One of my friends treated me to lunch at Wasabi on Thursday -- my first time at the restaurant. The waterfall and cool lighting on/behind the bar added to the sleek ambiance of the place. We were seated at a table with a grille and, understandably, had to wait for others to show up before the Chef cooked. The waiter was nice but seemed rushed, nervous, and not really sure of the menu (he told me the wrong number of shrimp that came with the steak and shrimp selection...had he told me the actual amount, I would have gone ahead and ordered an additional side order of shrimp!) A party of 6 sat down at our table - 3 adults and 3 kids. My friend and I ended up talking to the little children more than the adults because they were all busy/distracted on their phones/electronic devices! How sad for the kids! How ridiculous the adults looked! One of the girls was turning 5 in a few days and the Chef did absolutely NOTHING special to acknowledge that or to make her/us laugh. Although this was my first time at Wasabi in Independence, I have frequented Japanese restaurants in Ohio, Mississippi, and Arizona and all of my other experiences included awesome chefs with great personalities who really were fabulous cooks and entertainers (a part of the enjoyment/reason for choosing a restaurant like Wasabi). Our Chef served me the steak part of my steak and shrimp order before he served my friend -- giving me her medium-well steak (while the other steak remained on the grille because I ordered it well-done). I transferred the steak over to her plate and waited for mine to finish grilling. When the other 6 people in the other party got their food, they didn't eat it! They asked for to-go containers for everything! Overall, the food was fantastic but the mediocre staff and the cellphone-distracted other guests detracted from the overall experience.