Hayashi Sushi & Grill

Gotta give this one 4 stars. I’ve been there twice. Great atmosphere & the restaurant felt very clean. Didn’t like that the happy hour specials are only available at the bar. Once seated we received soup– which was very bland in comparison to other restaurants typical Miso soup. The hibachi veggies were a little undercooked. Did like that they offered soba noodles in addition to the normal fried rice. The portions seem smaller than what I’m typically used to at Hibachi restaurants. The service was incredible! Ask for Ryan at the bar!

Took the girlfriend for an early Valentine’s date since she loved sushi and hibachi and got a hibachi combo plate and unagi. The hibachi was pretty good, about on par with kabuto and the soup and salad were also quite tasty. The unagi was also very good. Service was definitely quite good. There was only one party besides us there, which seemed odd, considering the quality of the food and service definitely was not lacking. I hope that Hayashi does well and can find more business.

This place is amazing! Seriously the best hibachi I’ve ever had! (And I’ve had a bunch) You wouldn’t think they’d be too family friendly but they are. Their kids menu is great and they have plenty of highchairs. The service is great too. The waiter/​ess is very attentive (we’ve had both as we’ve already been twice) and so is the chef. He was more than willing to keep the fire low for my kids and then was happy to leave the sauce off the chicken for my picky eater. The sushi is very fresh as well. For the amount of food you get, the price is reasonable. We are already regular customers.

This is our new favorite restaurant! Exceptional food and dining experience. Atmosphere is modern and inviting.

This place is affordable at happy hour and it is soooo good! The apps are amazing and the sushi tastes fantastic. There are more combos than you can even imagine. Even the terryiaki chicken app was so good with the skewers of chicken that melt in your mouth! The saki martini was such a bargain at $ 5 that I had to have 2. This place needs more patrons because it’s a gem!

Why is this place not more crowded? Fantastic and by far the best hibachi in richmond!

Update… they had a busy month when they opened. Now they are dead. Every time I drive past the parking lot is empty. I have got an occasional to-​go order over the past few months. Food just ok, nothing special. Service also just satisfactory.
Shame, but it looks like this restaurant will not be around much longer if they continue to get no customers.
Now closed on Mondays.

I read the reviews before going, and I’m glad we gave them a chance. A previous review said the hostess kept hiding behind the glass wall… The only glass Wall I saw was the partition from the entrance into the actual restaurant. There also was no hostess «podium», but there was a large permanently-​installed station. I’m not so sure that reviewer reviewed the right place.
Anywho, we were immediately seated, and glasses of water were brought out with the waitress on the very first visit (without having to ask). The waitress (April, I think) was as attentive as necessary without being overly present. The spring rolls came out quick, and the sushi order was ready on par with any other decent place I’ve been to.
The interior looked fresh, everything appeared clean, and I have absolutely no complaints otherwise. While it wasn’t the absolute best sushi place I’ve ever been to, it is still a solid one. I don’t believe the negative reviews reflected our experience at all. I highly recommend Hayashi.
(Dynamite roll was great; Lenny #3 roll was totally on point; Spicy Tuna has a little heat .)

Funny note, I explained to some fellow friends about my experience here (read my previous review) and instead of taking my advice, they still decided to attend. I was hoping they would come back and say that their experience was different, but it wasn’t. They said the server was non existent and the food was just ok. That really sucks because it was months ago when I went and they still haven’t fixed the issues. #fail

I don’t even feel like wasting more of my time to trash this place with my review, but it needs to be said so maybe the owners will start to care about the treatment of their –potential– patrons. Before leaving two nights ago, (yes, it bothers me this much that I’m writing just now,) around 8:30 PM, I called this specific location to ask about a wait time or possibly make a reservation. I let the phone ring until it disconnected, which took a bit in itself. We figured what the heck, let’s just go and find out in person.
We walk in to an empty podium where a very helpful bartender asked us how we were and assured us (while he was busy mind you,) that someone would be right with us. 2+ minutes longer and a woman with dyed black hair comes around from behind the glass wall to the podium, says, «Name» and smacks her gum looking up at me less-​than-​pleased that we’d decided to bother her from whatever she was doing in the back. I gave my name for a 35 minute wait (with a table and a half full in a large restaurant and one bar table taken up,) and was told, «K it’ll be around 35 minutes.» Around? And 35 minutes for such an empty restaurant on a Saturday night at dinner time? Under-​staffed I’m assuming.
My boyfriend and I sat on the couch beginning our wait where a gentleman had been sitting on the opposite end, alone. We legitimately felt as if we’d bothered the hostess to even bother to choose her restaurant to dine at. It was pretty offensive and we both felt uncomfortable immediately. Why bother staying where we aren’t even welcome? Last I checked, we were going to pay for the dining experience there, not the other way around. We started talking about how aggravated we were at such half-​ass customer service before even sitting at a table that we sat there looking for a new hibachi restaurant on our phones. A few minutes into our search and the man on the couch gets up and waits at the podium for a bit before the entitled hostess comes back up (after of course the bartender calls for her.) He’d asked how «much longer» until his food was ready and she told him 5 more minutes. He was obviously disgruntled at this and she retreated back to the kitchen or whatever room is behind the glass wall behind the podium. (Get where I’m pining? She needs a serious attitude check.) He’s pacing around the room now as we found a new place to have dinner and the bartender offers him «a roll» for his inconvenience. As we left, we heard the customer say something about «this order is already 40 minutes late». Are you guys serious?
P. S. The phone rang multiple times while we were on the couch searching for new restaurants. One time the hostess blatantly looked at the phone as it rang and then proceeded to leave back to the other room. Nice! Nice to know the phone DOES work, you’re just being ignored.

Ordered a bunch of sushi — Maki Sushi (Tuna, salmon, spicy tuna and spicy yellowtail), Nigiri Sushi (Tuna, Yellowtail, Eel), and Special Sushi Dynamite Roll. Spicy Tuna was extremely fishy and stinky. The others were OK, but the spicy tuna was stale, and basically ruined it for us.
Also ordered the Yaki Soba dinner entrée which was terrible. The scallops were stale, and the shrimp and chicken were overcooked and chewy. The sauce used was extremely salty and sour. If you do go for some sushi, be very selective in ordering.

We dined here with another couple a couple of days ago and found everything to be OK. Sushi was good but not great, service was nice but not great, atmosphere is a bit weird as this was a former Max and Erma’s location, or so I heard.
The usual selection of Japanese beers is good but the wine list is pretty average.
Would I go back, sure, if I was in the neighborhood but would not make a trip across town. Good local place to get some sushi or take the family out for some entertainment in the habachi room.

This place is amazing. I would find it hard to believe anyone would find something wrong this place. The servers are wonderful as well as the bartender and owner. I love coming into a friendly environment and having my order taken correctly. The sushi is the best I have had in awhile and would take this place over any other hands down. I have yet to have a bad experience in this place. I came in for a birthday party and they were very accommodating to our large party and still made my experience special. I would recommend to everyone I know. The sushi is perfect and wouldn’t change a thing. Their oysters are better than any seafood place I’ve ever been too. I will continue to come here over any other place. Your missing out if you don’t come here.

I’m really not all that hard to please. I regret to say when we went out for sushi, we were most impressed by the appetizers. That being said, I won’t be back.
Most importantly, the rice quality is poor: it doesn’t clump properly, so they don’t use the correct sugar/​vinegar ratio.
The sushi chef, for plating $ 13.00 specialty rolls, has a bizarre palate. Sushi is about clean flavors and simplicity. What happened? Was Guy Fieri behind your sushi bar, covering everything with egg-​based sauces and sriracha? Worse yet, the sauces you use aren’t on the menu.
1. The Glenview — This was pretty gross. I blame myself for ordering it.
2. Black Tobiko — I was hoping for shrimp tempura and unagi with tobiko. What I got was okay, but the plating actually turned me off. Should have been an inside-​out roll, really.
3. Spicy Tako — I ordered spicy octopus & spicy squid in a roll. What I got was covered in mayonnaise. Next time I want octopus with mayonnaise, I’ll call you.
4. Kami Kaze — What was the tastiest of the rolls we ordered: salmon skin, eel, scallions, and cucumber. This would have been appetizing, had you not smothered the flavor with sriracha — basically inedible.
Now, they could have recovered from this awful meal. We sent the Kami Kaze roll back, the sushi chef made sure to loudly argue with the server about not remaking it if sriracha was printed on the menu (it wasn’t) and he didn’t even have the good sense to apologize for his rude behavior. While he did seem proud of telling the guests that he’s a model, he sure as hell can’t make a good experience.

Came here again on New Year’s Eve and we can’t seem to get enough enough of this place. Sushi chef is awesome too.

Hibachi and sushi rolls were very good. Hibachi chef was excellent. Server forgot one persons order completely. The rest of us were done when his arrived and they forgot the wasabi and chopsticks. He never came back to the table to ask for more drinks. We’re still here waiting for the bill (20 minutes). It’s not crowded on New Years Eve. I think the inmates are running the asylum. Otherwise it’s great :)

This rating is based on Oang and his sushi. Oang is the most masterful sushi chef I have ever known. Best sushi I’ve had in Richmond hands down. His passion for sushi is evident in every creation of his. I’ve been here many times now and his sushi is always fresh, expertly cut and he really knows how to pair his flavors. He’s very precise and he delivers a fantastic presentation. He’s also very friendly and great to talk to if you’re sitting at the sushi bar.

Spacious, trendy restaurant with a large hibachi area and private all-​the-​way-​to-​the-​ceiling booths, great for a date night!
The 3 for $ 35 special roll deal (or $ 13 each) is really well priced for ‘special’ rolls. Typically most place’s special rolls start at $ 11 or $ 12 and go up to $ 17. My husband and I took advantage of this and also tried the sea urchin sashimi appetizer. That, was not so good, but we’ve never had it before, so maybe it’s supposed to taste «slimy, and like the ocean,» in my husband’s words.
The rolls were all good, but not great. The roll with the baked scallops (dynamite, I think) was mostly covered in a tonnn of mayo and the scallops were indiscernible.
Our server was very green, had no idea what was on the menu, or how to pronounce basic things, like edamame. (They brought us some out complementary, not sure if that’s standard or because we ordered a ton of sushi.) When I’ve worked at restaurants before, I had to learn the menu before I went out on the floor.
A birthday party that evening got to hit the gong what I assume was the number of years the person was alive, so that was… fun. The restrooms are super trendy and nice, also.
Surprisingly, though, there were not that many people inside at 8:00 pm on a Saturday.
I’m really torn between 3 and 4 stars, but I’ll go with 4. I’d definitely go back.

I was skeptical when I saw all these great reviews for a new restaurant. Suspicion confirmed.
Ambiance is ok – bordering on nice for a hibachi restaurant. The color lighting on the hibachi tabletops is an especially nice touch.
But, the big faux pas comes in the cooking. I had the Filet Mignon and Lobster tail and ordered my filet mignon medium rare. My filet mignon was served to me medium well just like another person at our table who wasn’t in our party. The «chef» took the two filets off the grill at the same time — both medium well. What a waste of a good cut of meat!
Later, the manager asked how everything was and my wife encouraged me to tell her the truth. So, I did. The manager, said «oh my gosh, there’s so much of a big difference between medium rare and medium well!» Yes, there is. Did she offer to rectify the mistake? No.
They’re amateurs. So, seek elsewhere. I’m tempted to give this 1 star.

I decided to try out a new sushi restaurant and I was anxious to do so, but coming to Hayashi was a great experience. The decorations and layout of the restaurant are beautiful, clean, and over all nice.
The service was very friendly, our waitress was very nice, and the owner came to visit us to see how everything was and how we were doing. Our server even gave us half our bills price for a gift certificate to come back again, because it was our first time.
The food was also very wonderful, I got a bento box with teriyaki chicken and my friend got oyster shots and a salmon avocado roll. The roll that came with the box was really good and fresh and my friend said hers was good too. She also described the oyster shots as spicy and also very good.
I do plan to come back and I strongly recommend it.