New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Shochiku Japanese Restaurant

by RM Y.
15th November 2012

Went with a voucher dinner for 4. Not a Japanese waitperson in sight- all Koreans and hard to get your self understood. For $128 it was ok….2 dinner plates to be shared among 4 of Mains and a choice of chicken or beef vegetable stir-fry and 2 bottles of Sake. Included was the cabbage salad and half pieces of sushi. Not memorable enough to go back to I’m afraid- much better value to be had elsewhere and nicer food. Everyone through the door had a voucher!

by Des T.
1st November 2012

I used voucher for my wife and I to dine Oct 31 . I booked then read previous reviews to my dismay [ mostly negative ] . However I was pleasantly surprised . While the inter action with staff is not great [ language difficulty ] the teppanyaki was superb – the best scallops/prawns I have tasted . I will return

by Iva R.
24th October 2012

We also had a voucher but even with paying half-price, this restaurant and the food were most disappointing. Teppanyaki is supposed to be fun, but all that our chef did was set the food on fire a couple of times. The cooking presentation was entirely underwhelming. The portion sizes were fine but the food was average and the scoop of Tip Top ice cream for desert was a bit of a joke. The counter area was disgusting with raw food stacked near the till and eftpos machine. Overall, a restaurant that I will not be visiting again.

by Rachel S.
19th October 2012

Went with a group on deal vouchers and to be honest, the service was not great. It was really weird when we arrived. The place didn’t even seem open! The teppan yaki was super rushed and the food was good but things like having disposable chopsticks and plastic spoons with dessert really brings down the experience a bit. A bit of ambience, friendly helpfulness from staff, proper serveware, music and maybe a nicer ice cream like green tea for dessert and it would have improved the experience greatly! Definitely wasn’t the ‘flash night out’ I was expecting, but food still nice.

by Amanda A.
22nd September 2012

My partner & I bought a deal voucher, then we checked the reviews before we went & were a little worried. We went last night & had a nice time. The chef was nice, did a couple tricks, food was yummy & enough of it. I have had a way more fun experience at a different one but we still had a pleasant night. I would admit that I wouldn’t pay full price.

by Surinam R.
24th August 2012

Bought a voucher for a value of up to $98 for 2 people, thinking I’d scored a bargain (I paid about $45 for the voucher). Even $45 is incredibly over-priced for the food we were served. We started with a “salad” which really was more of a small side salad that would come with a meal than a salad. They used incredibly cheap coleslaw-like salad and dumped a spoon of mayo on top. My cousin didn’t have a voucher and ordered off the menu, a set which was $20 less than the set we ordered (our set was originally $48 without a voucher) and literally got the same amount of food as us, except for the 2 scallops and 2 prawns. The miso soup lacked any flavour, the 2 scallops and prawns which were the ‘seafood’ dimension of the set were quite small, and both my scallops were missing the roe. The meat itself was tiny and the bowl of rice wasn’t enough for one person. The dessert at the end was one scoop of ice-cream, probably smaller than a kids portion, with a tiny drizzle of raspberry sauce and a few sprinkles. An absolute waste of money, I wouldn’t recommend the place to anyone; with or without a voucher.

by Ben M.
14th August 2012

Terrible value for money, got a voucher deal for a set course Teppanyaki, for a start this is a Korean style Japanese restaurant, doesn’t do any justice to the type of food you would expect at an authentic Japanese restaurant.

Had to wait for about 20 minutes for our table to be filled up with complete strangers, then the Chef introduced himself and started cooking, he was quite a nice Chef however when asked if he was Japanese he said “no, but the owner is” – why would a Japanese owner hire Korean staff? All Korean staff?

Ended up spending far to much on alcohol and left feeling still hungry.

Would never go back again

by Tony
5th August 2012

I went with my friends and had really worst experience. The name is Japanese, the food is no where near Japanese taste. The owner and almost all of the staffs are Korean. Strange we don’t see Korean Restaurants advertising on deal websites as other people do. This is really a overprice Korean run, Japanese name restaurant.

by Kirin L.
3rd June 2012

Came for dinner in a group of 4 for the teppanyaki course. It was a really disappointing experience due to mainly the food quality and experience.

Staff service – they seemed to be mediocre, no smiles, the chef introduced himself at the beginning but left without saying a word. The chef cooking skills is also below standard as he didn’t seem to be enjoying the cooking at all, and when it came to cleaning up the hot plate it was a half assed job (as you can imagine when you are eating and seeing him doing a pretty crap job)

Food – lacked flavour, taste was really bland, the miso soup was completely watered down where I am guessing that the owner just wanted to save on food costs, the green tea was also watered down to taste almost like hot water in a tea pot. Vegetables were OK but it was more like a vege stir fry from a chinese restaurant rather than a teppanyaki type grilled vege.

quite disappointing really.

by Nancy
31st May 2012

I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone. Brought a deal voucher, what a waste of time.

$56 Full Teppanyaki Salmon, Scallops and Prawns is what I purchased. My friend ordered the $32 Steak option of Teppanyaki. We both received the same amount and type of food. I ended up with 1 and a half scallops, 3 prawns and a very small portion of salmon. In what world is that worth $56??

We meet up with others who had the Teppanyaki along side us, after leaving and we all had the same sentiments.

Long waiting periods for food and sometimes cold when received, ridiculously small portions, the waitress was hostile and overpriced.

I learnt a good lesson through, check a restaurants ratings before committing a lot of money to it.

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