Ginza Of Tokyo

We made reservation. It’s Sunday night — so on the phone they says: «no needs» but anyhow — they took my reservation. And my phone number.
We arrives on time — to discover that also the Resturant is almost empty — they are 30 or more min behind «because we have only 2 chefs»…
When I asked «why didn’t you call me to let me know you are late» the answer was… Yaa — who cares?
Bottom line: ride and very bad service before we even start. if course we did NOT stay

This place is a mess. I brought my gf’s mom here for her birthday, and I was embarrassed at the state of the place.
Thick layer of grease on every table surface.
Smells like burning dust particles.
The place was completely and utterly understaffed.
I literally can not imagine ever getting hibachi anywhere again after this experience.

Horrible service, we ended up having to go look for our check. We also pretty much had to get our own napkins and chopsticks. Mediocre food.
Edamame was cold and not even salted. Age tofu was soggy. We had to keep looking for the waitress to refill our water even though she had come by our table. Sushi was nothing to come back for. Food wasn’t served at the same time, so some of us were done eating while others were waiting for the food.

Been here many times. Every time is better than the last. Whether it’s sushi in the tea room or seated at the hibachi grill my family always have a good time.

My sister choose Ginza for her birthday. I hadn’t been there in over 5 years so I checked out the menu and some Unilocal reviews before going. Reviews on here were not great. I was hoping it was just an off day. Upon arrival, the place just stunk of oil. I realize it’s a hibachi grill, it just wasn’t pleasant. We had to wait quite awhile for our table, even with a reservation. One of the people in our party was going to be late and they wouldn’t seat us at the grill unless we knew what he wanted. We were hoping to at least just be seated and get drinks started. We finally got to the table and it took a long time for our waitress to get our orders. I decided to order sushi. I thought I maybe needed to order this before they started the grill for the rest of the group. I asked the waitress if I should give it to her now. She took it but was rude about it. The food was good. Our problem was the atmosphere. Everyone in our party was grossed out that our shoes stuck to the floor. Someone made a comment that a nightclub has cleaner floors. The atmosphere is very unappetizing. It dark and smelly and dirty feeling. Bathrooms included. I won’t be going back unless someone else picks it for their birthday again.

Waited an hour for awful sushi.
I love sushi. Even grocery store sushi. So imagine my dismay to discover that there is, in fact, bad sushi. Sushi I don’t even want to finish.
Despite its shabby but kitschy appearance, poor lighting, and strip mall location, I expected this place to be great. The people at the hibachi a seemed to be having fun and it has all the fun hallmarks of a true Japanese style restaurant.
It wasn’t. We waited 55 minutes for our food (and we were there early, at 5:30, with a 2 year old), and when it arrived, I wished it hadn’t. We got 5 rolls, some of which are no brainers and impossible to mess up (Philly roll?). Yet none of them were good, and some were actively bad tasting. Not fresh, not flavorful, even the wasabi was bland. I could almost feel myself getting food poisoning.
Good service can save a restaurant, but here it was indifferent. To wait an hour for food with no apologies or explanation is beyond the pale. Our server kept asking if we wanted more water. Dude, it’s water; if the glass is empty, just refill it!
The one good thing I will say is that they give a generous pour of the wine. Which you desperately need because everything else about this place will drive you to drink.

We went here the other night and ordered the hibachi dinner for two, but they were out of filet mignon to upgrade. The chef didn’t do any of the usual hibachi tricks, other than the onion volcano. The food was just ok; the meat wasn’t seasoned at all and the hibachi soup was overly salty. The service was also very slow. Overall, we weren’t impressed with this place and probably won’t be back.

This place used to be pretty good. Not sure what happened. Save up and go to Muramoto or Red instead. You’ll be happy you did. Even their eel, my favorite, is crappy now. Eel is so basic it’s pretty hard to meas up. If you’re looking for cheap sushi then get it from Woodman’s in the seafood section.

Total disappointment. I even took the manager aside to try and make it a special occasion for a visitor that had never experienced hibachi and he literally said quote I don’t know what ur talking about. Onion volcano, dumb. No patter, just a job.

Just ate here… Could be better. We ordered and got appetizers right away, but then the sushi took over 40 minutes. When we got the food, it was less than to be desired. There are much better places for Japanese food in Madison, and some even closer to where I live (near Lacrosse)

It was great service was quick friendly really enjoyed the garlic shrimp place was clean and left completely stuffed

This is the sushi restaurant to take people to if they have never had sushi before and you want to screw with them. The sushi is too large to fit in your mouth, the place isn’t exactly clean, and it just overall isn’t a positive experience.

The food was good and the service was OK but it ends there. THIS RESUTRANT IS FILTHY, IT STINKS AND I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW IT CAN PASS A HEALTH INSPECTION. When you walk in you smell rotting grease, the hoods over the cook tops are literally dripping with grease and when you look in the cook area it is caked with dirt. Totally disgusting. The area behind the bar was filled with trash. I won’t be back.

Ginza of … well, Madison.
I’m not going to add anything here that hasn’t been said already from other reviews. Went for the first time last night. I had honestly never heard of this place before it was suggested to me, and I kind of know why now. It’s located in a little strip mall, which, I gave the benefit of the doubt since it’s common here in Madison. The interior is a bit dated, but they do have a lot of unique spaces for different types and sizes of parties, which I thought was a plus. We had reserved a tea room for the two of us, and that was a first for me, which I highly recommend if you go here. Unique, quaint. Could probably accommodate 4 comfortably; 6 maybe. There seemed to be a few teppinyaki tables that were going on around us outside of the tea room, which are always fun.
We ordered edamame and a new dish to me, which was Goma-​ae (spinach with a soy and semsame sauce). Simple but very delicious. We had 4 rolls and they were fine, but nothing special. Definitely felt like they had way more rice than fish, which is never a good sign. What we had was certainly adequate.
Would I go here again? Sure, since it’s close. But I’d rather go to Muramoto at HIlldale for a nicer experience, or Takara for better sushi. The tea rooms are actually worth it if you’re looking for a cool experience/​date.

This was the first time I’ve been to Ginza and I’m happy with the experience. I like the atmosphere and while we didn’t eat in the tea booths I thought that was really unique. My date and I opted for the ‘dinner for 2′ option with the normal beginning courses, plus chicken and steak with fried rice. First, the soup was so good — brothy and not too salty — just right. Then, the small salad came out with the ginger dressing, which was refreshing. Then, the shrimp! I didn’t want to eat too much before the main meal so I gave most of it to my boyfriend. We decided on teriyaki chicken an hibachi steak, both were really good but if I had to pick, I’d go with the steak. It was cooked perfectly and I just love that hibachi flavor. I ended up only eating half of my meal because I was so full, but now I can enjoy it for another night!
Our hibachi chef was entertaining, and our waitress was very nice! I’d love to go back for a birthday and get one of those cute little rooms.

This place is tired. It smells bad and I’m guessing it would be filthy if they turned up the lights enough to see. The steak hibachi was very tough and a few bucks more expensive than Takara.
I brought my 5 year-​old for a late dinner so we were seated alone and our cook totally ‘phoned it in’ — didn’t put on a very good show for her. That’s not ok.

I was torn whether to give this place 2 or 3 stars, but thinking back on the food others at my table ate, I decided on 3.
My boyfriends family and I came here to celebrate his birthday on a Sunday night. He’s recently become obsessed with stir fry and hibachi places so it was a must that we visit this place. We made a reservation and were seated right away when everyone from our party arrived.
First of all, our waitress was terrible. She brought things out promptly and got all of our orders right, but she was not nice to us at all. Literally not one smile or kind remark. She also got very testy whenever someone asked her to repeat herself. Not cool. The hibachi cook on the other hand was great. He did all of his tricks and although messing up a few he was always in a good mood. He even teased my boyfriends niece a little bit which I think she thought was so funny.
As for the food. The miso soup you get first is very good. Maybe a little salty, but I will forever crave that soup whenever I’m feeling sick because it was so brothy and yummy. Then you get a salad which I usually like. All of the vegetables were fresh, but the dressing was so watery. It was really weird. It tasted good, but the lettuce became kind of wilted because of the dressing.
Now for the hibachi. I thought it was so weird that you have to upgrade to get fried rice. What?! I’ve never had to do that before at a hibachi restaurant, it usually comes for free. So that was weird. The rice was good, though I’ve had better. I like it when there is still a little snap to the rice from being fried on the super hot cooktop. I ordered chicken and scallops. The scallops were cooked well, however mine had not been cleaned and the tough part had not been removed so that was disappointing. The chicken was pretty tough, and the sauce/​seasoning was very bland. The vegetables were pretty tasty, but again the sauce could use some work. Now, I would’ve given this place a 2 star review if it had not been for the steak that others at my table received. My boyfriend ordered steak and chicken and let me try some of his steak and it was so so so yummy! If you come here for hibachi, skip the chicken and go straight for the steak. Holy cow it was so good. Perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. YUM.
So overall, this place lucked out that their steak was so good. Minus the steak, I would’ve been forced to leave a measly 2 stars.

I went there because I read reviews talking about a happy hour with half price rolls. I was there when it opened yesterday, and was seated at the sushi bar immediately. I was given the «happy hour menu», and started looking at the prices… $ 4.75 for a California roll… $ 9 for their special rolls… I was like «this is half price?». I decided to stay, since it was cheaper than a normal night for sushi.
I wish I hadn’t… not because of the food… but because of the treatment by the chefs. I ordered a total of 3 hand rolls, 1 special roll, and 2 other rolls. I was hungry, hadn’t had lunch, and wanted to treat myself. I handed the first chef my menu. A second chef came in and began conversing with him in Spanish about work. Then the unthinkable happened… they started bad mouthing the fat white guy (me) sitting at the bar in front of them.
The 2^nd chef asked the first: «Todos?» (All of it?), to which the other replied «Si, todos» (Yes, all of it.). Then the 2^nd chef said «No lo creo» (I don’t believe it).
So, being the polite guy that I am, I smiled at them and asked them (in English) to give me 1 or 2 rolls at a time. Instead, I get two platters of all of the sushi I ordered.
I said nothing — my waiter continued coming back to check on me. The check came, and I figured I should say something. So I wrote on the ticket: «Por favor, pregunte a sus camareros para no hablar mal de sus clientes en espanol?» (Please ask your chefs to not speak badly about your customers in Spanish?). I got up from the bar, and told them «Gracias por la comida», and walked away.
Not even 10 minutes after I left, I get a phone call from the owner/​manager. I tell him I am driving, but he wants to keep talking. I apologize and say I will call him back when I get home. I get home, and call him back. He said his chefs never said that, but apologized. He offered me a free dinner if I come back. I might do that, since the food was good. But — you know how when you go to a restaurant and while the food is ok, if the service is great you still walk away and give it a favorable review? Well, this is the opposite. Food is ok, service sucked. –1 star for the chefs.

I had high hopes for this place but in the end, I did not have a great experience here. I went to collage a decade ago in Madison and Ginza was a thriving restaurant then. My memories of the hibachi here were very fond. Returning to Madison, I rarely get out to the west side, but I decided to make the trek out here to try it again.
Walking into the restaurant, the place looked relatively slow. My wife and I I were told it would be 15 – 20 minutes for a hibachi table. We went to the bar and decided to order some sushi as an appetizer. After 30 minutes, we had not received our sushi and we were still sitting at the bar. I can understand if it is a busy Saturday night. This was a Tuesday night with about 15 people total in the restaurant. The hostess was less than courteous to say the least. When we finally received our sushi, we were told our table was ready.
We sat down at the hibachi table with some other strangers since it was just my wife and I. The hibachi performance was not inspiring and the food was bland. The sushi was decent. I read in the other reviews that sodas did not include free refills, but I did not test this.
Ginza has lost its luster and I won’t be returning.

I’m really disappointed with how Ginza is now.
For one, we made reservations for 4 people at 7pm. When we arrived at 6:45pm there was a party of 35 taking up the hibachi grills and they were just finishing cooking. 20m later, we finally got seated. She tried to squeeze 4 adults onto a bench where there was room for 3. And, seriously, there was barely room for 3
There were 9 at our table and it should have sat 7 – 8 comfortably.
We had to ask for refills on our hot green tea, which was $ 2.50! There are NO refills on soda, as two people in my party found out on their bill. Soda, which came in pint glasses, were $ 2.75 each! To me, that is outrageous.
The chef was either new or awful. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and go with new. He couldn’t do many tricks, except light an onion stack on fire. I really wanted to like him and not be afraid when he was jokingly putting the grill tools 2 inches from my face, however, he kept dropping them on his grill and I was actually a little scared.
The food was okay, and we ordered tempura ice cream. The ice cream took about 10m to order and 15m to receive. It was nicely plated, and fed two people.
The other downside, they were out of many things on the menu…
The server was nice enough, but probably overworked. I’ve been coming here for more than 15 years and while it has become a tradition, really, Ginza has gone down hill drastically and has turned into kind of a dump. I’m sorry to say it, but save your money.