Hiro Japanese Steak House

I had my first, and only, experience at Hiro last weekend. I was with some friends celebrating a friends upcoming nuptials and I looked forward to the meal. I wish I hadn’t. I wasn’t impressed by the meal at all. The rice was cold and bland, the chicken seemed overcooked. Well something wasn’t right. Since Saturday night I have been sick. Food poisoning at its finest. I definitely will not return.

Went here for a birthday party. Place was so noisy, table was so hot from heat and steam at our table, our faces got red! Not to mention ruining the birthday girls updo! They need proper ac/​exhaust hoods, period. Everything tastes the same! It’s over priced rice mixed with a cup of veggies. I Won’t go there again. Two stars is for awesome bloodymary” the lady bartender made.

1. Came at 11:35am when they opened. Had to wait 10 minutes because the staff stated they, «…weren’t expecting anybody that soon.»
2. It smelled awful.
3. How is the floor sticky at 11:30am?! …or ever? You’d think this was a basement bar.
4. The service was painfully slow.
5. Decided to order one entrée (hibachi shrimp), while we google somewhere else to eat. We tipped the waitress (it wasn’t her fault), took the nasty food (which went in the trash), and went elsewhere.
This place is for those who don’t/haven’t traveled far and are fascinated with table-​side cooking. For good food, clean setting, and decent service, go elsewhere.

i will write a little detail in a sec, but here’s all you need to know: While the food was good, Hiro’s wasn’t worth the 3+ hour investment. The place was ridiculously loud, stupidly hot, the service was less than mediocre, and the whole place needs a cleaning. Pass. Want to read more… here you go…
So, we knew going in that saturday night at 6pm would be busy. We also knew that because it was just the two of us we could likely sneak into a table easier than a party of 4 or 6 or whatever. That was (supposedly) confirmed upon speaking to the hostess who was blasé and frowny-​faced and told us «15 min, we’ll have 2 seats free». Off to the bar we went. Bartender was the highlight of the marathon night at Hiros. We sat there for 45 minutes. Glad to pay that guy. He was entertaining even as the other guy broke a beer glass IN the cooler of glasses. (Shouldnt they have emptied all the glasses so no one got a sliver of glass in the next beer? But i digress…).
Finally got the call to go to the table. Deep in the corner. Swelteringly hot. Louder than a nascar event. The chairs are sticky. The grill itself is NOT clean, and amazingly there are like 3 completely empty tables in the place. Holy moley is that place LOUD. And hot. Its November.
We sat. And waited. And waited. Along with the other 6 people at our table. Nothing. Eventually ordered a drink. Waited some more. Then ordered our meals. Waited. If i didn’t like talking to my wife I would have gone nuts. We considered just getting the check and leaving but now it was 8:15. Finally… the chef guy came and did his thing. Lucking for us (and perhaps Hiros future) the foods was good.
So, 3+ hours later, we left. Only two things even get this to a 2-​star review. 1… the bartender. We should have stayed and eaten at the bar. And 2… the actual food itself. Every other thing (literally) was unacceptable. We wont be going back.

Enjoyed the most wonderful dinner prepared by our chef Joe. I am a vegetarian and so is my 5 year old and he was very caring about preparing our meal away from all the meat. Our waiter josh also did a great job despite the hour wait with a reservation. We will be back as hiro staff provided the best dining experience on date night.

LITERALLY one of the worst dining experience I’ve ever had. After waiting an hour and repeating my sushi order 5 times it came out wrong and there was never any kind of apology. The part of the order that WAS correct was awful. Fell apart couldn’t even eat it. We picked at out plate for a few minutes and I decided to talk to a manager. As I am also an employee in the service industry, I was very unimpressed with the way the manager handled my complaint. I informed her it was our first time dining with them and the whole dining experience was awful. Yet again, there was no «I’m sorry, how can I help you, I’m so sorry to hear that, let me see what I can do, etc.,» I was still charged full price for everything even though we had barely touched our food. As a sushi guru, and part-​time restaurant manager, I am sending my warning to everyone. Do not expect much from Hiro sushi.

My husband and I were in the area on our aniversary and wanted sushi but something more. So we stopped here… BEST DECISION EVER!!! We both ordered bento boxes and enjoyed every single bite. The staff was pronpt and friendly. I would definitely go back if I am in the area.

My daughter took me to Hiro’s for Mother’s Day 2015. There were 5 in our party and we had reservations made for a week ahead of time at 6:30pm. We arrived on time to find chaos. We waited an hour for our table. The hostess was seating walk in’s before parties who had reservations. When we were finally seated, there were 3 empty hibachi stations!!! Why were we waiting an hour? The waitress was horrible. We were there for 2 hours because she was slower than molasses and kept making errors. The chef had to correct the food he was making because she got the orders all wrong. She came to our table ONCE and asked us for drink refills. I still never got mine!!! So in 2 hours time, we all just had one drink. Our check was incorrect as well. Our chef did not do any tricks as the other chefs were doing. He made a volcano tower with onions and that was it. Very boring… just ok food… not sure I’ll be back any time soon.

The gyoza are awesome and the sushi is top rate. I always get the shrimp hibachi with the Japanese white sauce and its always good. The smaller shrimp taste better than the jumbo shrimp to me and plus you get more of them! Will be back again!

Pretty good sushi! My fav roll was the New Philly roll! Btw 5−7pm rolls are half off which is great. I had 3 filling rolls and my whole bill was $ 12.00 I’m surprised that NC had good sushi! Didn’t try the hibachi but it looks pretty yummy

We just enjoyed a great meal at Hiro. The food is very good and you will not leave hungry! We always make this a stop when we are at the beach.

This restaurant has gone down hill over the past few years. Even after a couple sub standard experiences I recently tried it again. Everyone in my family complained about the food quality and most had a long night in the bathroom.

I ordered sushi for carry out here. It was ok, but I thought the portion size was small for the price. I also thought there were a few too many vegetables in my rolls relative to fish, leaving the flavor leaning more towards cucumber or scallion than tuna or salmon. I love sushi, and while I would be willing to go back, Hiro is not rising to the top of my list of sushi restaurants in Wilmington.

I would have given zero stars if I could have. Service was terrible. First no chef was Available. Then the grill did not work. Dinner took over 3 hrs. Sucked

Giving a star-​rating for Hiro is challenging for me as my experience was a very mixed bag.
I e-​mailed Hiro the morning before going there for dinner as I am a vegetarian and wanted to see what on the menu might be vegetarian aside from the «vegetarian delight». While I didn’t read it in time (they wrote back quickly, I just didn’t see it), I got a very warm, helpful e-​mail back. I e-​mailed again the following day and again got a quick response. So clearly 5 stars for the service end of things.
This was my first time going to Hiro and I was impressed by the ambiance — some beautiful sushi areas with cushion seating, lots of hibachi tables, a nice bar. My friends and I sat at a hibachi table and checked out the menu. Since I hadn’t seen the e-​mail yet, I decided to play it safe and order the «vegetarian delight» since I didn’t know what else might be vegetarian. A pescatarian friend I was with did the same.
Well, as it turns out, the vegetarian delight isn’t vegetarian either. The first course was soup and when I asked about the broth, I found out it was chicken and beef-​based. Hm. The salad was fine, but not overly exciting. Once the hibachi chef got started, he tried to put shrimp on my plate (again, I ordered the «vegetarian delight»). While I have no doubt that the hibachi is a great deal for people without dietary restrictions, spending $ 16 on a salad, sherbet, rice, noodles, and some veggies was a pretty big bummer. When I e-​mailed the following day I noted that I’d had a stomachache afterwards — I typically have a steel gut — and questioned whether even the veggies were even vegetarian. I got a nice e-​mail response, but no comment about the ingredients in the hibachi sauces.
I don’t deserve special treatment for being a vegetarian and I don’t make assumptions about ingredients in dishes — I always ask. The exception to this is if something is clearly labeled «vegetarian». If something is labeled «nut-​free» or «gluten-​free» it would just be silly to ask if it has nuts or gluten in it and likewise if I order something clearly labeled «vegetarian» I would feel ridiculous asking if it has chicken or beef in it! I noted that in my e-​mail and suggested that they either make the «vegetarian» delight vegetarian or change the name so that it’s not deceptive. If they made a hibachi meal with vegetarian soup, salad, entrée, and dessert, I’d go all the time! The e-​mailer (owner?) asked for me to ask for her next time I’m in and she’ll make me a special vegetarian option, but this experience left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, so I don’t know that I’ll be back.
Again, wonderful customer service and our group had a very fun time. I don’t want to complain too much about a locally-​owned business. But with that said, truth in labeling is important, especially when it comes to dietary labels. If I had a meat-​allergy and had trusted the «vegetarian» label, I could have been in big trouble — restaurants need to take these things seriously. My main point in writing is, if you go to Hiro and have special dietary restrictions, make sure to double and triple-​check ingredients. And be aware that the «vegetarian delight» is not vegetarian or all that delightful.
My Mai Tai was fab, at least.

One of my favorites places in town. Awesome staff and food and the cooks are always so personable. Good for a first date or a family dinner :)

Absolutely LOVED this place. The space is huge and accommodates both a roomy sushi area and hibachi grill area. The food is fresh and delicious! My absolute favorite is the Coconut Curry Seafood Soup — had to come back again the next evening to enjoy the soup with more sashimi.

The search for our Sushi spot around our new home in NC began today. Unfortunately, it will continue. Hiro’s Japanese Steakhouse in Wilmington, NC was horrible. Sushi rice was dry, portions were too small, only 6 standard diameter piece rolls and the sushi/​sashimi combo dinner was the worst I have ever seen. We were completely dissapointed and will not eat there again. I have eaten better sushi from supermarkets!!! It is a shame that it was not better as the atmosphere really had us excited.

Best Hibachi in Wilmington.

We visited Hiro for a birthday for one of our house guests. We were one of the last two hibachi tables of the night, but we were not made to feel rushed. I had the fillet, which was cooked correctly and very tender. Now, my current rating is a three, but I’m used to the flavors/​seasonings of Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse and I’m sure that skewed my enjoyment of my meal. Veggies, rice, etc. were cooked properly, I just didn’t enjoy the taste as much as the steakhouse I’m used to in PA. I was disappointed that there was no noodle with the meal. The rice was good, but I would have preferred less rice with the inclusion of noodle.
The only kinda gross thing for me was that our hibachi chef was either suffering from a cold or got some of the pepper he was using up his nose. He bent down away from the grill once to sneeze. I appreciated that he moved away from the grill and kept his hands/​arms out of range of his sneeze, but unfortunately he sneezed in the direction of the cart that still had my fillet and several other people’s steaks on it. I’m sure that some meat on that tray was showered with something that wasn’t veggie oil. He did excuse himself to go sneeze again further from the grill and I noted that he did have wet hands when he returned so I assumed he washed. Maybe next time he bends down to sneeze, he should turn to the side opposite the cart. Just a thought…