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| - I ate there with my girlfriend during their 'soft-opening'.
We were seated promptly and all the servers are extremely polite (typical in a Japanese restaurant). Noticing that the restaurant is practically empty (just us and another table of 6), the service speed is naturally speedy.
Since we were first timer there, we took some time to study the menu. Honmachi offers three different type of Japanese cuisine - Shabu Shabu, contemporary Japanese, and Yakiniku(Japanese BBQ). The seating area of Shabu Shabu and Yakiniku are separated, but the menu are the same. So it makes the menu is little confusing with lots of words on it and items on it (you cannot order Shabu Shabu if you seat in the BBQ area; vice versa). The menu engineering is little strange for this restaurant. For instance, the 'kobe' selection priced only a little margin above regular beef which is a surprised if they are authentic 'kobe'.
We ordered the Yakiniku set for two just to save some hassle to choose a la carte. The set just stated 'variable' items, so we asked what is included. Surprisingly, the server flipped over her 'notebook' to find what is included. Well...consider it is their 'soft-opening'...that;s okay. However, when our food was brought to our table, we were told they run out of scallop, so they will sub it with lemon garlic shrimp. Minutes later, the server come again with our shrimp told us that they do not have lemon garlic shrimp either but instead give us a regular shrimp with additional two pork sausages. We are easy-going so it is not a big deal. However, It is confusing and I think the management should work on it. (it is reviewed in previous entries, that they seem to have some trouble make all items available)
The taste of the foods are quite decent and properly marinated. Although it is our 'n-th' times having Japanese/Korean BBQ, we pretend we dont know how to do it, and the server kindly offered us help - a good plus.
Final Verdict: the food and services are actually quite good. However, the price is bit too steep. If you feel comfortable BBQ/Shabu Shabu on your own, and don't mind to pay a little more for the ambient decor, you can give it a try. If not, you can probably find something similar, if not more decent, with a much tastier price tag.
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