Restaurant Review: Kabuto Japanese Steakhouse
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Most of the hibachi places start with miso soup and salad. The miso soup is basically chicken brother with mushrooms – I like it. The salad is hit or miss – I really like the ginger dressing at some and not so much at others. I’m not a fan of the ginger dressing at Kabuto – it’s too chunky and not creamy – so I just go with ranch (#shocker).
What I do love is the yum yum sauce (top right)! Every place calls it something different but I heard that name at one in Marion, IA and have been hooked ever since. My friend Nate has a recipe for it that I MUST try – it’s creamy, spicy and just plain awesome! I think it’s meant to dip your meat/veggies in the sauce – but I just pour the whole thing on top – LOVE IT!
The brown sauce is an egg-free sauce that maybe has ginger in it – I don’t love it and never touch it.
We had our friendly and talented hibachi chef that did tricks with broccoli and made us a wonderful onion volcano. He had a great personality and was a fun chef for the table. It’s sort of a crap shoot – sometimes you get someone fantastic that does a lot of tricks and other times – they’re more quiet and all about the business. Part of the price is the “show” factor – and we enjoy it.
They make quite a log of fried rice (white rice upon request). I always love the tray of goods the chef brings to the table. There’s this GINORMOUS block of butter that just keeps getting smaller and smaller throughout the dinner – no wonder the food is good! After getting the rice ready – they start the meat and veggies. The most popular orders are chicken, steak (of different qualities), shrimp and scallops. They also cook the steak to order – my order was medium rare steak & shrimp.
They parse the food out to you in pieces parts – rice – then meats – then veggies. Some people nosh along the way while others wait until it’s all there and they’re salivating significantly. I’m in the camp of the latter. Drool…drool…drool.
You can also order sushi – I’m not sure how you’d have room – but if you’re with a group – you could share it. It did look good (couple next to us let me take a pic).
Why Should You Go? There’s one of these in most every big neighborhood in the city and we love it! I never see much difference in the food except in the salad dressing & yum yum sauce. It’s all good and we really enjoy the food. I will say I’ve had better service at the knockoffs over the actual Benihana – but it’s fine too.
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