Mitsuba Hibachi Steakhouse Sushi Bar & Lounge

Best hibachi I’ve ever had. Here for business. Will return next trip. The Sake gun was a great bonus

Came here to celebrate my friend’s birthday. The place is renamed «Samurai» just so you don’t get confused
Pros:
— Really nice interior design
— Pretty spacious
— According to my friends the cocktails were really good
— Definitely come here for birthdays because they give you the whole shebang. My friends and I really enjoyed the picture they took of us.
Cons:
— Hibachi food was pricey, but you’re also paying for the «show» that comes along with it; note, some parts of the «show» was too much for me
— The food was extremely oily b/​c they slather the grill with oil, but then they you give this awesome sauce to flavor everything with
— Our waitress was overwhelmed so service was really slow and lacking

I was here when it was a sushi bar. Don’t know what to call it now.
They have a conveyor belt in center of tables and you pull off which dish you want. Each dish is a different color and pricing is based on color of dish.
They still have menu to order of if so desired.
Problem…, a simple spicy tuna roll is normally $ 5, however they put half the roll on the dish and still charge $ 5. The revolving food catches your eye and you pull it off belt by impulse. They make a lot of money that way.
Off the menu, the prices were higher too.
I’m not condemning quality because all the food was good. However it is extremely expensive if you pull off the belt.
If you go here, sit away from belt and order off menu, that’s a better deal.
I came to this place whenever business took into Utica, I’m probably going to scratch this restaurant from my most frequent list. I’ll probably hit it on occasion. I won’t go out of my way for it anymore.

Really solid hibachi grill, always have a great time, food is a little pricey, but not that bad. The only minor negative is the crazy guy that comes out at night to be the birthday party starter. He came over to our table once, forced alcohol on a number of us, even though a few members of our party were underage, and then proceeded to tell us how much he enjoyed breaking a women’s ribs in a game of coed rugby (not joking) and how he never goes easy on girls. Nice guy right?

We were in utica doing some shopping and didn’t know where to go. we where in the mood for sushi so we found this place using the Unilocal app on my phone. This place was spectacular. This is the best sushi we have had around here. The restaurant was very nice and clean inside. Kind of modern Japanese décor. We got 4 sushi rolls and split them. We decided on the lobster roll, the heaven roll, the millennium roll and the sunshine roll. I can not say enough good about these rolls. there was not a ton of rice but there was a ton of meat and veggies and the sauces on top… oh so yummy. These were the nicest rolls very presented to us out of all of the sushi places we have been to. I don’t know why this place only gets three stars. Maybe the rest of the menu is just so so. but if you are in the mood for sushi you need to go here. We may even take the 70 mile ride to just eat here. it was totally worth it to us. Even the cherry in my martini was fresh, whole and not mushy. It is big inside so dont let the all the cars fool you. We were seated right away even though the parking lot was almost full.

Really enjoyed both visits to this restaurant on a recent trip to NY for a funeral. Went on my birthday for Sushi and then our whole family/​friends went here after the funeral to share a meal and stories. The people at the restaurant were amazing. Friendly, understanding and warm… plus, the food was amazing and everyone really enjoyed the hibachi show and time sharing with each other.

This place USED to be so good! If I’d reviewed it in the summer of 2012 I would have given it 5 stars and raved about wishing I could give it more. But something has changed since then, well, a lot of somethings have changed. It seems like they may have had a change in management because they have a lot of new faces in the restaurant, many of whom don’t seem to know the menu very well and aren’t very attentive servers. As for the food, the veggie portions are extremely small now that they offer lomein in addition to the fried rice. The quality of the food has gone down, but it’s still pretty average for a hibachi place.
Then there are the guys, who I think were supposed to be bus boys, but are also trying to be the before and after dinner entertainment. They pretty much went around table to table, person to person, and harassed them and squirted sake in their faces (in addition to the chef doing this, which they always did). It was beyond obnoxious. They didn’t take the hint when people didn’t want to participate and just kept harassing them. They even scared small children! And if it’s your birthday (someone not in our party but at our table was celebrating), don’t expect the singing with the drums and masks that they used to do at Mitsuba. Expect the ‘bus boys’ to come out with the industrial tub of sake and have you sit in a chair while they pour it on you/​in your mouth. Pretty trashy. It seems like it’ll only be a matter of time before someone sues this restaurant after a customer drives drunk after leaving this place. Or they get caught for serving underage folks.
It’s too bad, because like I said, this placed used to be soooo good! And not just, oh this is good for upstate NY, but good compared to all the hibachi places I’ve been to up and down the east coast.

Mitsuba is a Japanese Hibachi Steak House. It’s totally different from a typical American restaurant, and totally worth trying. Think of it as dinner-​theater-​lite.
Here’s how Mitsuba does it. You and your party sit around three sides of a smooth metal grill along with other restaurant guests. Once the «table» is full, the Chef appears and begins preparing each of your dinners on the grill. There’s plenty of time for showmanship, including some crowd interaction like catching pieces of cooked vegetables in your mouth. And plenty of free sake squirted in your mouth. If that’s an issue, just indicate that to the Chef and he will respect your wishes (a young lady sitting across from us simply motioned «no» at the beginning of the meal when the Chef offered her sake, and he didn’t bother her with the sake again).
One tip is that while each person orders their own entrée, items like the udon noodles (which are insanely delicious) can be shared across plates. We included one order of udon with our four dinners, and split it up roughly 40−40−10−10%.
And be advised that if they want to celebrate your birthday you may very well have to dance in order to earn your dessert.
BTW, we had a variety of shrimp, scallops, and sushi and all of it tasted very fresh and well prepared.

On saturday night I went to Mitsuba with two other adults and three children — 7,7 and 3. the hostess told us it would take ¹⁰⁄₁₅ minutes top to get a table at the ibachi — we said no problem — she then proceeded to come back every 5 minutes to tell us that the table was being cleared — 1.25 hours later we sat down… UGH — if this were my first time I would NEVER go back.
the kids loved the Hibachi and the food from the Hibachi was awesome. we also ordered the Ahi tuna appetizer, despite having heard the sushi was not great here. well i do have to say that it was the most repulsive appetizer i have ever had the misfortune to put in my mouth. the flavor not so great and the fish was barely still good.
Overall i don’t see us going there again real soon

I LOVE this place. The hibachi food is absolutely delicious! Although its a bit pricey, but being able to watch the performances with hibachi makes it all worth it. Their sushi is also delicious.
This restaurant is new and has wonderful interior design. It’s very clean, classy, and great for parties or celebrations, and kids!
The staff are all very friendly, lively, and DIVERSE, which is something rare for an Asian restaurant haha. The staff also does this hilarious and very entertaining celebration for birthdays so if it’s you or your friends birthday, this place is a MUST go! You even get free delicious desert!
Each time I went, I’ve had a wonderful experience and left completely satisfied!

This is a really nice Japanese restaurant for the area. Classy, modern interior, where you can go with family, friends, or on a date and feel good about it. There are two options – hibatchi made in front of you or restaurant seating. I’ve done both and both were great experiences. Last time I was there, I ate in a booth with some friends. Service was prompt and attentive. The food came really quickly. We were there around noon and were practically the only people there, but it quickly filled up after that. Lunch prices were really reasonable, although we opted for lunch and not dinner because dinner prices seemed a little expensive. I got a bento box, which was delicious, plus an order of edamame (yum!).

This place was great. The guy making sushi really cared about presentation and each dish was eye candy. And the fish was really fresh.
My wife and her friends really liked the cocktails. The bartender with the blonde hair is awesome.
The service was excellent. The waiter was always there when you wanted him but didn’t hover. The sushi chef was friendly and went out of his way to make our experience good.
Having lived in San Francisco, we are kind of sushi snobs and this place did not disappoint.
Posted some pictures so take a look.

After a bad experience, we were contacted by management. Management did everything to fix it. The food has always been great and the service has normally been good, except for 1 time.

I have gone here multiple times and have always been satisfied. As an 18 year old I wish it was a little cheaper, but you pay for the quality. I am always comfortably full after coming here, not over stuffed like at most other non– Japanese restaurants.
I do have to say that I prefer the sushi selection here than at their other restaurant at the Orchard Shopping Center.

tip: not to be confused with the other mitsuba location near gandor mtn and the movie theater, which has a more low-​key and much smaller atmosphere.
pros: great interior, classy, cohesive, nice bar, very clean, strong drinks, even a good spot to watch a game on tv.
cons: service is sometimes aloof, food quality and results are so-​so (the menu reads nice, but the «pad thai» wasn’t necessarily pad thai — more like a peanut butter stir-​fry, the limes (while only garnish) had clearly been sitting around for a day, and the calamari was rubberband-​esque and kind of smelled like funions), my entrée came out 5 – 10 minutes before my appetizer (?), and while i don’t mind food being expensive, it’s pretty over-​priced for what you’re actually getting.
my main gripe, however, is that the sushi rolls are made so poorly: awkward portion sizes that are often way too big, imbalance of ingredients, poor rice that doesn’t hold the rolls together, salmon was kind iffy on my latest visit, i received WAY too much ginger on the side for no reason, and there’s not really a fresh taste to anything (which you typically like tasting when eating sushi).
normally, i wouldn’t be so inclined to talk down about a place like this on a public site. they’re trying to do their best. i do like the atmosphere a lot and want to like the food here, but the dishes and especially the sushi just don’t warrant it, especially when you have «sushi» in your restaurant title. i’ve given the place about three visits to change my mind and at this point it’s a strike out.