KOBE Japanese Steakhouse

Downward spiral of service. Perhaps online ordering, Kobe? Is it too much to ask? Calling in for to-​go, they hang up on you if you’re ever able to get through.
We have dined at Kobe and frequently order dinner to-​go.
Lately, it’s like calling Time Warner Cable, you never get an answer, or when you FINALLY get through, they say ‘hold please’, then click… dial tone.
Sad that one of our favorite places (12+ years) has gone so far downhill.

This is my favorite steakhouse in Austin. If you’re looking for a place with authentic asian food, great service, and show to go with your meal then I highly recommend you stop by!

Another great meal, service, and very entertained! Even though the place was busy, the wait was short and we got a great table. Our server was prompt and checked on us frequently. The timing in between our sushi appetizer, soup, and salad before the meal was comfortable, but not rushed. Our chef was very animated… funny, knowledgable, and happily engaged our 3 kids. Our meal orders were various between the 5 of us, but our chef had no issues cooking them all at once and serving us quickly. Each course of the meal, from beginning to end delicious and unique. I dined alone the past couple of visits to Kobe, but this time I had the opportunity to bring my family from Va for a family trip home and glad I did!

Wow. So sad to be leaving this review after speaking with the manager Keith. We had sub-​par service. This is by far my worst experience here… ever! My appetizer was completely forgotten. Waitress Jennifer was rude. Food was ok. Came in for my birthday meal and had a really terrible show after the waitress argued with me about my order. Tried to lodge a complaint with the manager and he asked «what would you like for me to do?» It is not my job to create remedies. It is the job of the restaurant to remedy my issues. He finally offered 10% off the meal ($ 2.99 discount total) and I stated that I accepted but was still not satisfied. He smiled and «ok then». He was rude and patronizing to a table of women. I think this is under new management or something… they’ve taken a wrong turn indeed. Heed the 3 stars that this place «boasts». It will be closed soon with an attitude like this one.
Keith needs training on management. He was seriously rude to us. I’m in shock and my birthday dinner ruined. Thanks, Kobe!

Well, Keith B. from Kobe might have been all bitchy about Taylor R.‘s review. But Keith’s cranky response combined with hearing that happy hour had been discontinued just lead our group to decide to go somewhere else.
So thank you, Taylor R. Your review was helpful.
NB: As a social media professional, a word of advice to Keith and Kobe — engaging in public pissing contents online between consumers and a business almost always damage the business — DDT (don’t do that).

This is the very first time for our family to visit Kobe. The whole experience is better than what we are looking for. Especially our kids really enjoyed the «performance», it’s quite entertaining. Brandon has done a good jod. This definitely will not be our last visit.

I usually love hibachi. The food just didnt taste good. No wash cloths to clean your hands. Soup and salad served quickly and together. Steaks with large amounts of fat, dirty bathrooms with no soap, 150 $,
and all 3 of us had diarrhea several hours later. Never again.

Ahhh good olé Kobe! How I used to love to go spend $ 150+ on food with you!
So, service has always been ‘meh’ but I got a whole new level of MEH the other day, you gotta read this one!
I had some friends in from out of town and was like, lets hit up Kobe my treat! We arrive, and they are packed as usual. no biggie we’ve had to wait before. But they didn’t want us to wait, they wanted to put us with another table. We had 5 people total they tried to sit us at a place that was not even a normal sitting area, but on the side of the table. They kind of made a makeshift addon that connected one hibachi grill to the other and wanted us to sit there.
I told them I would wait till another table opened up, and they did not want to hear that. So I pointed over and said «What about that one, it’s empty can we sit there?» The manager told me that I would have to pay $ 35 a seat (I think it was that much) that we didn’t use for a «Private hibachi grill». While I thought that was a little messed up, I didn’t want to fuss about it.
So we sat down, ordered drinks, appetizers and the main course then prepared for the show! Well, the show happened thats for sure.
We got our first round of drinks, and then the hibachi guy started grilling up our entries. We had to ask several times for refills on our drinks. So then our meal is done, hibachi guy walks off, we clap! Hell yeah right? Well what about those appetizers? Aren’t they supposed to come out before the meal? I spoke with the manager and I told her about the issues with the poor service on drinks and appetizers/​sushi not even being brought out, she apologized obviously. I then told her it had been such a terrible experience I would not be paying for the extra seats (it was only 2). She then told me point blank «I call cops if you do not».
Let me say that again
«I call cops if you do not»
My bill was $ 458 that night and the manager was threatening to call the cops on me if I didn’t pay the $ 70 extra for two seats that thankfully I did not fill with any of my other friends to be embarrassed by the poor service on a restaurant I recommended.
So Kobe I will not be back, you will never see any more Benjimans from me at your over priced, poor service, meh food restaurant.
For giggles, here’s how much I’ve spent in JUST the last 12 months with you guys:
Transaction date: 09/​28/​2015 KOBE JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE AUSTIN TX 09/​28/​2015 $ 458.17
Transaction date: 09/​28/​2015 KOBE JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE AUSTIN TX 09/​28/​2015
$ 15.99
Transaction date: 06/​29/​2015 KOBE JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE AUSTIN Purchases
$ 134.31
03/​23/​2015 –129.08 CHECKCARD 0321 KOBE JAPANESE STE AUSTIN TX
$ 129.08
01/​12/​2015
–141.21 CHECKCARD 0111 KOBE JAPANESE STE AUSTIN TX CKCD…
$ 141.21
12/​22/​2014
–98.11 CHECKCARD 1221 KOBE JAPANESE STE AUSTIN TX CKCD…
$ 98.11
Add that all up: $ 976.87 (Wow I’ve spent way too much at this place).

I haven’t been on Unilocal in a while and I see that the manager has reached out to me. Kudos for that! I don’t think I will return but do appreciate the attempt to make things better. The only thing I can say is that maybe their staff needs to be talked to because if they want guests to be encouraged to order the hibachi meals they certainly were not doing that when we visited. Perhaps that has changed since we visited. It has been a long time.

This place is great. Everything I’ve tried here has been good. Been going here for years. Definitely best in Austin.

My parents came to visit me over Labor Day weekend, and they got really excited for hibachi.
I want to give this place a good rating so badly, I really do. The theatrics were fun, and the service was friendly. The food even tasted really good going in. We’re a big family, so we tried the NY Steak, Ribeye, Salmon, and Chicken. The fried rice tasted good. The veggies were great. They gave us lots of rice.
The problem came when I got home and dealt with two days of stomach pain. Honestly, I can’t say I’ll never take a chance and come back again, but with so many food places in Austin, I just don’t really like the thought of getting sick again.

Kobe used to have the BEST HAPPY HOUR. Went last week, no happy hour at all… wont be back! There are other sushi places in the area that do still want the happy hour business! Kobe: YOU’RE FIRED!
update: The one star rating was due to how rude & surly the waitstaff was to our (un)happy hour party last week. You might want to take a customer service course btw!

I’ve lived here for nearly five years, and just stopped in for lunch last week. We chose to have the lunch cooked at the table, which is a bit more expensive, but why else do you go to a place like this?
Service was fairly fast, cook was great, and very friendly. Food was pretty good. Not amazing, not bad, just okay. Not enough flavor, IMO. Other Japanese steak houses have better food, IMO.
Good enough food, but a bit pricey… Middle of the road for us.

Decided to come here after we saw the billboard on 183. Perfect place for dinner and a show & celebrations, we heard several birthdays songs during our visit.
We waited at the bar while we waited for our table & were seated with 2 other parties. We ordered the Kobe Trio which came with soup and salad. Get the fried rice option as they cook it in front of you. Kobe meat was good, however, it seemed that butter was their secret ingredient as they smear it in the fried rice, meat, and shrimp.
Our cook had many tricks up his sleeves & servers were attentive in refilling our drinks. I was a little tense when he was swirling his knives in the air. Cheesecake here was delicious! Their dessert display looked so realistic I thought it was real from afar.
Overall, our 1 entrée with dessert was about $ 40.

They now close at 2pm every day. And they no longer have the best happy hour. They re-​open at 430 for dinner service.
They still have great lunch specials $ 6.95 but if you get there after noon you will have to wait for a table because the specials aren’t served at the grill. They could use that space in the grill area. Not everyone wants to wait on a grill lunch presentation.

bleh.
I used to really like this place, especially for the happy hour (although I hear that’s been discontinued) but unfortunately the last couple of times we went there my girlfriend and I both felt ill afterwards. We got a few rolls and some miso soup and felt nauseated and had headaches an hour or so later. Once and I’d think it was just a fluke but it happened twice and that’s enough. Sorry Kobe.

My new favorite spot whenever I’m in Austin. On a recent business trip is when I found myself there to celebrate my coworkers birthday. The staff was amazing, the food was sooooo good I had my take to the hotel yummy bag, simply because I couldn’t leave it there. And trust it was just as yummy the next day.
I will always stop by when I’m in town.

I am not a celiac but if I was this would be the ideal place to dine. All the servers that I have had here during dinner have asked me if I have allergies. I have overheard other diners comment on how they are always on point with accommodating special needs. Next time I eat at Kobe I will put them to the test.
Their filet is the best! So tender and seasoned perfectly. Not all jap steakhouses are created equally and I think what separates Kobe from the others is management and how serious they are about quality and service. I love it when the head guy is there because everyone is on point!

Came to Kobe for a a birthday dinner on a Thursday. We were a party of 9 but a couple friends were running late. Pro Tip: They will not take your name down until your entire party is there. As we waited for our last person to show up, the place started to fill up (at least the section of which they were using for the night). Luckily, our last person got there right before the last table filled up and we were able to sit right away.
I have been to plenty of Japanese Steakhouses with the meal cooked in front of you and I can easily say, our cook was the most entertaining I have ever had. I am easily bored with the simple knife spinning tricks but our cooks was throwing jokes at us the entire time.
I ordered chicken and shrimp with fried rice. The meal was cooked perfectly and it was plenty of food. The prices are a little high but that is to be expected at this type of restaurant. Over all, we had a great time and I would come back for another meal.

Highly recommend this place! It’s a Monday and the place is quiet. It’s perfect for a first date.
The waitstaff is top notch! And our hibatchi cooker man, was so funny and our steak was like butter!
I have nothing negative to say about this place.