Modern Hibachi Grill With Affordable Sushi
May 28, 2009 - 12:03 pm
By Trevor Dickerson
My first impression upon entering the doors of Kenji Hibachi & Sushi Bar at the Parc Place Shops of Short Pump Town Center was how modern it was. The decor was upscale and contemporary, and trendy dance music played throughout the establishment. Unlike many hibachi grills that have seperate rooms for each grill, Kenji is spacious and open, with separate areas for sushi bar seating and hibachi dinners.
My friend and I were seated immediately and taken care of by a friendly waitress. I ordered the Makki lunch combination, which includes a tuna roll alongside other assorted pieces of sushi that coincide with the specials of the day. My assorted rolls included both a cucumber and a California roll.
The tuna and cucumber rolls were filled with wasabi, something I’ve never seen before. Usually this is presented on the side. It also wasn’t noted on the menu that it included spicy rolls. Either way, the sushi was freshly prepared and the fish was very tasty, but I think I drank four or five glasses of water during my lunch.
My friend ordered a bento box lunch, which included a volcano roll (basically a California roll with a crispy fried wrapping), crab puffs (crispy wonton-type fried noodles filled with fresh crab meat and served with a lemon dipping sauce), white rice, salad with ginger dressing and a grilled and marinated salmon fillet.
With tax and tip, my meal came to around $13.00, very reasonable for a sushi lunch in my opinion. My friend’s bento box came to $12.oo with tax and tip.
Overall, the atmosphere was great for lunch and would likely be even better for dinner in either the sushi bar or hibachi areas. I’d really have to visit for a hibachi dinner to get a better idea of what the food’s like, but the sushi gets two thumbs up from me. My friend enjoyed her bento box meal and sushi as well.
I love sushi!! I can’t wait to try it out.
I have been eating at kenji since they opened. It is by far the best sushi and hibachi grill in the short pump area. The atmosphere is definitely upscale; however their prices are extremely reasonable.
Kengi = really good food. After the movies, we used to go to Osaka, but when kenji opened we went to try it out. I am glad we did their food is really good and their prices are very reasonable. Also there is plenty of room, and we are not crammed together like in some other restaurants.
I hate to be a downer, but this place left a bad taste in my mouth. When they first opened up, we decided to have our friend's going away party at Kenji. I was assured that the restaurant had handled large parties before. However, the night of the party was a different story.
When we got there, we had to wait until ALL 15 members of our party had arrived before we could be seated! Given there will always be a couple people late at the dinner, we had to wait 30 minutes from our reservation time, before we were even seated.
Once seated, our group of 15 people was separated between two hibachi tables (Not ideal for allowing everybody to talk to eachother, without yelling across the hibachi chefs).
Of course, while waiting we were all drinking water or tea. After asking twice to refill of our tea pots (the waitress didn't bother refilling them for us, we had to ask her to do it) she came back and told us to slow down on drinking the restaurants hot tea, because we were drinking it all! The nerve!
Service was very slow, and needless to say, our waitress was very rude. Not only did it take 30 minutes to get in our food order, but it also took an additional 45 minutes for the food to come out. And not all the food came out at the same time either! I could understand if the kitchen was backed up, but the restaurant was not even half full. To make the experience worse, when the food came out, it looked like it was prepared in 5 minutes, only to be thrown on the plate before it was served to us. Food was placed sloppily on the plates and did not look appetizing at all. Japanese food is to be eaten with your eyes first and then your mouth. My eyes couldn't even look at the food on the plate.
I'm not a picky eater, but because of the horrible food placement, this is the only restaurant where I've ever returned a dish and demanded it to be taken off our bill. I didn't even bother trying the food, that's how bad it looked.
I'm glad that other people are having positive experiences with the restaurant, but they will never get my business again…