Twist Asian Fusion Hibachi & Bar

Worst food I have ever had. In order to eat the habachi I had to add the white sauce to the food in order for it to have some what of a flavor to it. Absolutely horrible!!! Don’t waste your money

Service was awesome and the location is great but the food was bland.

This place has gone downhill, used to be our favorite. The service and the food have degraded steadily since early 21 012.

Nothing really great here — nothing really awful here — hence 3-​stars.
Typical. There are no surprises. There’s no twist on anything. Do not come here expecting to find blends like Crawdad rolls (oh that sounds good huh?! Just made it up mmmmmm) It is boring and uninteresting when it comes to the menu BUT they do a pretty good job with the basics. I’ve never been disappointed with my decidedly typical and untwisted food.
The Singapore Noodles were good. My companions have enjoyed the duck and the Chicken Lettuce Wrap but stated there was no surprise. The fish in my sushi rolls was pretty good quality.
I’ve eaten mostly in the front of the house but I have been at the grill with a pretty big group and though it was again typical it was also good. Less of the flashy touristy show stuff too which was nice. I mean really, how many times does it take for the «onion train» or «Sesame Street» to get old? (answer — 2).
Service in the back was good — better than in the front where apparently the snooty pants work. In the front of the house there is a lot more attitude and the accompanying difficulty getting refills, making changes to an item (just leave the Sesame Seeds off please — not a big deal), and getting the check. If you have read more than a couple of my reviews you know I HATE WAITING TO PAY!!! I also hate waiting for more water…
No idea what’s going on at the bar. It’s never been busy when I was there. While waiting for the rest of the aforementioned big group to arrive a few of us decided to belly up to the bar & order a round for those in attendance. Though there are many seats at the bar I think the bartender thought he was only to address the servers for table orders. It was me and a friend and we actually had to say ‘excuse me’ to get his attention. Once he took our orders everything came out great but why the ignore?
This is not a place for Happy Hour. I don’t think they really get it as the ‘specials’ are obligatory menu items rather than actual specials.
It’s pretty and comfortable.

Food = 3
Service = 5
Ambiance = 3.5
I was feeling sushi one night, so a friend and I decided to hit up this cute little place in Orlando. Twist has a quaint atmosphere, not particularly fancy, but not bad. The sushi was average (maybe even considered good by Orlando’s standards, but I’m a sushi addict used to Los Angeles), and even the nigiri I had was alright. However, the best part of this place is the service. I had the nicest young Asian girl as my waitress (I think her name was Stephanie?), and she was super attentive, hard working, and sweet. I don’t know if I’ll be back for the food, for their sake, Twist better hold on to Stephanie.

Twist is an OK restaurant located conveniently is the SoDo area of Orange Ave. The restaurant is open and modern but has an oddly worn feel to it. Service was prompt but not especially friendly. They offer a variety of menu options– I went with a shrimp and mushroom dish. It was good but a little bland. This restaurant might be one that tried to do too much without doing anything really well. If someone else wanted to go here I would go without complaint but I don’t think it’s the type of place I would suggest. Try the Chai Thai across the street…

I have given this place too many chances. It is over-​priced and mediocre, AT BEST!
The sushi is bad, the Won Ton soup has the worst quality meat, and the noodles are bland.
There are several other great Asian restaurants in town over this one. I will never go back.

If you have a hankering for hibachi and are not up for the decadence and show that accompanies a trip to Kobe, then Twist is your place. The food was good and definitely fulfilled our craving for Japanese steakhouse cuisine. The servings weren’t quite as large as Kobe but in a way, that’s a good thing. Prices were just what you’d expect and they offer many combos if you’re in the mood for more than one protein.
Décor is chic and modern and the service was very good. And if you happen in for dinner Monday — Friday, they have good specials on the combo plates.

It’s sad to see how much variance there is in the current reviews of this restaurant, but I’ve only had appetizers and sushi when I’ve gone so it’s possible the cooked selections may not be as great as what I have experienced.
I’ve been here 4+ times, most of them on a Friday night after work for a little wine and end of work week dinner. One of my favorite things to order is the sushi deluxe, 10 pieces of fresh nigiri sushi and they have never had an issue with leaving off the escolar. In fact, most of the time I have gotten incredible pieces of salmon, a few pieces of tuna, yellowtail, and one piece of shrimp and crab stick.
The rolls are a little expensive (but they do have a few for $ 5 all the time including salmon avocado, the spicy rolls, and California) but they are also huge which means we order less. Two of us are normally very full splitting the sushi deluxe, two glasses of pinot noir, and a couple of rolls. Some of our favorites are the sweetheart (more like a ball of tuna, avocado, crab, scallops, and mayo salad since it has no rice or seaweed wrapper, but it tastes great) and the Blue Hawaii rolls. The rolls tend to have a lot of sauce on them so request it on the side if you don’t like it.
Their happy hour can be a good deal. It is a great place to go on a good night for eating outside and the couches are fun to relax on while sharing a pile of sushi and drinks with a group of friends.

I was concerned because of the negative reviews here for Twist Asian Fusion. But, I’m so glad I gave it a chance because my lunch was delicious! I kept it vegetarian and ordered the Mixed Asian Vegetables served in Ginger Soy sauce over fried rice. I had an appetizer of veggie egg rolls.
All was fresh and delicious! Service was fast. I sat outside in their comfy outdoor seating with a nice glass of Chardonnay while enjoying the good people watching.
I give it 4 stars, which is very good in my book! Go for it!!! I’ll be back and if my wine comes out faster, it’ll be a 5 star for sure!

Maybe I’ll chalk it up to the law of diminishing expectations, but my first taste of Twist was far better than what my Unilocal buddies have experienced.
The outdoor seating is inviting, but I chose to chose to dine indoors today. The joint is classy and the music dreamy. While dining, I heard a trip-​inducing rendition of «Summertime» from Porgy and Bess, and the most sultry and sexy version of «Whatever Lola Wants» from Damn Yankees. «Lola» was so pleasurable that I longed for a cigarette afterward. These attributes don’t make for a 5-​star review, but they don’t hurt either.
I’m not sure what is being fused at this Asian Fusion restaurant, because I went straight to the sushi menu. I had a delectable plate of sashimi (eel and Yellowtail) and sushi (salmon). All three items were fresh; the salmon was fleshy and scrumptious.
I moved on to a couple of rolls that were recommended by my fine waiter (Andreas, from somewhere in Indonesia). They were the Blue Hawaii Roll and the Fusion Roll, beautifully presented and good to the palate.
The food, wine, service and atmosphere came together for a surprising afternoon delight.

Overall a positive experience, but not overwhelmingly so. The free summer rolls upon Unilocal checkin were a welcome addition to the meal, although small — the two roll appetizer was probably around 40% smaller than what you’d expect. That’s fine when it’s free, but I doubt I’d want to pay for them. The waitress also took my phone to show it to someone to find out how to do it.
When it was time to order, our waitress pulled some crumpled scraps of paper out of her pocket to awkwardly write on. We were both hungry so we ordered four sushi rolls — having looked at the table next to us, we determined that the rolls were a bit on the small side.
The wait was quite long. The waitress apologized at least once for the wait, explaining that it was pretty busy and the chef was running behind. With maybe six or seven tables seated I wasn’t sure how that was busy, but whatever.
Oddly enough, our sushi wasn’t as small as we thought they would be, based on the table next to us [see photo]. They were actually a good size. The fish was fresh, and overall they tasted quite good. However, we both thought that they were too heavily sauced. Eel sauce, spicy mayo, etc. are all great additions to good sushi — but let’s exercise a little restraint, you know? They shouldn’t be swimming.
My first iced tea refill came back as a Coke, which I will often let slide because I don’t care, but this tasted funny (was my tea topped off with Coke?) so I asked the waitress for a new tea. No problem. When it was time for the second refill, she asked us both, we both said yes, but only my fiancée got the refill.
One final note — while we did like our sushi aside from the gallon of eel sauce, we were surprised and a little disheartened by the lack of options. There are surprisingly few choices to be had here.

I was very underwhelmed here. The facility is very nice but the food was just not very good. There are just so many better options in town.

Went to the food truck bazaar and left mad hungry!!! This was one of the few places still open nearby, so we decided to check it out.
Décor is chick, trendy and modern. LOVE the outside seating area and the bathroom massage crystals that smell like coconut.
The food.. .ehh
Nothing on the menu seemed really inspiring to me. The seaweed salad, I have to say was excellent.. .there is a surprise of carrots at the bottom. LOVe me some seaweed salad!!!
I also ordered a veggie roll which was described to me as a sort of cone shaped veggie wrap. What I received instead was veggie sushi.
It was, as Randy on American Idol would say, «it’s aright» but nothing really extraordinary.
I would go back for seaweed salad and tea with the right crowd.

We visited Twist on a Saturday evening. The place was pretty packed when we arrived, but emptied out pretty quickly. This was probably due to Nude Nite 2011 going on up the street that evening. Like I usually do, I’ll break the place down by sections, but let’s just say I won’t be rushing back there.
LOCATION
Located in the SoDo district, which is a place with a lot of potential but it’s yet to really fill in. On the good side, it’s easy to get to, close to downtown, and has ample free parking. Really no complaints about the location.
DECOR
What the hell is going on here? Ultra-​lounge modern, but with antique chandeliers? High quality tables, but with rickety chairs around them. The design is such a mish-​mash of various things there really isn’t any «vibe» to the place at all. Everything is bathed in a blue glow from the neon lights in the Hibachi room. Overall just a really odd look. It’s not unattractive, but it’s not really attractive either.
FOOD
Here’s the one bright spot in an overall dismal experience. The food wasn’t bad. It didn’t blow me away, and I’m not going to tell my friends how amazing it was, but overall everyone at my table was happy with the food… once they got it. I’m not sure who’s cooking back there, when I went to use the restroom I glanced in a saw a couple adolescent (10 – 14) kids in there, but they weren’t at the line. Just family hanging out I guess.
DRINKS
I was drinking beer, and my table-​mates wine, so I can’t comment much, but our friends who were at the bar said the drinks were VERY weak and she personally watched the pours, not even a shot in the drink. Not good.
SERVICE
Here’s where Twist falls apart, or un-​twists, or maybe just unravels. The service was horrible. The staff seemed almost lost, with everyone seemingly serving every table. Naturally this leads to chaos and confusion. Our apps came, yet one of us didn’t have silverware or a napkin. When I asked for a set of silverware for the third person at our table, she brought back the sugar tray. Ummmmm. No. Now I realize there’s a language barrier (she didn’t speak English very well) and it’s probably hard to hear over the odd mix of ancient house/​techno they’re playing… but a good waitstaff should recognize we don’t all have place settings before we have to ask. We had at our table: wine, beer, spring rolls and edamame… what the hell was the sugar supposed to be for?
Our friends Orange Chicken came, and she started eating away. «Not spicy at all» she said. We found out 5 minutes later why, when they brought our her Orange Chicken. Nobody was sure what the first dish they brought was, but it wasn’t ours. I bet they waste a lot of food here.
Last word on service, and maybe the worst part; Saturday night and no bartender on staff. Everyone in the place had to wait on drinks, as the Manager was behind the bar trying to fill in I guess. I was charged for a drink my friend bought me (from another table). I suspect he was probably charged for it as well, since his bill was completely messed up.
OVERALL
Yeah, I’m not rushing back to this place. The food was decent, but that doesn’t offset the lack of service, the feeling like the place is kinda falling apart, and the sense that the ship is cruising along but nobody is at the wheel.
I noticed a sign in the front window that they’re hiring a part-​time host/​hostess. How hard can it be to find help right now? They need it.

Twist Asian has so much going on, it’s hard to figure out what to include in the review. Like every single Asian «Fusion» type restaurant, Twist aims for a semi-​upscale, lounge-​y, futuristic deco thing. What I mean to say is, there’s lots of lit-​up acrylic counter tops and black chandeliers. I dunno what the hell it’s all supposed to mean but it certainly doesn’t feel cozy or traditional or avant garde or even cool. So weird. What are they fusing with, Barbie’s dark dream house?
The food is just ok. I ordered happy hour rolls which were $ 3.99 each. I had a spicy tuna and the crunch roll which was ok for the price. Regular prices though made me cringe. Seriously, what’s up with sushi places charging $ 12+ for rolls? I know I haven’t dined at a sushi joint in a while and prices tend to go up, but really? There’s never enough fish in a roll (imitation one at that) to justify the increase. I never paid that much even when I was in Tokyo!
But I digress.
Sake-​tinis were $ 4 and definitely not something I’d order again. It literally tasted like Gatorade.
Our server was absolutely fantastic. Courteous, super attentive and very professional.

Some disclaimers before my review: I came here for an event, so I will not rate service nor ambience. It was way too crowded to give a fair opinion. So this is solely on the food.
Which was bad.
I wanted to return to order the hibachi next time, but by the end of my meal, I didn’t really want to anymore. But we shall see. I might give them another chance.
I ordered the Spicy Kung Pao Chicken with Peanut. Not sure what kind of chicken they were using, but it was spongy. Yes, I said spongy. It felt like the chicken had been soaking in water for hours before being cooked into the dish. It made the chicken have a weird texture, and essentially tasteless. I actually wondered if it was even real chicken.
The dish itself had decent taste, and I liked the supporting cast in the dish, but not the chicken who’s supposed to be the main star.

*This is my fiancé’s review from Citysearch. It’s so completely unacceptable that I had to re-​post it.
I bought a certificate the day before I went into eat online for $ 25 off a $ 50 purchase. After I passed it off to our server, the host came over and said he could not honor it– that the owner said it expired yesterday and that the website should have stopped selling them.
After going back and forth and getting no where except him getting louder, I asked to speak to the owner. He said the owner wasn’t there and walked away. The server, in agreement with us that the coupon should be honored based on the «this certificate does not expire» and «the restaurant is responsible for the final disbursement of this discount,» went to the back to speak to someone else.
The host returned to the table to again remind us that the certificate was no longer being honored in their restaurant, «house policy.» I asked for clarification if he was a manager to which he replied «yes.» I started to explain how upset and embarrassed I was over this whole scene, and that this is now not an issue of price but an overall dissatisfaction with restaurant policy/​management (the server and food were actually good). He leaned forward aggressively and yelled, «Do you think I’m stupid?» continuously– escalating the situation. After completing his rant, he stormed away from us and yelled at our server while she was at another table (in front of the other guests)!
We waited a couple more minutes, and the server returned with 20% off our meal and said she spoke with the owner and this is what she could do. We asked if the owner was there and if we could speak to her; she said that she was, but she just left. I informed her that my issue is no longer with saving the money I expected, but that I am a disappointed customer that felt harassed by the manager. We also assured her that this was not her fault, but we wanted to make sure the right people we informed about his behavior. She walked away again promising to try to get the owner on the phone.
She returned with another server named David who did his best to recover a lost situation. He politely apologized and said they would personally match the discount to try to resolve our problem. We thanked him for his generosity, but told him that is far outside his responsibility. We thanked them for trying, informed them we would report their manager’s bad behavior and paid our check. As we left the manager gave us a dirty look and complained about us once more to another employee loud enough that we could hear.
I went back on the website today (Sunday) and the certificates are still for sale for Twist. I will file a formal complaint with them tomorrow and advise that they stop selling these certificates since Twist has no intention of honoring them.

We dined at Twist on a Friday evening. At about 8:30 the place was almost empty. This didn’t deter us because it’s still new and SoDo is not quite «the place» yet.
As you may have read in other reviews, the décor is very nice. I’ve uploaded 2 pictures showing the bar and a hibachi grill/​table. It is very clean too. I like the lighting as well. It was enough so you can see everything you need to, but also was muted enough as not to be too bright.
The service was pretty good. We never had to wait for a drink refill. Since we ate at a hibachi table, we did not have food served to us by the server. The server was friendly and seemed nice enough. Also, it was less corny than the other tourist type places. The cooking show was not overboard.
The food was pretty good. We’ve been to Kobe quite a few times and I’d say Twist uses the same stuff, but they do cook with much less oil, which clogs my arteries slower. The miso soup was the only part I didn’t really like. It had tofu in it which didn’t add anything. The salad was good with a lighter ginger dressing. The rice and lo mein were good as well. I had chicken as my meat and it was very tasty. Just the right mix of flavor and cooked just right. My wife and one of our friends we dined with commented on how their steak was cooked. They ordered medium and medium rare. Both were cooked properly, which doesn’t happen very often.
We’ll be back at some point, but overall I like Kobe better so far.

I shared chicken fried rice and two sushi rolls. The food was very good, and the portions generous. The sangria tasted like candy w/​o much alcohol.
They put a lot of work into the layout, lamps, and furniture. I was staring at all the different stuff in there the entire time. The ladies room is nice :)
My server wasn’t very good. She was confused and forgot our sushi.
I would go back.