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| - Our experience at Osaka was mixed, but with the various hibachi/teppanyaki style restaurants in the area, I don't foresee us rushing back as there wasn't really anything that set Osaka apart from their competitors. As a lot of other reviews point out, they are on the pricier side and service leaves a lot to be desired.
We (as a party of 2) had a 6:30 reservation, arrived on time, and were told we would be seated shortly with a larger party when the rest of their group arrived. No big deal, I get that it is ideal/preferable to fill up a hibachi table rather than spread your guests out- there are only so many chefs. So we waited..for about 20 minutes and their whole party was not there yet so they offered to seat us and we agreed as we were ready to get going with our dinner.
We were sat there for 5 minutes or so and then the rest of the original party we were supposed to sit with finally showed up; we were then shuffled over to that table.
From this point on, the night was more or less back on track. Food was great and our chef, Jorge, was skilled and personable. However, it is still disappointing that after having us wait an additional 30+ minutes past our reservation to even get a glass of water there wasn't really any sincere or meaningful recognition of the inconvenience from staff or management.
The restaurant itself needs some attention as well. While I sat at the bar for 20 minutes, it gave me plenty of time to look over the state and cleanliness of the restaurant. The menus are tattered, dirty, and overly worn or damaged. When I'm ordering roughly $45 worth of food and drinks per person, I expect a little pride in the menu at the very least. The space is decorated with interesting light fixtures that function almost as an art piece in and of themselves, however numerous lights were out on almost every fixture. The tiled host stand had what I can only describe as a "band" of dirt and gunk building up around the base where it meets the floor.
Whenever the front of the house needs attention, it's not a good indicator of how things are handled in the back of the house.
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