kobe japanese steaks and sushi

i'm a frequent diner here. theserviceis great most of the time but still inconsistent. it seems like they're short staffed on random days because they're all college students. overall, the food (especially the hibachi) is great and as for the servers, i think they are decent hard working kids trying their best to please the customers.

edit:
to ac: why in the world would kobe post crappy cell phone pictures of their old menu on this website? it was most likely an urbanspoon user who uploaded it.

great food!. i've been to many different hibachi restaurants before, but this was my first time at kobe.
the food was excellent and i highly recommend the sushi - very fresh and flavorful. the hibachi was also excellent.
but theservicedidn't match the rest of the experience. our waiter seemed nervous, scattered, and overwhelmed. maybe it was his first day. i think the only reason he got our orders right was because we had to point to it on the menu. i could tell he was trying really hard but he was slow and we could hardly hear what he was saying.
i will probably go back to kobe because the food is excellent and reasonably priced... and hopefully that poor waiter has more experience by then!

terrible service. i don't write restaurants reviews because i used to work in theserviceindustry i know and acknowledge the challenges faced day in and day out. whenever i have a bad experience i just don't cross that restaurant out because it could have been the cook, server or simply just a bad day, which doesn't excuse it as i have higher standards. however, again by knowing first-hand the challenges face i tend to give another opportunity to see if the restaurant, staff, food quality or management have redeem themselves.

well, i gave kobe two opportunities and both were just terrible to the point i feel compelled to write this long bad review to detail my experiences and to warn you, this may happen to you. i picked the restaurant for my birthday celebration and my husband made a reservation for the whole family. it's the weekend of san patrick's and they can’t find my reservation, nor will one be available within 45 minutes or so. we were able to secure another reservation at la grotta. no apologies and no sympathy. as we are getting ready to leave suddenly a reservation was cancelled and they were able to accommodate us. it's already 8pm for an original 7:30pm reservation. also for a large group and a child, you bet we always make reservations for these types of events. the place was dirty, trash on the floor, dirty curtains covering chairs, boxes, just a mess that everyone can see so no need to have half dirty curtains.

the place was super-hot throughout the night. the ventilation was poor. certainly not conducive of a nice dinner with family. maybe the venue wasn't the right choice to begin with. the salad dressing is just tangy and leaves a bad after taste. not like your usual ginger sauces in other hibachi places. the food was okay. nothing glamorous and perhaps a little greasy. the filet mignon and scallops were excellent.

few weeks after i went to kobe again for a co-worker's birthday celebration. this time i didn’t make any of my co-workers aware of my prior experience as i wanted to be opened minded. again, same lack of customerservicewhen greeting you. just not welcoming with a southern charm as other rva restaurants. we wanted hibachi but we had to decide between express or with the “show”. since we were celebrating of course we picked the show. we were out of there an hour and half later at lunch time on a friday. the grill wasn’t on and when we arrived the couple in our same area had already been waiting for 20 minutes. not a good sign for starters. on a friday and pay date, they didn’t have pepsi or diet pepsi. we had to pick between sierra mist, water or tea. few of my co-workers picked tea which had to be returned because it looks like someone’s pee on a glass literally. it was like warm sewage water with no ice. pretty disgusting. after 40 minutes wait, we advise the server that we wanted to be moved to the express table and suddenly the chef appeared. food was consistent and was actually good. salad dressing again sour and tangy. what probably was extremely upsetting was that 8 people out of the 10 people at the hibachi got their tickets wrong. first server leaves with my credit card and took her like 10 minutes to come back. my ticket was fine but she just returned my credit card with no slip, so i wasn’t sure if she had run it or not. i asked her but she wasn’t able to answer. while this is happening everyone else realized that their tickets didn’t match to what they ate. even involving the manager she was to frazzle to even be in control of the situation. definitely will not go there again for dinner or hibachi. i do hear their sushi menu is fantastic and perhaps may try that sometime for lunch again. for a restaurant that has been in richmond for this long, cleanliness certainly is concerning. very messy and dirty place. if that is the front of the house, i can’t only imagine the back of the house- and this coming from someone that has managed restaurants before.

wow is all i can truly say. theservicewas horrendous. i got my sushi mere minutes before the chef came out and then she got the order wrong. not to include the fact that we waited for 20 mins after done eating before we got our check. my child was trying to interact with the chef and he pretty much ignored him. the food was okay, nothing great. it was also incredibly overpriced. will i go again? oh no. i wouldn't even recommend it to friends.

ate there for the first time tonight.servicewas good. sushi combo was overpriced in my opinion - and as compared to a nearby sushi place i ate at right afterwards. kobe did not provide a salad with the combo and the miso soup was so-so. the worst part was the countertop at the sushi bar - sticky and gross. seriously, i couldn't believe it when i rubbed it with my white napkin and it came up brown. never going back.

worstservicei've ever experienced! took 1 hr 20mins for 4 rolls of sushi!!

our experience on saturday night was horrendous. first, we had a difficult time getting silverware and once we did, someone just handed us each a fork without a napkin or chopsticks or anything. they were clearly out of napkins because they handed is bar napkins after we complained several times that we were eating without napkins. then, we didn't get the typical sauces that come with the hibachi meats. we asked for them at least four times and got many excuses including the fact that they were out of them. furthermore, no one ever cleared any of our dishes. we had to move them to an empty table ourselves. to add fuel to the fire, they automatically added tip into our check because our party was a party of six or more. we never received an apology or anything. its the worstservicei've experienced in years.

we are here as i'm typing this review. it has a upscale urban atmosphere. must try the kobe cocktail.servicewas below average....long wait for food. that is the major pitfal to this restaurant. extensive sushi menu....may be better to try during off peak hours.

very disappointing!. my mom and i were looking forward to trying kobe on our recent trip to richmond and it was terrible! the wait and kitchen staff were extremely rude. we were the only patrons and the kitchen staff were loudly belching. disgusting....would not recommend this establishment. go right down the street to sin e irish pub....greatserviceand amazing food!