Hayashi-ya Japanese Cuisine

This place is now closed :(
I have been here many times, and it was great. Service was always friendly and quick. Sushi was delicious, price very reasonable too!

It was nice to find an authentic Japanese feeling place in Raleigh. The Japanese style seating was an interesting experience but I loved it all the same. The sushi was excellent best I’ve had since moving down to North Carolina. The miso soup and calamari were also delicious. Definitely going back and trying their sake bombs.

An under appreciated restaurant to say the least. It’s exterior façade seems have masqueraded the culinary delicacies this restaurant can dish out. The interior would be a complete disbelief. It’s well done with subtle Japanese culture infused interior.
All the waiters are well mannered and seem to take pride in the way they present themselves. The table was set low like how the Japanese would have it.
The vegetarian Yaki Udon was appetizing and these guys serve the best Mochi ice cream. All though vegetarians don’t have more than 3 – 4 dishes to choose from, they are all good. I haven’t tried sushi here. It’s next on my list :)
Refreshing interior, tasty dishes and reasonably priced.

I stopped by here on a whim. The ambiance and décor of the place was truly breath-​taking and authentic. The greeter and my waitress greeted me in Japanese, which I thought was pretty adorable. My food came fast, and it tasted pretty good. I would have given this place a rating of 5 stars if they would’ve had the BOGO sushi like most of the other sushi restaurants have. But overall, I’m very satisfied with my experience and will definitely be coming back and bringing others with me.

The ambiance is very appealing and an authentic feel definitely takes over as you’re greeted in the front with a traditional greeting and led through the restaurant. The indoor architecture was well done, never too much or tacky, allowing you to constantly look about and find intricate details all over the place. Except the paper sign on the fountain in the front, it’s an eye sore and takes away from the visual experience.
My girlfriend and I have been here several times over the past few months and each times discovering new items on the sushi menu that blow us away. We’ve never had a mediocre meal here and haven’t eaten Japanese or sushi anywhere but here since discovering it.

I always end up here for business meetings so the meal is comp’d, which definitely affects the experience a tad, haha.
The udon is pretty tasty. I haven’t been blown away by most of my dishes but I do like the udon!

I visited with my mom and my boyfriend, we got seated at a 3 top table with only 2 utensils set up, and nobody greeted us for at least 20 minutes.
We sat there long enough to change our mind for at least 3 times cause then a server came along saying hi, and got our drink order. I told her that we need one more pair of chopsticks and she said ok.
It took awhile for her to comeback to get our food order. Another 20 minutes until the drinks came out. The server forgot bring chopsticks and she said ok again but didn’t come back right after. We ordered a shirmp tempura udon, and a big sushi platter of 5 rolls.
Then we sat there again for a long time.
I started to get annoyed with their service, I checked time so often to see how long they could get to bring food out. I looked around and other tables in my sight also were looking for their server. I saw my server chatting with someone at the bar under the tv. Ok, maybe the food wasn’t ready because we ordered a lot? I patiently waited. We walked into the restaurant around 8:15 and this was already 9pm. The restaurant closes at 10.
Still waiting but no one was checking on us on our water or hot tea. For an hour we had nothing but our drinks on our table. Then here comes our tempura udon. The noodle was too soft meaning it’s overcooked, and the tempura’s batter was falling apart as it’s been soaked in the soup too long. It was still crispy at some parts but soggy in general. Big disappointment as I know how good their shrimp tempura is.
Then we sat there AGAIN. It was getting ridiculous that we waited so long to get some sushi. We already knew about their slow service and that sushi takes extra extra time to come out but today was the worst. We grabbed this other server who was cleaning the table behind us, he even knows us because we come here quite often, and told him that we’ve been waiting forever for our food. He said sorry that he’d check on it and I asked if there’s only one chef today. He said 3 but it was too busy it just takes a little longer than usual. We told him that it’s always like this every time we come, and his answer was that we always come when they’re busy. Um Excuse me? So I’m not supposed to come eat on weekends?
Anyway the sushi finally came out and we started to eat only to find our time was wasted. Maybe because it was almost time to close so they didn’t have enough ingredients? Some rolls were partially naked on top because there wasn’t much fish to cover the rolls. Also all of the fish was paper thin, and wasn’t even cut properly. It was almost torn. Avocado wasn’t ripe, very unpleasant taste, I couldn’t eat the ones with avocado. The spider rolls only had one crab leg… and we ordered 2 rolls.
Our server disappeared so long time ago, we never had a server taking care of us. We asked any employee walking by our table for what we needed. We asked one server for a to-​go box and our check. We told her after she came back, that the food wasn’t satisfying and her answer was oh ok sorry and she just stood there awkwardly to get a credit card for the check. After the card was gone we realized that we forgot to mention about the Unilocal discount, so we told this hostess who brought our card back. By the way, they were very fast to bring our check back. She first said, «But I already ran the card.» We asked that she can run it again then she said ok reluctantly. I asked where the manager is, and she said they didn’t have one. It was very surprising, but it explained why this restaurant is such a failure. I told her that we waited so long to get our food and when we finally got it it wasn’t even good, she seemed she could care less. Like the other servers, she said ok sorry.
We came here so often despite the slow service because we liked the food. It’s the best among the sushi places in Brier Creek, relatively cheaper than Waraji and closer from where I live. They even offer check-​in discount so I took advantage of it. But after today, I’m no longer their regular. Inconsistent quality of food, the attitude of employees, absence of management, awful service… I think I had enough. It really leaves me no where to go in Brier Creek.

The food was delicious and I absolutely loved the ambiance. The environment was nice and relaxing and tables far enough from each other to have great conversations with a big group of friends. Our table was neat because it mimicked Japanese-​style seating without actually having to kneel or sit cross-​legged on the floor. I highly recommend the experience, but they also have regular tables if that is not your thing.
I was here with a group of girls to celebrate my sister’s birthday. Everyone’s food looked delicious and no one was disappointed. I really enjoyed our waiter; he had a funny sense of humor without distracting from his great customer service.
OVERALL: Great ambiance, fresh sushi, yummy food, and friendly staff.

Now would be a good time to implement the half star rating because although the restaurant was good, I would’ve definitely rated it a 3 ½ stars. But, as all my previous math teachers have preached you wanna round up so that’s what I did.
I almost thought the place was closed because when I looked into the windows it was completely dark. However, its just that they put some black stuff in front of the windows so don’t let that fool you. The inside setting is cozy and there are a lot of tables in the restaurant. They have their own sections of wooden booths I thought to the left side, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to sit there.
The first thing I noticed about the menu besides the food was the price. I thought to myself «holy cow that’s expensive» and it really was. An appetizer was 8 dollars and different kinds of teriyakis were at least 16 dollars. One of the members in my party wanted Yaki-​soba at first and she wanted it because it had shrimp in the picture. First of all apparently its vegetarian and the shrimp was just in the picture and to add a meat it cost 5 extra dollars! Yep, I won’t be able to come here very often because I would be out of money.
The food was actually very good. I ordered the chicken teriyaki and I thought it tasted very good. The chicken was cooked very well and the vegetables that came with the chicken complemented it very well. Also you can’t forget to pour the leftover teriyaki sauce into the rice after to make a very nice bowl of rice and gravy. They had this special there called like a rice stone bowl and it had a mix of different things and it was a very good combination. Bentos are also very popular here and they do bentos a little differently. They have these bentos for two and it comes with little portions of tofu and fish and beef and it comes with its own seafood soup. All the components of the bento were very tasty and it would be something I would order again.
The service was very quick and our server had a lot of positive energy and it kind of made me smile. And it wasn’t empty in the restaurant. There were a bunch of people in the other room and they were serving them quickly as well. Overall I really enjoyed my visit here, but it might be a while until I return. Those prices were crazy!

Two experiences with Hayashi-​ya. One was dine-​in and the other was take-​out. Short version: VERY SLOW SERVICE. Good food.
1. Dine in. We arrived at 11:45am on a Friday and the place was empty. There was only one other table already seated at that point. I ordered tea and was happy to see that I got a pot so I didn’t have to ask for refills. I ordered the Sashimi Bento and the Ninja roll. The roll came out first and was much larger than I had anticipated. It was excellent. The bento was great. It had a lot of food, which included a lot of different types of sides. I would definitely order a bento again. It may be for the more adventurous eaters, though as there were some things in there I couldn’t name. My eating partner got the tempura Udon which was huge and she let me try it so I can confirm it was delicious.
2. Take-​out. At 11:55am, I ordered 4 rolls to go. I was told it would take 25 minutes. I arrived at Hayashi-​Ya at 12:30 to pick them up. I was told they weren’t ready yet. I asked how long it would be and was told they hadn’t started making them yet. I was given no time to reference. I waited 15 minutes and when asked again, they still hadn’t started my order. I left. If you order takeout, I would wait until you have food in hand to pay. I was told that they got busy between the time of my order and when I arrived. That tells me they put a priority on in house orders, they do not take orders in the order they are received. Bad deal.
One more note — the hostess on duty (very short pixie cut blond hair) was frazzled and did not have a good system. When I arrived, she shuffled through 5 hand-​written orders (on scratch paper, not order paper) to find mine. She did not seem to have herself or the system under control. There were three other people waiting for their to-​go orders that had been waiting over 30 minutes, too.
I’ll go back but it will be at a time when I have over an hour to eat lunch. That is not acceptable for business day.

I wanted to give this place a chance, because I’ve been there twice and the sushi is actually pretty good. The service, however, was abysmal on both occasions. The first time we came here, we sat around for at least twenty minutes before the waitress even got our drink order, and it was even longer before she came back to get our food order. After the good arrived, she completely disappeared. We were literally left high and dry, and after awhile we ended up having to flag down another waitress to explain the situation. She seemed very annoyed. I couldn’t tell if it was directed at us or at the waitress who deserted us. At any rate, waitress #2 refilled our glasses once, and then we never saw HER again. Eventually, we had to go up to the hostess station and ask for our checks, because there didn’t seem to be any other way to get them. I could have understood if they had been more busy, but there were lots of empty tables. On top of it all, we saw several people who arrived AFTER us get seated, get their food, and actually finish their meals and leave before we got our checks.
On visit #2, we didn’t even eat. We had a group of seven, and we were expecting to have to wait for a table, but when we walked in the waitress didn’t even give us a wait time. She actually told us that she couldn’t accommodate us. We were understandably a little shocked, and she claimed it was because the restaurant didn’t have a table that could seat a group of seven, which was a blatant lie. They do have some special tables with sunken floors that can only seat four, but on the previous visit we had been seated at a six-​person booth that had plenty of room for an extra chair at the end. We weren’t happy, but we were already there and wanted sushi, so we asked if she could seat us at two separate tables. VERY reluctantly, she told us she could but she would have to check with a manager. Ummm… what??? At this point we were totally disgusted, and we told her not to bother.
After these two issues, I think it will be a very long time before I return, if ever. Like I said, the food was actually good the first time we are there, but they obviously have some staffing/​management issues they need to address.

Besides the fact that the name of this joint is so fun to say… this place it pretty good. I was not blown away, but I was extremely satisfied. My fiancé and I stopped here on a whim. I was going to check the Unilocal reviews and pricing first, but my phone battery died. :-(I was a little blown away by the prices. I’m so used to places having BOGO sushi– this was not the case this time. The atmosphere was refreshing. I mean, a Japanese restaurant that actually has Japanese inspired décor. Who would have thunk it?
Before I get to the sushi, I want to comment on the other entrees. I was nosey and glanced at other people’s entrees and noticed that they were not as large as their price tag. I mean, $ 17 for hibachi chicken? They don’t even cook it in front of you. I digress. My fiancé ordered the teriyaki chicken because none of the sushi roll descriptions jumped out at him. I had a taste, kinda bland.
So you’re probably thinking, why 4 stars when all you’ve done is bash them so far? Well the sushi rolls were great! At first glance, it doesn’t seem they have much a variety in sushi rolls. All of them seem to have crab salad or shrimp in them somehow. I ended up getting the RDU roll, the Piano Roll, and the Eel roll. All were very good. It really hit the spot and saved the day.
Not to be left unmentioned– the house salad w/​ginger dressing. Yummy.

Had a better experience tonight than yesterday for lunch. My friends and I left when they couldn’t seat us after 20mins of waiting and they didn’t look busy. Luckily tonight we were greeted and seated immediately.
I would rate them 4 for food. We ordered the 3 combo: raw raw, hayashi-​ya, and butterfly sushi — all were very good! However, service would be 3 — we waited for our food for about 30−40mins. I’m just glad to say that it was worth the wait.
Definitely going back there again and hoping that the service would be faster next time.

Come here almost one every two weeks and the taste is always consistently great. We order the udon and kimchi udon and sometimes the two-​roll special, the mango and piano roll. The service can be a bit slow but it’s worth it for the food!

2 ½ Unilocal stars or maybe slightly better
C&C and R&R show up at this place for Dinner
The Interior is Totally Gorgeous!!! Very Nice looking and the Staff were Polite!
Mochi (Dessert First Please) ok I waited and was Glad I did, this Mochi was good enough for 2 1/​/​2 Unilocal stars at best!
Salad Dressing was IMPRESSIVE and the Salad was very Good!
Korean Style Cross-​cut Beef Short Ribs… These were Good as in 3 stars good and way better than the stir-​fried beef Dish my Bride received… If I had Never had these Ribs at a Korean Restaurant I would have enjoyed these more… Since I have eaten this dish a few other times, I can not give them more than 3 stars
I did NOT Taste the Sushi one of our Friends Ordered and will NOT comment except to say the presentation was Fantastic and the person who ordered it also writes reviews on Unilocal
Spicy Calamari, NOT the «Fire» Flavor I was hoping for! I’m NOT giving this dish 3 stars, closer to 2
Tempura Shrimp and Vegetables Appetizer was a great Price and good enough for close to 4 stars
Tempura FRIED Ice Cream was Very Good though and I’m glad I got to taste it! Much better than the Mochi!
3 Unilocal stars does NOT factor in the Price! If considering how MUCH we paid for the meal I would probably give them an overall 2 Unilocal star rating!
Service was also NOT factored into the rating and it would NOT improve my rating of the overall experience, though since I do not expect great service and it is NOT important to me, it will not affect my over Unilocal star rating!
Overall, if NOT only rating the Food, I guess I would give them 2 Unilocal stars or less!

What can I say this place is awesome. The sushi is wonderfully made and their chef is very artistic. I really enjoyed the fact that they are very accommodating and made me a special roll that had pineapple, mango and whipped cream. I know that is unusual for such ingredients but it was like a sushi carnival in my mouth.
I also had the rainbow roll with eel sauce added just to please my sweet tooth.
Oh don’t forget to try their crab wontons and of course their calamari both with a sweet delicious sauce to compliment the appetizers.
Finally we had both the mochi as well as their fried ice-​cream and of course yummmm!

Nice! I have a new sushi favorite in town. A good place to «Blow it» for whatever it was you gave up for Lent. So, I was helping the guys load up the van, down by the river — oh wait, that’s a different story.
My bride called and asked what I wanted for dinner and I told her I’d meet her at Brier Creek and we’d find a place. I’d never tried Hayashi-​Ya, thought I’d stop and give it a try and wow — do I have 6−½ years worth of regret for passing this place by time after time!!! I could kick myself for what I’ve been missing — OW!!!
When I walked in I was asked if we had a reservation. «No,» but they seated us right away anyway. The atmosphere was nice — lighting was perfect and there was some seating like I’d never seen before in my life. I was shown a normal booth and was thankful for that. Drink orders were taken quickly and our server, Soo, was very kind, attentive and prompt with drinks and service. She answered all my daughter’s questions about her kimono.
Spicy Calamari is an excellent option for an appetizer. Paired with hot Sake’, I was doing well. Yes, I «blew it» regarding my lent «sacrifice» without even realizing it until afer the fact, which was almost as soon as I drank the first shot of sake — whelp, okay. I guess I made it almost 9 days without alcohol before not thinking about what I was doing. That aside, the sake was good and I vowed to try again next year. For me, the sushi was the makings of a pretty awesome dinner.
I did try my bride’s beef and that’s where Hayashi-​Ya isn’t doing themselves any justice. It was bland, very tasteless, but I typically don’t go to Japanese restaurants for beef. We did try the desserts, and there’s not a bad dessert on the menu, at least, not the ones we tried.
The sushi is a bit on the spendy side, and takes longer to make than other dishes; with the rest of the menu being a bit more reasonably priced and coming to the table slightly faster.
Soo checked up on us to make sure things were as expected and we really couldn’t complain much. Hope to be back soon!

I am sad to report that a non-​bento –box– for– two experience here was less than stellar. (see my previous review for comparison)
Anyway, it was a Friday night and we had 6:30 reservations to celebrate Son’s B-​day. (he picked the place). We were given one of the tables near the front that has a hole cut out underneath it, which is very awkward to get in and out of. Kinda cool though to give the impression of on-​the-​floor dining, without having to sit on the floor.
Now admittedly, we’re kinda not used to not paying full price for dining experiences these days, since I seem to be the queen of vouchers. So, we were going in without any, and with the prices a bit on the steep side, we did have fairly high expectations. Especially having had a 5-​star experience back in October of 2011.
I started with a glass of house chardonnay that was okay and only $ 5. We shared the calamari with mango sauce appetizer that was very good. Tender, perfectly fried and the sauce was great. Very reasonably priced. Things weren’t so wonderful after that. I ordered the yaki soba with shrimp and added a salad since the others’ meals came with salad. Found out later that extra salad was over five bucks, and for lettuce with dressing, that seemed a bit much. With that and the five or six bucks that was added to the noodles for the shrimp, it was a pretty expensive meal. Others ordered the hibachi chicken, hibachi steak and the steak teriyaki.
All of their meals came out first… my noodles were a little later. No big deal. Steak teriyaki was not a high quality steak. Very fatty. Husband not impressed. Mine was good, shrimp was cooked right. Okay, not exciting. Noodles seemed more linguine like to me and not very soba-​ish. Hibachi steak and chicken eaters seemed to be okay with their’s. Portions were large, and they took plenty home.
The biggest problem was our server disappeared for LONG periods of time. Not good, especially for Husband who can drink some tea!
Kudos however to server for picking up on the fact that it was son’s birthday and bringing a complimentary (and good) tempura ice cream dessert. Which was the only food porn pic I took (sorry, will try to do better).
So, it was an a-​ok experience, with 5-​star prices. And I must sadly report that the automatic trash can in the women’s room… uh, NOT automatic anymore, or if it is, it wasn’t working. So, while I am easily entertained, I can also be easily disappointed.

Ok let me start off by saying I do not eat Sushi, at all. It scares me and I will probably never try it. It may be a little weird that I would suggest to try this place for a double date night with friends, but I do love me some Hibachi Chicken.
Anyways, I absolutely LOVED the ambiance here! The lightning was dimmed, but not too dark, perfect for date night, with beautiful curtains and carpeting, and recessed tables. Although they do have regular booths and tables as well, we chose to sit at the recessed tables, which ended up being a bad choice since I was wearing a dress, and my friend is super pregnant so getting in and out of them posed a challenge, but hey we were getting the full experience!
The food was delicious. We started off with a bowl of edamame, which was really great, although a tad too salty. For dinner I order the Hibachi Chicken, which came with fried rice and it was phenomenal. I enjoyed every bite of my meal, and it was still just as tasty the next day for lunch! My boyfriend Carmen got the teriyaki beef and that was fantastic as well. When we go back I might get that meal next time!
Pricing was fair, not overly pricy, and you got a good portion of food. Will definitely be back again for another date night!

How did I miss a review on one of my favorite sushi place?! I was actually one of the first few people that came through that front door while they still flied the «Grand Opening» sign. Step right in, and you can get the ambience right away. You will never mistake this place for anything other than Japanese.
Annie W and I came here once before an advance screening at the Regal Brier Creek, it was Footloose I believed, and decided to take on the EXTREME HOT ROLL – Fresh Habanera, cucumber, spicy crab topped with spicy tuna, jalapeño & shocking sauce – It was once in a lifetime experience, because I don’t think Annie can handle eating it ever again.
I always enjoyed the quality of the sushi here. Sushi, on this side of the Pacific, is as much about presentation as it is ingenuity and taste. Any roll you order here is always colorful and well crafted. The taste to me is no different than any other sushi bars, but seriously, how many different kinds of spicy tuna or spider roll or yummy sauce can you really invent?
Recently they started a daily dinner-​time sushi rolls special in a three-​rolls set and a five-​rolls set. I can’t quite remember the exact pricing, but I can guarantee if are into or able to take on a few rolls at a time, this is definitely a good deal.