Monday, December 6, 2010

My Friday Night-Samuri Steakhouse Review


I worked all day Friday, then worked my second job until it was ladies night!
We started out with a little shopping spree at eclectic Valley Junction and a new (to me) store called Lillian's



Its kind of a boutique type clothing store that carries purses, sunglasses, scarves, etc for ladies only.  Just for coming to this "shopping party" we got a free pair of sunglasses which I snagged up instantly!  I tried on a few things from the $10 rack ('cause you know a boutique clothing store is nowhere NEAR my price range) but nothing fit these birthin' hips and breastfeeding boobs.  I went for a pair of sunglasses.  2 for $8.  Not too shabby.

Well the BFF and I showed up in practically the same outfit which we found hilarious.  We got asked several times if we planned it.  Yes we are 30 years old and plan to match our outfits. (Insert eye roll)
(I hope you can hear the sarcasm type tone in my typing)


Check out the waist in that size large! Sha right!



We headed to a new hibachi grill place (that we had coupons for of course) after the shopping spree for a little dinner.  Samurai Steakhouse, West Des Moines for your locals.

As we entered I was amazed to find all of 5 tables with guests for a Friday night.  BAD SIGN. 
We were immediately seated at our table, which could easily hold a party of 20 which is a good thing for large groups. 


We were greeted by the most frazzled waitress I've ever had. You would have thunk she had 20+ tables and was the only worker.  After announcing our use of coupons and gift certificates we hit our first snag.  Turns out you can use as many buy one meal get one half off as you want.  But you throw 2 ($25) gift cards in there (to be used by separate people on a separate bills) and that is a no-no.  After much confusion and speaking to the "manager" (who btw knows about 6 words of English) we decided to be A-OK with using the coupons and forgetting the gift certificates.  After all we aren't going to make 8 other people leave right? 

After the 15+ minutes of coupon confusion Little Miss Frazzled announces she will give us free saki. 
(Cause this is new at a hibachi grill place?)

Turns out the person who takes their Saki bomb the quickest gets to put this on their head....

HILARIOUS.  But also glad it wasn't me.  One friend describes the smell of that mask to be greasy/unwashed hair.  MMMMMMM....just what I want before I eat.  I stayed far away from that thing.

I ordered Beef Mugakgi [or something] for an appetizer.  Beef with cream cheese, scallions and lobster with some kind of sweet teriyaki sauce.  Pretty tasty but could have used more lobster.  Only $6 for 6 pieces.  Not too bad really.


I ordered chicken and shrimp hibachi which came with soup or salad.  I opted for soup.  It was NASTY.
I should have got their mini version of a side salad.  4 pieces of lettuce with 2 lbs of ranch.  My style.


The grill got fired up...


Saki was flowing for those who wanted it....

And our little chef had his routine of not so funny jokes you can do while preparing food
(e.g., stack of onions making choo choo train smoke, seeing if we could catch pieces of zucchini in our mouth he flung our way, etc.)


The food was good..the drinks were flowing...

SOME had a few too many...


At checkout time there was ANOTHER COUPON DEBACLE where the waitress was explaining to us for at least 5 minutes how the coupon didn't apply.  Then we had to grit our teeth to politely tell her she was reading the wrong coupon and we were trying to use a different one.  This back and forth happened at least 3 times before I asked to speak to the manager. 

Again. 

THIRD TIME.

He never came over. Just took the $20 off our bill like I wanted.

Overall:

Food was good. 
Service was strange. 
We went because we had a coupon. 
I'd almost prefer to pay full price, have a normal waitress, and no qualms at checkout.

I will NOT be going back. 

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