Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar

Wasabi used to be one of my favorite go too restaurants in Jacksonville, however after my latest encounter I do not believe I will be returning anytime soon.
Where do I start?
My husband and I decided after a long day we would switch things up and order takeout instead of experience the entire presentation. Terrible decision. When we placed the order on the phone we were advised our 2 entrees and appetizer would be ready in about 15 – 20 minutes. Upon arrival at the restaurant (20 minutes later) we were greeted by the host who advised our meal was not quite ready and requested we wait in the bar area till it completed. After waiting about 10 minutes and not receiving any sort of an update we decided we might as well have a drink, which a rude bartender indecently served us.
Finally an hour later after watching other to-​go orders be served to other patrons we noticed a packaged meal that had been sitting for about 10 minutes. When we questioned the bartender who the sitting order was for she stated our name and did not connect the dots that it was for us. We claimed that was our order, and she coarsely presented it to us. Upon further inspection we identified that our appetizer was forgotten. We brought this to the bartender’s attention and she had a very rude remark «well by this time do you still want it?» Needless to say we did not pursue that part of our meal.
When we got home almost an hour and a half after ordering more disappointment than just cold pricey food had ensued: Our fried rice was not thoroughly cooked and did not contain the fried eggs, one of the shrimp pieces still had portions of skin on it, and our steak was over cooked.
My husband and I are usually very understanding of «accidents happen» in the hospitality world, however with so many mishaps and the addition of very disrespectful and unwelcoming service experience without any acceptance of responsibility for their actions we do not plan on returning.

Had lunch there on Monday, 2/​8, for the first time. Did not go for the whole hibachi experience, just the regular restaurant service in the main part of the restaurant.
The chicken mushroom soup was the best I’ve ever had at any Japanese restaurant. Had a great touch of white pepper that was Devine!
Lunch specials (chicken and shrimp and chicken and scallops) were both excellent. Plenty of food, with enough for take home the next day. Veggies were fresh and well prepared.
The waiter was just outstanding. Very attentive, but not overly so.
Saw to every need, including extra takeout sauce at the end of the meal, without being asked. Honestly don’t know when we have had more attentive service, including at some of the high end restaurants in town.
We’ll be back! Thanks!

Very nice! Awesome showmanship and presentation from the hibachi chef. Individual plates were around $ 20 a person, but very nice portions. More than I’ve had at other hibachis. Very rich in flavor.
A lot of people celebrating their birthdays that night, including my party. They do a celebration with a drum for each one which became a bit bothersome. Besides that, it was excellent. Highly recommend it.

Went for lunch with a party of 10 from the office last week. When I was leaving I noticed that both my knees were stained with what looked like dirt. Couldn’t figure out what it was until a few hours later back at the office. I remembered that my knees were rubbing against the underneath of the grill! I called the restaurant that evening and sent her a picture of my pants and my receipt. Next day they offered me a $ 20 gift card. I politely told them that wasn’t good enough because I hadn’t been to the restaurant in a couple of years and wasn’t planning on returning. I wanted a refund of my lunch. The manager said no because they couldn’t be sure it really happened at the restaurant because I called so late in the evening!
So I’m trying to get the word out. Be careful if you have long legs and they don’t believe their customers! Poor service and the steak was tough too!
Won’t be back

Grill was dirty. His shirt was dirty. The floor was dirty. I couldn’t eat. The food they toss you is on the floor from customers past. Built up grime in the corners of the grill. Then they put the chairs on the tables. Feet down. Yuck.

The place seems pretty new, everything we ordered was good, the quality was very good. The only thing that would have made the experience here better would have been if our waiter would have came to see if I wanted something else to drink other then water.

I have no clue what the lady at the bottom
Is talking about 8 year olds but when I walked in this was the most professional, clean and fun atmosphere. The place has a nice set up. Tables in the front house and hibachi in the back. The chef was really fun and quirky and I had an amazing date night dinner. So good I’m meeting my boyfriends mom for dinner there when we all go out ! Now I’m not a sushi lover but I thought I’d try one.
We got the YUM YUM roll and omg I’m dying for it again it’s so good ! Especially for someone who isn’t a fan of sushi but kinda likes it. The food was fresh, drinks (alcoholic) were so good I had two and I never drink ! Not my thing.
I’m
So excited to go back ! This is a must place for birthdays, anniversaries or date nights etc!

All of this fuss over Wasabi’s so I just knew that after I tried it once I’d be a regular for sure. I was wrong!
Their hibachi is mediocre, the shrimp sauce is sweet, the huge cuts of carrots were disturbing, the sushi was average and the meal and fried rice lacked flavor all around in my opinion.
I’m going to go ahead and compare Wasabi’s to my FAVORITE Fujiyama’s! They’re basically the same establishment with a different name.
Wasabi’s wins on the size, design and décor of their restaurant and possibly their customer service as well, but Fujiyama’s takes the cake with their food and flavor.
If you’re looking for a GREAT hibachi, with great sushi and all around flavor I would definitely make the trip to Fujiyama’s instead of Wasabi’s!
Happy Unilocaling…

I recently took my family to dinner after having a great lunch experience with a co-​worker. We have been to several hibachi restaurants in the area and this one is by far the best. The portion sizes were huge and the family was entertained. The process to check out and get to-​go boxes was a little slow; however it was an overall good experience.

Came here last Thursday for a friend’s birthday dinner and I had an overall okay experience. We sat at the Hibachi tables and they were a bit crowded, but a simple solution was to just take out a chair and get comfortable. Another thing I didn’t like was how the person who cleans up the grill comes by while we’re earing to clean things up– I definitely think they should change that. It was just rude and unappetizing. I shared 2 fried dynamite rolls and the ribeye steak & chicken teriyaki. They were a bit skimpy on the ribeye, but the portions were so big that we had a full box of leftovers. The rice was also a bit too soggy. I will give this place another try though, it’s not bad.

Solidly average to below. Sat at the hibachi grill. The cook continually messed up one person’s order requiring constant recooking, and he continually forgot another person’s order all together. On top of that, the sashimi I ordered (at $ 20) had very small portions of average fish (tuna, salmon and snapper). Additionally there was only 2 soy sauce containers for 12 people and 1 set of salt/​pepper shakers so there was a lot of interruptions to ask someone to «pass the…». Not impressed.

Food was great! I ordered the filet mignon and shrimp. Steak was tender and the portion size was more than enough! I will definitely be returning!

Ok let me start by saying as a disclaimer that i didnt sit at the hibachi tables and im sure that’s where the action is. But I eat at a lot of restaurants and I know good food from bad and I’m not into slamming restaurants unless they deserve it. But this place was cookie cutter Japanese Steakhouse at best and the sushi was chewy and not up to normal standards, if a place is going to represent themselves as a big fancy restaurant their food should be of the same quality the small hole in the wall sushi place by my house has better sushi then this joint. Dont hate me its just the truth.

All I can say is «oy!» So much good food I couldn’t stop eating and feel as big as a house walking out!
Great atmosphere for hibachi restaurants in this area. The host and wait staff were very nice and the cook was funny. Even the bus boy said «have a nice evening» to us when we left.
The sushi is the best I’ve found in NE Jacksonville so far. The onion soup and ginger salad were both very good, and the hibachi was on point. The portions were huge (as is the case with most hibachi places), but they actually flavor their meals with more than just salt and soy. All the protein (steak, shrimp and chicken) had both soy and teriyaki sauce on them. The steak also came with mushrooms and the chicken was also served with onions and green peppers. That was the first time I have seen that before.
The price was about average as well. $ 23/​person and the 8 piece sushi roll was under $ 7. All was well worth the price. We will definitely be returning.

Food — C — I hate hibachi — it’s just not my thing so I ordered sushi and I wasn’t impressed but I also didn’t have high expectations. I can say they did serve huge portions on hibachi. And the individual items were pretty big — huge shrimp. Much love to the shrimp sauce though.
Show — B — I think our chef caught on pretty quickly that no one at the table was really in for a show. It was like going to college. Your first week you wear bow ties and suspenders, carry a notebook and write down everything that the teacher breaths. But midterms you show up in pjs and a pen in your bun, If they said anything with the word test you tell the person that is highlighting notes can they send you a copy. The show did a full swan dive. This is actually a plus for me. Know when to bow out lol.
Noise: — D — Loud as sh*t! That moment when a father decides to have a cute dinner alone with his child. Awww. And then you learn that the child is scared of fire. SH*T MAN! Then of course it feels like everyone comes to celebrate their birthday. So if you are able to have a discussion under shouting you are signing or texting. It’s just weird to have to be so loud and indoors without a scoreboard.
Service — C — Took forever to be seated even though more then half of our party was present. When we are finally seated (with another party) there aren’t enough place seating for two in our group. Once seated service was extremely slow.

Awesome experience. The food is fantastic and the servers are very friendly! Sushi is the best! The cooks are very interactive and they love to party! Very very busy restaurant!

I am so beyond pissed right now primarily because I am starving… so here it goes. I walked in & there was a 15 minute wait. I sat at the bar with my bf & we got an adult beverage while we waited. We finally got buzzed by the timer, sat down around the hibachi table & waited…& waited…& waited…
Our server was absolutely horrible. I’m not sure if this was her first rodeo or what. The table beside of us ws sat no more than 5 minutes before we did & they had already gotten their drinks, soup, salad, complimentary shrimp & rice. The only thing they had left was the meat & we had only gotten our drinks. Sitting their for 30 minutes with only a drink is absolutely ridiculous.
The only reason I know the specific times is because we had somewhere to be & at that point there was no hope in making it so we got up & left. The server was nowhere in sight for me to even tell her we were leaving so I told the hostess.
I’ve been to wasabi multiple times & have always enjoyed it but this time was unacceptable. The orginal plan was to go to Daruma Japanese Steakhouse bc I had never been. I wish we would have!!!

1:30pm Love this place! Been coming for year’s! Hibachi is deelish, Dont forget the sweet carrots at the end. I’m a very picky eater & they definitely cater to my needs. It’s worth a try.
2pm– I should’ve waited to write my review! I received my food to come across RAW Chicken! I notified my waitress about the issue, she notified the Manager on duty. *No one seemed Concerned* he took my food away a gave me a Bill for 5 $. The bill which was for my SOUP & SALAD, which is apart of my meal. Normally i wouldn’t trip about paying that small price, but the fact that my food was Raw & you still Charge me for a Portion that was INCLUDED in my meal price wasn’t ok with me! No argument though, i Paid it & Left! Dont plan on Returning here, the Concern of the customer was Unknown!

Good hibachi and sushi spot
Great lunch specials for hibachi
Good prices
Variety of sushi rolls
Lovely shrimp sauce
Yummy carrots served with the meal
Great hibachi rice
Fun and entertaining chefs
Open for lunch
Closed b/​w lunch and dinner
Huge space
Clean
They offer cocktails and sake
Huge amount of food !
Check it out

I was pleasantly surprised about coming here for a work Christmas party. We were a large group of about 24 and we were seated at the hibachi grill tables. We had one waitress for the entire group and two chefs. The waitress was very friendly and attempted to get us all everything we needed. I say attempted because she did forget to bring my daughters booster seat and a To go container for my soup. However she was very apologetic for forgetting and since she did seem sincere it didn’t bother me. My husband and I each got our own entrees and were concerned about the sharing charge for children but our server informed us that it’s only if we wanted her to have her own veggies and rice and soup. Lucky for us we didn’t, so we didn’t have to pay a sharing plate charge. The prices were very high but I did expect that because it’s the only Japanese restaurant At the town center.
The food was surprisingly delicious. My only real complaint was that the clear mushroom soup was too salty. My steak was perfectly seasoned and cooked, the fried rice was quite tasty and had good flavor. The hibachi veggies were cooked perfectly as they still had a bit of a snap to them, and with the carry over cooking it made them perfect. The shrimp appetizer that came with the entrees was tasty and didn’t seem rubbery to me. The grill show was fun and my daughter was yelling for more fire! My husbands chicken entrée was cooked with green peppers and onions on the grill which really added to the flavor. The chicken breast maybe could have been taken off the grill a few minutes earlier but the flavor was so good that it didn’t even matter.
Another way I know that this place was pretty good was because the leftovers got eaten in the same night and that says a lot in my house. I can see why there are such mixed reviews because you can get such a combination of different servers and cooks at the tables. My experience here with my family and coworkers was great as we all had fun and enjoyed ourselves and the most important thing is that we all left with smiles on our faces. Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised to have such a good experience especially after seeing all the reviews and with this being at the town center.
Oh and fyi, my coworkers who got drinks said that their drinks were delicious and strong! And of course with any big party they won’t seat you until your whole party is there but that’s understandable.