Kobe Japanese Steak House

I have been here many times before but last night will be my last! We had a party of 9, service was terrible… The cook could not speak clear English so I asked him to repeat himself and he told me that maybe I woke up to early and that’s why I can’t understand him RUDE! Our waitress seemed sweet but I think had too much tables to handle or something so we had to ask for them to clear our plates that were done so that we would have more room and also to get us more drinks. The food was ok but whoever is in charge of prepping the tray of food for the cook missed two of our orders of meat. Then the worst part of it all we all had finished eating and they completely cleaned the grilling area and cleared our plates and table, we had packed up our take out boxes and sat and waited for about 20 minutes after finishing up before the lady brought out the check. We were ready to walk out the door all standing and waiting at the hostess desk. Our waitress had the manager take our checks we had a few different tabs they took forever to bring back the check with the change I think I waited about 15 min then asked the waitress if they were going to bring back my change and she finally went to the back to check and had the hostess bring back my change. It was ridiculous that we had to wait that long. Very disappointed especially since we had family visiting from another island and wanted them to enjoy their experience. The only upside of the night was the bartender, we were sitting and waiting for our table and he offered us drinks and had a good sense of humor! All in all I give this place a thumbs down!

Come for the food, stay for the horrible service. If you’ve ever wanted to be talked down to by your server come here. Seems this place runs rampant with inexperienced servers and management can’t control them. We had the honor of having Michelle as our server this evening. Prior to dining this evening we read reviews of how bad the service was here. Of course you don’t think that it could happen to you. There must have been some other factor in that persons review that played an integral role in their poor service. Well, let me be the first to tell you, it’s the staff.
First off, she had no personality, not a friendly welcome, just a stone cold face that looked lost. Second, in the middle of taking our order she turned around to another table and started taking their order. This is not a joke, she had not even finished asking our entire party what they wanted for dinner and was on to the next table. After she turned around to finish taking our orders, several questions were asked of her. She didn’t know the answers and even looked lost. Several of our party upgraded to the Kobe steaks based on her answers. Which turns out were the third issue arose. When the bill came she had overcharged each person in our group based on our upgrade choices. The 530pm and 600pm specials don’t apply to upgrades, you have been forewarned.
Lastly, when confronted about the issue, she was nothing short of rude. Michelle decided that arguing with a table instead of trying to explain the issues was more important to her. If she would have just explained the cost difference when ordering, this review would have been 4 stars, instead it’s 2. And that’s only because the food was pretty good. She had no problem telling us fried rice was $ 5 upgrade per person.
Overall, management needs to take a long hard look at their staff. On a small island like Maui, word travels quickly on how poor service can impact your reputation. I will not be visiting this place ever again on my many upcoming visits to Maui. If I wanted decent food with poor service, I would have just stayed home.
*Update to management*
You’re missing the point. The upgrade was not the issue, yes that played a role in my review, but your customer service is beyond horrible. Your server decided that arguing with a customer was the best way to answer our questions. Seems that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Good luck with your business, we won’t be back.

Had a great time! The service was so-​so, the food was good, the chefs were great!

We came here hoping for a good dinner with a nice show, as you usually see at teppanyaki (at least at all the Benihana restaurants I’ve been to). Unfortunately, our chef barely gave a performance — he slapped around the cooking utensils a bit in the beginning and made the classic onion volcano, but that was it. No other tricks/​performances the rest of the meal. That was already a bit of a let down, but then wait, there’s more! Throughout the course of our dinner, we saw 3 little cockroaches, ON THE TABLE!!! The first roach appeared by a couple sitting across from us and the guy in good humor brushed it off the table & laughed. The manager came over to make sure we were fine — he should’ve offered something because it is NOT okay to have roaches running around your table where you eat, but we were all polite & said we were fine and let it go. But then, I saw a second one running around near my drinks so we told the chef, who took a napkin, smashed the roach, and threw the napkin on the floor (I hope they throw that napkin away…). At this point, we were pretty grossed out because there have been 2 roach sightings! This time, we complained to the manager and he offered to give us a discount (our food was just finished cooking & it was too late to go anywhere else, so we stayed). After our chef left, I saw another roach near where I saw the 2^nd one and I blew that one off the table; after this, I really lost my appetite :/​
TLDR:
–Chef didn’t really perform
–We saw 3 roaches on our table throughout the meal — although to be fair, we were told this has never happened before, only happened at our table that night (lucky us), and that they do regular treatments, procedures, etc. The manager gave us a discount on our dinner and comped a few drinks.
–The food was good though, but hard to appreciate considering the visits from our uninvited 6-​legged guests

I love this place! Food is delicious and the entertainment from the chef is pretty awesome! The chefs are always really entertaining and have fun little tricks that they do with the food. This is great for a date night or to bring kids along. My kids love it. It Matt seem a bit spendy but you get so much food that it’s totally worth it and you leave stuffed! If you are really hungry… This is not the place for you. The whole thing is a process and takes about an hour before you are actually eating. I went here once when I was HANGRY and it seemed like eternity to eat. Have an app at the sushi bar before sitting at a table.

Great place to eat. The garlic fried rice is to die for! Huge portions all the food was excellent! Understand the name is not for Kobe beef. Just good cuts of meat. It’s are place the locals go to a lot. (We were lucky to sit with 6 of them. Made even better! Also have great sushi bar. I had a spicy hamachi roll… killer. Definitely a place we will go to again.

Decided to celebrate my boyfriends birthday here. We arrived early and checked in. The host was friendly and said we could wait in the bar area for our table. The bartender came and took our drink order which was later transferred to our check. I had the Midori Margarita which was delish. We were seated at our table promptly at our res time and our teppan chef was a friendly Filipino man. I had trouble understanding him but he did his best to entertain us with some of his tricks. We ordered a bunch of nigiri and a roll from the sushi bar. The fish was fresh and the roll was delicious. For entrees we ordered the steak and scallops as well as a steak and shrimp combo. Both meals were superb and we will definitely be back.

This place is fun for groups of friends. The cook we had was very entertaining and funny… but got to be a bit much at times. Food was cooked great, and you really pay for the show at this restaurant.
You can opt for higher quality cuts of steak here like the Kobe beef and the filet mignon. I highly recommend you do that. The garlic fried rice is also a delicious addition.
I’d give this place a 4 if one member of our party wasn’t forgotten twice. He was short the fish in his entrée and the shrimp in the beginning. Our cook handled it really well, and it was obviously the prep kitchens fault and not his that all of his ingredients were not ready.
Our waitress was also not that great, spilling about half of each of my sake shots on the samplers before it reaching me and wasn’t that knowledgable about the menu.
I’d still come back here again. I’m sure the kinks are not consistently so with every visit.

We dined here with a large party while waiting. Honestly teppanyaki is not my jam. I have just never cared for it, but I humored the ohana we were invited by and enjoyed the occasion. The chef was quite a character and the rest of the staff were polite & attentive. I honestly can’t say much about the food, other than, I’m just not a fan of the offerings at these types of establishments, nothing personal toward the restaurant itself. I’m pretty serious when it comes to good food, these types of places just don’t deliver the quality I look for in good food, so I have to go with a 2 based on food alone, sorry.

This place is ok. It’s pretty much on par with most other Teppan places. The food is decent (garlic fried rice is delicious), and our cook was very pleasant — although it took him some time to come out, and we were super hungry!
My only complaint is the sparse parking in this area. If you’re not lucky enough to snag one of the two or three parking spots by the restaurant, you will have to pay for parking at the lot across the street and return to ask them for the (partial) reimbursement after your meal is done.
Overall, way better restaurants to go to on the island!

Drinks aren’t very good, the guy who cooked in front of us was awesome, waiter not so good. Pretty clean as far as I seen and bathroom ok. Food not so good. Wouldn’t make a special trip back.

Dumpy restaurant with zero customer service. Had reservations and came here to find out they were short on cooks and couldn’t seat us for ½ hour; would be another ½ hour until chef would arrive the earliest. When we sat down, the area was colder than a freezer. When asked if they could close the vent, the waiter said that we were asking too much of him. They had no care in the world that we had a bunch of young hungry toddlers that were uncomfortably cold. We ended up walking out of the place. The restaurant is a dump too… nothing like what you see in the pictures. Rude staff all around.

Meh. If you’ve ever been to another place like this you’ll be highly disappointed. Foods ok. We were supposed to get tea with the meal but they didn’t offer it. Fried rice, salad and ice cream aren’t included in the price.
Martha– thanks for your interest. We ordered the Kobe and the Shrimp meal. I think our chef was in a hurry because he didn’t do any of the usual «entertaining stuff». We thought your restaurant just didn’t do it until the chef behind us started doing all the fun cooking antics.

One of the only sushi places I could find– which is a little shocking, and I’m sure tourists would dive after another one (especially with fresh fish)!
No mention of «locally sourced» fish, or freshness, and honestly the menu is a simpler version of a college campus sushi bar. Only 3 speciality rolls, no real boats (a few week combos of Nigiri and a tuna roll), and slow slow slow service.
Having read other reviews, I expected slower service so I sat at the sushi bar, figuring I could get the chefs attention at the very least. Not so.
Finished all my food by 6:30, finally got the chefs attention around 6:45, then the check didn’t arrive Til 6:57, wasn’t getting picked up so I finally walked it to her so I could sign and leave. Place was busy, so maybe they should look into staffing more servers in order to have a better experience

This is Maui’s most famous teppanyaki joint. There aren’t many out there, sans for Teppan-​yaki Dan in the Sheraton Maui, but why eat at a resort and pay higher prices?
ATMOSPHERE:
It’s the aroma of the foods cooking that slaps you across the face as soon as you enter, but a good slap. Not so good on your hair and clothing though. The first floor is where most of the action is; the bar and lounge where karaōke happens, sushi bar, and the majority of the seating, about 8 – 10 peeps per grill. The second floor loft has about 2 grills and is more intimate if not boring because you’re away from all the noise, clinging and clanging.
FOOD:
Shabu Shabu Soup — Everyone gets this as an app. It’s a delicious consommé with fresh mushrooms and diced green onions.
Shrimp — It’s included with every teppanyaki dinner. They’re on the smallish side but are still a great accompaniment. You get a few pieces, so if you’re a shrimp fan, order the shrimp and combo of your choice for more.
Veggies — Another inclusive dish which is a sautéed mix of bean sprouts, onions, and cabbage.
Steak & Scallops — This is my favorite combo. The steak is usually done to your temperature, but it totally depends on the chef. The scallops are thick and seared pretty good. You can ask them to cut it in half long ways too.
Lobster — Melted butter is provided upon request. The lobster goes well with the soy-​ginger sauce too.
Garlic Fried Rice — This has gotten better over the years as its not too overpowered with garlic, but still has a good garlicky and savory flavor.
Fried Rice — The flavor was on the mild side and could use some salty charsiu to give it some life.
DIPPING SAUCES:
The ginger dipping sauce is my favorite. The other sauce is a mustard-​wasabi flavor which is too over-​powering for me (I dislike wasabi!)
TIPS:
Kama’aina pricing available which is awesome! They also reimburse you for your parking in the lot directly fronting the restaurant.
SERVICE:
Greeting at the host stand is very mainstream. Bar service is slow as there’s usually only 1 or 2 bartenders taking care of the lounge and the rest of the restaurant. Servers are generally friendly, fast, and professional. The chefs are hit or miss; some are boring, some are really engaging, but it also depends on the vibe you give off too!
OVERALL:
Fair pricing and the best all-​around teppanyaki on the rock.

The teppanyaki was just OK for me. I don’t think there are many options for this food type in the area, so maybe it’s better than most. I had a spicy tuna roll, it wasn’t the best I have ever had and not the worst. I would recommend getting sushi elsewhere.
Not a bad option, but just wouldn’t be a place I would run to again. Parking situation is strange too. Had to come back to the restaurant to retrieve my 5.00, after I walked around the city for a couple hours.

I had the worst experience at the sushi bar. We were yelled at by the only waitress (older local
Japanese lady with glasses). The people before us and after is was also yelled at. The bar was not busy but she continued to make yell at people as they tried to come down the stairs claiming she had people waiting for seats before them. When in fact she didn’t … She was very rude to us on several occasions within 15 mins of our arriving. This lady needs to retire. She is NOT professional and has a control issue. She has no idea how she is treating customers. She’s embarrassing, she humiliated us and when we tried to question her abt her tone and service she replied with «I no like that.» I went to the manager at the podium who knows me well as a regular and made a complaint but he said Oku’s was ran separately and I need to complain to her manager Oku.
We are weekly regulars at Oku’s Sushi Bar and Kobes. Born and raised here in Lahaina, as well as generations before me. The service has been bad before but never this bad. We will not eat in the sushi area from now on.

While in maui lahaina want good traditional sushi go too kobe stake house okus sushi bar check out bradah scotty n toshi son n oku for a good time n super good sushi #localfavorit

I made a reservation for a party of 7 at 7pm on a weekday to celebrate my mom’s birthday and my return after four years of being away. I wanted to take everyone to a nice restaurant and celebrate. Unfortunately, this was not the place.
We waited for a whole HOUR before we got our chef. In that one hour, they gave us a small miso soup bowl and failed to refill our water. As a form of entertainment, we discussed the shoe print on our teppanyaki grill. When I asked one of the staff why the wait, he deeply apologized. He said our chef had taken our platter to a different table and was now behind.
Ten mins later, our chef arrives, cleans off the shoe print, and neglects to double check our order. He messed up our order THRICE. We chowed down our bowl of rice before he even finished cooking the seafood and meat — we were so hungry. I spoke to the manager, Allen, who only apologized. He said they were busy and backed up. I was empathetic, but by then very impatient and quite upset.
We paid expensively for the horrible experience, the average food, the inattentive service, the sloppy performance, and upsetting my mother on her birthday.
I will not return and I do not recommend this restaurant at all.

Ich hatte den Namen schon auf Unilocal gefunden und auch in einem Lahaina Dining Magazin gelesen und war sehr gespannt. Das Konzept klang interessant: Sushi und Teppanyaki. Als wir dann an einem Abend einfach ohne Reservierung etwas bummeln und uns umschauen wollten auf Front Street und der Hunger sich deutlich machte, entschieden wir uns spontan für Kobe. Ich hätte erwartet dass es eher auf der Hauptstraße ist und nicht in einer Nebenstraße…
Angekommen, war ich zu erst etwas verwirrt. Wozu entscheidet man sich? Sushi Bar oder Teppanyaki? Beides geht nicht…
Da wir jedoch zu voll waren für Teppanyaki, haben wir uns dann doch wieder (!) für Sushi entschieden. Man sitzt hier an der Bar und schaut dem Chef zu, wie er die Sushi vorbereitet.
Es ist hier wirklich etwas urig und authentisch — die Leute die hier her kommen sind sehr unterschiedlich; ein wirklich sehr gemischtes Publikum, was es aber umso interessanter macht.
Die Sushi hat sehr gut geschmeckt und wurde auch sehr schnell vor unseren Augen angefertigt. Sehr lange sind wir nicht geblieben, aber es war ein interessantes Erlebnis. Hier kommen wohl mehr Einheimische her, mehr als Touristen, was natürlich gut ist.

The food is always good, don’t get me wrong. The reason for the one star review was the rude lady in the front. We were seated with a family of 4 who clearly didn’t speak fluent English, and the lady spoke to them with such disrespect. I’ve read through the reviews and it seems like every one is talking about the same lady. Kobes needs to do something about that. I’ve been coming here for years and you can just tell that everyone (but Scotty, yay for Scotty) is just going through the motions. The place needs some cleaning up as well. Other than that, the shrimp dynamite is amazing. I wish I had the recipe.